Email marketing trends 2027: 8 changes that are already here (and a template for each one)
What is changing in email, backed by data, and a template to apply each change in your next campaign
Every year someone announces that email is dead. And every year more people use it.
According to Spain’s INE (National Statistics Institute), 89.1% of Spanish internet users used email in 2025, and Radicati estimates there will be around 4.849 billion email users worldwide in 2027.
What does change, and a lot, is the way email marketing is done. That is what the email marketing trends we cover here are about.
Mailbox providers are setting stricter rules, AI writes messages and reads them too, and the usual metrics no longer tell the whole story.
In this guide you will find the 8 email marketing trends for 2027 that will affect your business the most.
Each one includes the data behind it, what it means in practice and a template to apply it from your next campaign.
Email marketing trends 2027 at a glance
Before going into detail, here is a summary of the email marketing trends for 2027. If you only have a minute, this table is all you need.
| Trend | What changes | What to do now |
|---|---|---|
| 1. AI writes with you | Drafts, subject lines and images in minutes | Use AI for the first draft, not for the final send |
| 2. AI reads your emails too | Gmail and Apple Mail summarize messages | Put the important part in the first sentence |
| 3. AI agents that manage campaigns | ChatGPT or Claude connected to your account | Try asking them for reports and drafts |
| 4. Stricter delivery rules | SPF, DKIM, DMARC and one-click unsubscribe required | Check your sending domain |
| 5. Open rate matters less | Apple Mail inflates opens | Measure clicks, replies and sales |
| 6. Data the subscriber gives you | Less tracking, more direct questions | Send a preferences email |
| 7. Coordinated email, SMS and WhatsApp | Each channel for its moment | Design a multichannel sequence |
| 8. Accessible, simpler emails | Accessibility law and mobile reading | Check contrast, alt text and length |
1. AI writes with you (but not for you)
AI is already part of the daily routine of anyone doing email marketing. It writes subject lines, suggests structures, adapts the tone and generates images in seconds.
Among the email marketing trends for 2027, this is the most visible. The challenge now is using it better. Emails written entirely by a machine all look alike, and your list notices.
What works is using it for the first draft and to test variants, and leaving the final review to someone who knows your customers.
We explain it in depth in our guide to AI in email marketing, with prompts you can copy.
Copy this: a prompt to generate subject lines.
| Prompt | Why it works |
|---|---|
| “Write 10 subject lines under 45 characters for a [campaign type] email from [business]. Audience: [description]. Tone: [friendly / formal]. Avoid capital letters, multiple exclamation marks and words like ‘free’ or ‘urgent’. Give me two with a question, two with a number and two with a direct benefit.” | It gives context, sets limits and asks for variety for an A/B test |
2. AI reads your emails too
More and more people don’t read your email: they read a summary. Apple Mail, with Apple Intelligence, can show a summary instead of the preview, and Gmail offers Gemini summaries in some accounts.
It is one of the least visible email marketing trends, and one with the biggest impact. It changes the way you write. If the important part is in the third paragraph, the summary may leave it out.
And if the email beats around the bush, AI will summarize it as something confusing.
The solution is simple: say the important part first. A clear subject line, a preheader that completes it and a first sentence that works on its own.
Copy this: a first sentence that sums up the email.
| Email type | First sentence |
|---|---|
| Offer | “Until Sunday you get 20% off the entire winter collection.” |
| Event | “Join us on Thursday the 12th at 6:00 p.m. for our webinar on [topic]; registration is free.” |
| Notice | “Our customer service hours change on December 1: here is how it affects you.” |
3. AI agents that manage your campaigns
The next step for AI is taking action. AI agents can look up data, prepare drafts or create segments if you connect them to your tools.
The piece that makes this possible is the MCP protocol, which lets you connect assistants like ChatGPT or Claude to other applications.
At Mailrelay we have an MCP server, now in beta: you activate it through a ticket and, for now, it is also available on the free account.
