Interactive Emails: Are They Worth The Hype? Pros And Cons You Need To Know

You don't need an email marketing influencer to tell you what your gut already knows: your best emails are those that get your subscribers to lean in and engage, not just tick a box on your email marketing checklist.

One absolutely fun way to make that engagement happen is to use email interactivity.

The numbers back this up, too. A survey by Dyspatch found that “60% of recipients are likely to engage with an interactive email. And over 50% of recipients like to interact with content within the email.” See why email interactivity has been sticking around as a prominent email design trend?

Before you rush to sprinkle interactive elements into every email like confetti, know this: as exciting as building an interactive email template is, it comes with its share of technical hurdles and "proceed with caution" moments.

No matter the interactive element type you plan to use, making it work depends on understanding both the possibilities they unlock and the challenges they present to your email marketing team.

Let’s understand the pros, the cons, and the golden rules of interactive emails that'll help you maximize the wins and sidestep the pitfalls.

What Are Interactive Emails?

An interactive HTML email has interactive content that lets the recipients “interact” with your email by swiping, clicking, selecting, scratching and activating additional content within the same email. Yes, instead of just reading!

Where traditional emails rely on static images and text with external links, interactive emails bring landing page elements into the email itself. Say, filling out review forms, browsing image galleries, selecting products from dropdowns, and more. Your subscribers are not forced to a new browser window or landing page.

A quick heads-up: creating interactive emails in Outlook is somewhat tricky compared to other platforms. It has limited support for advanced HTML and CSS functionalities, meaning not all interactive features render correctly.

You have a ton of possibilities for adding interactivity to their emails. The best way is to do a humble start with hover effects, then scale up to product galleries, offer reveals, gamification elements, search bar entries, and even add-to-cart features.

Have a look at this cool rollover interactive image:

Interactive elements like this give an instant facelift to a merely promotional message. The campaign naturally comes to life when subscribers can interact with your email. It creates a memorable brand touchpoint amidst crowded inboxes. That way, your audience is more likely to engage with future campaigns.

Pros of Interactive Emails

1. Increased Email Engagement

Interactive elements do more than just capture your recipient’s attention. Of course, they do that, too, rather more effectively than static emails. But their real flex is transforming passive readers into active, engaged humans who interact with your email rather than simply skimming and moving on.

Take image carousels, for example. With them in your emails, subscribers can comfortably navigate through multiple elements with a simple click within their email. No need to worry whether a wall of images will petrify your audience.

Carousels neatly organize even the most comprehensive information into swipeable sections, allowing each slide to be revealed at the user’s own pace.

Showcase your stunning summer collection, tell a compelling visual story, or share your recipe for S’mores Ghosts in a holiday email. Subscribers will linger longer, thanks to an engaging and seamless viewing experience. The fact that they can explore your content without losing their place in the email or needing to click away to a website is just the cherry on top.

Imagine the level of engagement you create by fundamentally changing how subscribers interact with your content. The more time they spend with your message, the deeper their connection to your brand and the better brand recall and affinity.

2. Higher Click-through Rates

There's a reason why accordion-style menus and expandable sections are proving to be click magnets.

Interactive emails having such design elements reduce friction by encouraging users to click in the email rather than navigating to a landing page. While you might see a slight dip in website click-throughs, you'll gain something more valuable: highly engaged users who convert at higher rates.

Live polls are a perfect example of email interactivity done right. Live polls embedded in emails display results in real time. As subscribers cast their votes, they instantly see the results. Not only does this give your audience a voice, but it also creates a seamless participation experience without forcing them to leave their inbox. Plus, every vote counts as a click. Just imagine the spike in CTR!

One brand included a Live Poll in one of their email campaigns. It featured a progress bar showing real-time percentage data for different product categories.

The genius part is they used this click data as an instant interest indicator. Within 24 hours, subscribers received targeted follow-up emails featuring live, in-stock products from their chosen category. Those who didn't vote received a curated selection of best-sellers.

