--- title: "Four Email Tech Trends to Keep an Eye On" id: "50921" type: "post" slug: "four-email-tech-trends-to-keep-an-eye-on" published_at: "2020-08-13T23:18:14+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-17T03:56:04+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2020/08/13/four-email-tech-trends-to-keep-an-eye-on/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2020/08/13/four-email-tech-trends-to-keep-an-eye-on.md" excerpt: "From design concepts to artificial intelligence, there’s a lot going on with email technology these days that could improve your promotion strategies. Here’s what you should watch for." taxonomy_category: - "Marketing / Communications" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "digital market" - "Marketing" - "Technology" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Director" - "Manager" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Four Email Tech Trends to Keep an Eye On Email marketing is an evergreen strategy, but that doesn’t mean the technology itself stays still. In fact, evolutions in email tech could open up new opportunities if you’re ready to leap on them. It could be the difference between a forgotten email and one that hits all your metrics in a big way. These are a few email tech opportunities worth keeping an eye on: **Images in Gmail promotion cards.** For years, Google has been adding support for metadata that allows email messages to take advantage of extra features in Gmail and similar tools. One that could boost open rate on mobile [is the addition of promotion cards (opens in a new tab)](https://developers.google.com/gmail/promotab/overview) , which some Gmail users may see when opening up the promotions tab. By adding this data, you can get an extra visual pop that a subject line might not be able to pull off on its own. [The tech platform FreshInbox has a tool (opens in a new tab)](http://freshinbox.com/tools/gmailpromotab/) for adding the images to your messages. **Expanded use of artificial intelligence.** From your subject lines to your send times to what actually goes into the message, [artificial intelligence will increasingly come to define the experience of emails](https://associationsnow.com/2019/08/ai-and-email-a-match-made-in-heaven/) in the years to come. “AI can analyze the open rates of your emails, helping you better understand what types of subject lines your customers respond to most often,” [according to the email tech firm NeverBounce (opens in a new tab)](https://neverbounce.com/blog/how-artificial-intelligence-will-change-your-email-marketing-strategy) . “This removes a tremendous amount of guesswork from the process. As a result, AI email technology can analyze what types of content and copy are most effective.” **Better email signatures.** For years, marketers have known that email signatures are a key way to draw new leads without thinking about it. But that means they’re often an afterthought, argues Lindsay Kolowich on the HubSpot blog. “Those signatures are a chance for you to make it clear who you are, make it easy for people to reach you, and give people a place to go to find out more—either about you, about your business, or about something you’re working on,” [she says (opens in a new tab)](https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/professional-email-signatures) . They deserve more attention. **The rise of dark mode.** Whether your operating system of choice is MacOS or Windows, you are probably familiar with “dark mode,” a visual layout that minimizes the level of bright light in your face, making the screen easier on your eyes. Mobile platforms have been adding this functionality as well in recent years, and now it’s email’s turn. [The tech platform Email on Acid notes (opens in a new tab)](https://www.emailonacid.com/blog/article/email-development/dark-mode-for-email/) that some email platforms are automatically turning on dark mode, which could cause issues with your email design: “The dilemma email marketers face is do they try and hack Dark Mode and force the colors they choose to ensure the email renders as they intend? Or, do they accept that the end user wants to view things in this manner and hacking the Dark Mode is fighting the user’s needs?” Your devs may want to come up with alternative layouts that consider this use case. (D3Damon/iStock/Getty Images Plus) [Ernie Smith](https://associationsnow.com/author/ernie-smith/) Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. 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