Of all the email marketing trends, this is the newest. What does it mean for you? That tasks like “tell me which campaign got the most clicks last month” or “prepare a draft for my subscribers in Madrid” are starting to be solved with a single sentence.
What an agent can do depends on the functions each server offers; you can see the available ones on our MCP server page. If you want to understand how the protocol works, we explain it in the MCP glossary entry.
Copy this: three requests to test an agent connected to your email tool.
| Request | What it is for |
|---|---|
| “Summarize the results of my last three campaigns: clicks, unsubscribes and bounces.” | A quick report without opening the dashboard |
| “Which campaign this quarter had the most unsubscribes, and what was its subject line?” | Spot which messages wear out your list |
| “Write a draft newsletter with this week’s news: [list].” | A first draft ready to review |
4. Stricter delivery rules in Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook
Sending without authentication is no longer an option. Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo have required bulk senders to authenticate their domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, offer one-click unsubscribe and keep their spam complaint rate below 0.3%.
Outlook joined in 2025 with similar requirements for high-volume senders.
For 2027, the trend is for these rules to be enforced more strictly, which is why it tops many lists of email marketing trends.
Emails that don’t comply won’t just go to spam: they may be rejected outright.
The good news is that you fix it once and forget about it. We explain how in how to meet Outlook, Gmail and Yahoo requirements to keep your emails out of spam.
Copy this: deliverability checklist for 2027.
| Check | Where to look |
|---|---|
| SPF record for your sending domain | Your domain’s DNS |
| DKIM signature active | DNS and sending tool |
| DMARC policy published | Your domain’s DNS |
| Visible unsubscribe link and one-click unsubscribe | Your email footer and List-Unsubscribe header |
| Spam complaints below 0.3% | Google Postmaster Tools |
Start 2027 with your emails in the inbox
Send from a platform that is ready for the Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook rules, with up to 80,000 free emails a month.
5. Open rate is no longer the top metric
If you still measure your campaigns by open rate, you are looking at an unreliable number. Since September 2021, Apple Mail can download email images in advance to protect privacy, and that counts as an open even if nobody has read the message.
On top of that come AI summaries: someone can find out about your offer without opening the email. That is why, among the email marketing trends, the shift in metrics is one of the most urgent.
So the email marketing statistics that matter in 2027 are the ones that reflect real actions.
Copy this: what to measure instead of opens.
| Metric | What it tells you | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Click-through rate | Whether the content is interesting | In every campaign |
| Replies | Whether you start conversations | In relationship or service emails |
| Conversions and sales | Whether the email makes money | In sales campaigns |
| Unsubscribe rate | Whether you are wearing out your list | After every send |
| Spam complaints | Whether you are annoying people | Every month |
6. Data the subscriber gives you
It is getting harder to learn about your audience from what they do; it is easier to ask them. With more privacy in browsers and mailbox providers, the data subscribers give you voluntarily (interests, frequency, preferences) is gaining value.
It is one of the easiest email marketing trends to apply.
A well-made preferences email does two jobs: it gives you information to segment and it reduces unsubscribes, because people who get fewer but more relevant emails have fewer reasons to leave.
Copy this: preferences email.
| Element | Text |
|---|---|
| Subject line | Want us to write to you about what really interests you? |
| Preheader | Choose topics and frequency in 30 seconds |
| Body | “We want every email we send you to be worth it. Tell us what interests you and how often you want to hear from us, and we’ll tailor our emails to you.” |
| Button | Choose my preferences |
7. Email, SMS and WhatsApp, each at the right moment
Email no longer works alone. Spain’s INE reports that 98.8% of Spanish internet users use instant messaging, and customers expect brands to talk to them through the right channel at each moment.
In the email marketing trends for 2027, multichannel means sharing the work across channels instead of repeating the same message. Email tells the story, SMS flags what is urgent and WhatsApp is for conversation.
If you are not sure which one to use in each case, we explain it in email, SMS or WhatsApp: which channel to use.
