In 2025, the adoption of AI tools skyrocketed, TikTok dodged a ban in the United States, and social media companies overhauled their algorithms. While the digital marketing landscape shifted rapidly, one tried-and-true tactic quietly continued to gain steam: email marketing.
With analysts predicting there will be 4.97 billion global email users by 2028, it’s no wonder email marketing was one of the top trends of the year. According to Salesforce, email remains the most-used outbound marketing channel.
Understanding what’s working for other companies can sharpen your own email marketing strategy. In this guide, you’ll discover seven of the latest email marketing trends shaping customer engagement in 2026, along with practical ways to apply each one to your business.
Why email marketing matters for small businesses
Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies to convert potential customers and continue building relationships with current ones. That’s because it uses detailed customer data like past purchases and browsing behavior to deliver relevant content.
Customer relationship (CRM) systems and customer data platforms (CDPs) collect the sophisticated information that supports these campaigns. Luckily for small business owners, these tools have never been more accessible. Shopify, for example, automatically collects browsing, purchase, and order data that can help you tailor your emails to audience segments and individual shoppers.
Email marketing is also a highly cost-effective strategy, averaging about 7.8% of total marketing spend, while delivering an average return on investment (ROI) of $36 for every dollar spent. Impressive returns like this could be thanks to email’s open rate, which averages nearly 36% across all industries. These strong ROI and engagement metrics often lead to higher conversions compared to social media.
Email marketing trends to inspire your marketing strategy
- Built-in AI tools that save time
- Smarter automation that responds to behavior
- Personalization beyond the first name
- Weaving in interactive elements
- Designing with mobile devices in mind
- Using social media to grow newsletter subscriptions
- Prioritizing accessibility
The first mass email campaign was sent to 400 recipients in 1978. Nearly 50 years later, the technology and strategies that power email marketing are still evolving. To help you navigate the changes, here are seven of the latest trends that are shaping email marketing:
1. Built-in AI tools that save time
As artificial intelligence (AI) use continues to rise in popularity, marketers are using it to speed up their email campaign workflow. Email platforms had helpful tools before, like being able to segment audiences based on their behavior. Now, AI is built into a lot of ecommerce platforms, adding speed to the equation.
Shopify, for example, includes AI tools that analyze customer data and give you suggestions for better email performance, like the best time to send emails. AI is also making it easier to navigate customer data and set up campaigns—you can interact with Sidekick in a chat format (like ChatGPT) to ask questions and give it prompts.
Generative AI tools can also help you craft your message. AI uses natural language processing (NLP) to match your writing style and draft professional-level emails. For example, you could use AI to draft a welcome email series to new subscribers in minutes instead of hours. Just remember, you’ll need to oversee everything AI creates to ensure it’s accurate, not hallucinating, and aligns with your brand voice. Ensure that you also protect your customer data when using any AI tools to avoid data privacy breaches. To learn more, see our guide on mitigating AI risks.
2. Smarter automation that responds to behavior
Email automation has been common since 2023, when 63% of marketers said email automation was the top marketing trend included in their plans. Now, the focus has shifted to how intelligently those automations respond to customer behaviors.
Platforms like Shopify Email and Klaviyo, for instance, allow you to design dynamic email flows that respond to real-time customer behavior, not just static timelines. You can automatically send detailed customer reviews about a product that a first-time visitor browsed and send personalized loyalty incentives to returning customers.
This shift means moving away from the email blasts to timely, targeted messaging. Shopify lets you filter your audiences so they land only in the inboxes of people who’ve placed an order, opened your emails before, and actively subscribed to messaging.
These detailed parameters help improve the chances that your emails reach a receptive audience—which means higher open rates and fewer unsubscribes.
3. Personalization beyond the first name
Over the past decade, email personalization has evolved from simply using someone’s name in a subject line to sending tailored messages based on behavioral data. Personalizing content isn’t just a marketing tactic; it’s what consumers expect, and they’re willing to spend more with brands that deliver. HubSpot’s State of Marketing found that 96% of marketers reported that personalization boosted sales.