Since the interaction is immediate and convenient, it results in higher click-through rates (CTR) than traditional call-to-action buttons, requiring multiple steps.

3. Better Customer Data

Last year, Google announced its new Tracking Protection feature and marked the beginning of the end of third-party cookies. For marketers, it's a fundamental change in how we understand our audiences.

As third-party cookies crumble away, first-party data becomes our most valuable asset. And guess where that data lives? In your email campaigns!

Interactive emails are the perfect data collection tools that help you understand your subscribers in ways cookies never could.

Here's the smart part: Every interactive element in your email creates a new data point. By adding UTM codes to track link performance, you'll see exactly where subscribers click and what captures their attention. It's also behavioral insight that can reshape your email design strategy.

But it goes deeper than design.

Interactive elements like polls, surveys, and preference selectors give subscribers a direct way to tell you what they want. This can dramatically energize your segmentation and personalization capabilities. You can transform your entire marketing approach from fine-tuning email campaigns to influencing product development decisions.

The bottom line? While others scramble to replace third-party cookies, you'll build a robust first-party data foundation through strategic interactive emails.

4. Stronger Brand Differentiation

Interactive email content, like gamification elements, elevate standard promotional content into engaging moments of discovery and rewards.

When subscribers scratch to reveal their discount or spin a wheel to win their special offer, they're not receiving a promotion, they're participating in a fun brand experience.

The stronger emotional connection that it develops makes your brand more recognizable. Plus, subscribers are more likely to share it with colleagues or friends, organically extending your brand's reach.

Cons of Interactive Emails

Interactive emails are awesome but not without challenges.

1. Complex Coding Requirements

Creating interactive emails is not for the faint of heart. Advanced interactive features like add-to-cart functionality demand sophisticated coding expertise and significant development resources. If not executed properly, it can be costly.

2. Email Client Compatibility Issues

You know email clients play by different rules, so do not expect them to support your interactive email uniformly. Some ESPs may alter email code upon upload, potentially disrupting interactive elements.

Outlook might strip away your interactive elements, and Gmail might support only certain features. This inconsistency mandates your developers to create multiple fallback versions of your email, doubling the workload.

3. Load Time Concerns

Interactive emails tend to have larger file sizes that slow email load times. This is even more severe for mobile users. The frustrated recipients may even abandon emails, negatively impacting engagement rates.

4. Resource Intensive

In addition to the initial development, interactive emails require ongoing maintenance, testing across multiple email clients, and regular updates to ensure compatibility. This means more time, budget, and team resources dedicated to email production.

5. Mobile Optimization Challenges

Making interactive emails responsive so they render across both desktop and mobile adds more hoops to jump through during the development.

Best Practices to Implement Interactive Emails

• Use the right tools while creating interactive emails. Email marketing platforms like MailChimp support AMP for Email, and email template builders like Tabular.email offer interactive templates, plus, you can also use the email testing tool to test the rendering of CSS animations across various devices and ISPs.
• Your email design should be no-frills and simple. You do not want to overload your email with too many features.
• Identify and apply any necessary fallback options for clients that don’t support interactivity.
• To cater to recipients whose email clients may not support interactive elements, develop a static HTML alternative.
• If resources are limited or you’re hesitant about full interactivity, experiment with simpler alternatives. GIFs, surveys, social media widgets, clickable video thumbnails, or hover effects can do a good job of enhancing engagement without complex coding.

Wrapping Up

Interactive emails bring forth an exciting evolution in email marketing. And it is full of engaging email interactions and improved conversion rates. Sure, challenges exist. Coding complexity and inconsistent client support deter brands from using interactive elements in their email campaigns.

Perhaps when more brands begin to use different interactive features in their regular sends, we can expect greater adoption and innovation in this space. In the meantime, for the curious ones, agencies specializing in interactive email template design can help them not only gain a good foothold but also create fully interactive emails.