From the same Mailrelay account you can send email, SMS and WhatsApp campaigns.
Copy this: multichannel sequence for a 3-day offer.
| When | Channel | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1, morning | Offer announcement, with products and terms | |
| Day 2, afternoon | Email (only to those who didn’t click) | Reminder with a different subject line |
| Day 3, 10:00 a.m. | SMS | “Last day: 20% off the whole store until 11:59 p.m. [link]” |
| After purchase | Confirmation and thank you |
8. Accessible, simpler emails
An email that can’t be read properly doesn’t work, however nice it looks. Since June 28, 2025, the European Accessibility Act has applied in the European Union, requiring many digital services, such as ecommerce, to be accessible.
And even if your business is not required to comply, caring about accessibility makes reading easier for everyone.
Add to that another of the email marketing trends, this one about design: shorter emails, with one idea per message and fewer images.
They work better on mobile, load faster and reach the inbox more reliably.
You will find all the details in our guides to accessible email and dark mode.
Copy this: accessibility checklist for your next newsletter.
- Real text, not images with text: if the image doesn’t load, the message is still there.
- Alt text on every image: describe what it shows in one sentence.
- Enough contrast: dark text on a light background, and check how it looks in dark mode.
- Readable font size: between 14 and 16 pixels for the body, with a simple typeface.
- Descriptive buttons and links: “See the collection” is better than “Click here”.
How Mailrelay helps you follow these trends
With Mailrelay you can apply these email marketing trends from the free account.
The editor includes AI to generate templates, improve copy and create images, and our MCP server lets you connect ChatGPT or Claude to your account.
You can segment your list with the data your subscribers give you, test subject lines with an A/B test and measure clicks, unsubscribes and bounces for every campaign.
From the same account you send email, SMS and WhatsApp. And you have more than 190 email templates to get started without designing from scratch.
The free account includes up to 80,000 emails a month and 20,000 contacts, with human support on every plan. You can see the details on our pricing page.
Try the 2027 trends in your next campaign
AI editor, A/B testing, segmentation, and email, SMS and WhatsApp in the same account. With human support on every plan.
Conclusion: what doesn’t change in 2027
Email marketing trends change, but the foundation stays the same: send something useful to people who have asked to receive it.
AI helps you write faster, the new rules reward those who do things right and honest metrics tell you what really works. If you have to choose where to start with these email marketing trends, check your sending domain and stop measuring only opens.
Those are the two changes with the most immediate impact.
And if you are planning the year, combine these email marketing trends with our 2027 marketing calendar: you will have the dates and how to approach them.
Frequently asked questions about email marketing trends
These are the most common questions about email marketing trends and the future of the channel.
Does email marketing still work in 2027?
Yes. 89.1% of Spanish internet users used email in 2025, according to Spain’s INE, and the number of users worldwide keeps growing.
What changes is the way it is done: more authentication, better metrics and more relevant messages.
What is the most important email marketing trend for 2027?
The one with the most immediate impact is the delivery rules of Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook.
Without SPF, DKIM, DMARC and one-click unsubscribe, your emails may not arrive, no matter how good their content is.
Will AI replace email marketing?
No, but it is transforming it. AI helps you write, summarizes emails for the people who receive them and is starting to handle tasks through agents.
Email is still the channel; AI changes how it is prepared and how it is read.
Why is open rate no longer reliable?
Because since 2021 Apple Mail can download email images in advance to protect privacy, and that is recorded as an open even if nobody reads the message.
That is why it is better to measure clicks, replies and conversions.
What do I need to change in my campaigns for 2027?
To apply the email marketing trends, start with three things: authenticate your sending domain, put the important part in the first sentence of every email and measure clicks and sales instead of opens.
Then try AI for drafts and a preferences email to get to know your list better.
Jose Argudo
CMO at Mailrelay. Writes about email marketing, copywriting and conversion for small businesses and entrepreneurs.