First-party data (i.e., data you collect about your customers’ interactions with your site) is one of the key factors that has allowed brands to up their personalization capabilities. By creating dynamic segments that automatically move your customers from one segment to another based on their behavior, you can craft even more relevant messaging than before.
For example, on Shopify Email, a merchant could create a segment for first-time buyers. After that purchase, they are moved into a repeat buyer segment for greater personalization. First-party data also helps you automatically send tailored messages and promotions based on browsing and purchase history, location, and actions like signing up for a newsletter.
4. Weaving in interactive elements
Rather than simply delivering information to audiences, interactive emails invite your audience to take part in the experience. With so many users receiving emails these days, opportunities for active participation can help your emails stand out, reduce email fatigue, and boost engagement.
Interactive emails can include elements like quizzes, games, image carousels, GIFs, or even embedded video content. For the most impactful interactive elements, keep them simple. Make sure they speak to the main message you’re trying to get across. Use them strategically rather than just for interactivity’s sake. Platforms like spellbound.io or Litmus can help email marketers create interactive widgets without having to code or learn programming languages like HTML5.
5. Designing with mobile devices in mind
Today’s adults spend an average of nearly seven hours per day on screens. Screen time, combined with the fact that mobile devices account for more than half of all web traffic, means optimizing emails for mobile is a necessity in 2026.
Making sure your email design works on mobile means using images that load on phones quickly, laying out content into a single column, and choosing responsive templates that can automatically adjust to screens on different devices. Keep your subject line in mind for mobile, so the main point isn’t cut off when reading on a smaller screen. Most email marketing platforms, like Shopify Email, allow you to preview your designs across desktop and various devices.
The Mexican soda brand De La Calle, for example, is an expert at designing emails for mobile. Big, bold designs paired with bright product photography immediately catch your eye. Clear CTAs at the top get the point across quickly, whether it’s a sale, a new flavor, or an update from the brand.
6. Using social media to grow newsletter subscriptions
To deploy successful email marketing campaigns, you need email subscribers. Social media can be an effective tool for promoting and growing your email list. Short-form video content, carousels, polls, and many interactive features within social media platforms can be useful for building excitement for updates from your brand.
The food company Brightland, for example, creates content that teases big announcements and directs its audience to sign up for emails to stay updated on the reveal. Case in point: They posted a series of teaser reels in the summer of 2025 for a line of new oils, encouraging viewers to stay up to date on the latest trends by signing up for email through the link in their bio.
7. Prioritizing accessibility
In many countries, designing accessible email content isn’t optional—it’s legally mandatory. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) provides recommended standards and legal accessibility requirements for various countries. Designing email content so people with disabilities can access, interact with, and understand it expands your reach, improves customer experience, and protects your business.
Here are some of the most important principles to implement in your own email interactions with customers:
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Perceivable. Deliver content and information so anyone can access it. For instance, you’ll want devices like screen readers (i.e., tools that translate what’s on screen into audio are common) to be able to describe everything that’s happening in your email. It’ll automatically read all the copy, but you’ll also want to provide alt-text for all the images included.
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Operable. All users should be able to navigate the page in ways other than using a mouse (e.g., by using voice controls or a keyboard).
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Understandable. The user experience (UX) should be clear. For content readability, avoid overly complex vocabulary and sentence structures.
Email marketing trends FAQ
Is email marketing still relevant?
Email marketing remains highly relevant. With billions of email users worldwide, and an average return on investment (ROI) of $36 for every dollar spent, marketers understand that email marketing platforms can engage customers in more personalized ways that lead to sales.
Is consent required for email marketing?
According to the Federal Trade Commission guidelines for business in the US, consent is not required to start sending emails, but an opt-out or unsubscribe option is legally required. In Canada and the European Union, consent is required to begin sending emails. Check compliance laws wherever you are running email marketing campaigns.
What are email marketing design trends for 2026?
Bold text, snappy headlines, and eye-catching images are becoming more popular ways to capture attention. For improved readability, brands are also turning to interesting 3D floating elements, like cutouts of their products in front of bold text. Across all design trends, brands are optimizing their emails to work well on mobile devices.
