AI Email Summaries May Be Making Your Email Marketing INVISIBLE
For the past several decades, email marketing has been a machine. While there have certainly been changes and improvements, email has still been one of marketing’s most reliable and profitable channels.
But, just as AI is transforming practically everything, email marketing is no exception. With the introduction of AI-generated email summaries, home services businesses are quickly discovering they must change how they’re marketing through email. Of course, as is the case with most things AI, if you fail to adapt, you may be left behind.
What Are AI Email Summaries?
The goal of most AI innovations is to make life easier. AI email summaries are no exception. As you probably guessed, most every prospect you send an email to has an inbox that’s overflowing with new messages. Personal emails. Emails from colleagues and clients. Promotions. Even Spam.
In short, they’re drowning.
AI email summaries help to take the chore out of reading dozens of email messages a day. Instead of opening every email and reading it from beginning to end, AI email summaries prioritize the important information. Rather than combing through a 500-word email, the AI cuts it down to just a couple of sentences.
Sounds perfect, right? Well, what’s saving your customers and prospects countless hours each week, AI email summaries may be costing you clicks, quotes, jobs, and revenue!
How AI Summaries May Just Flatline Your Email Marketing
The “AI Boogeyman” strikes again! Read any AI article, watch most any AI video, and the conclusion is that AI is coming for our jobs and transforming everything we thought we knew.
While much of AI discussion nowadays is exaggerated and overly hyped, there are certain AI changes that you can’t ignore. How AI summaries will impact your email marketing is one you just can’t ignore.
A 2026 study reveals that as many as 55% of email users are utilizing AI summaries in some fashion. That’s over HALF your prospects and customers!
Today, all the main email platforms use AI summaries.
- Google uses Gemini for email summaries and AI-assisted inbox features.
- Apple’s AI features can summarize emails even before your prospect opens the message.
- Outlook relies on Microsoft Copilot to summarize email conversations, highlight important information, and help users understand lengthy messages.
- Yahoo has also introduced AI-powered email summaries and features that help users catch up on messages and manage their inbox.
In other words, this isn’t coming soon. It’s already here. And, in the next few months, more and more of your customers and prospects will employ AI to change how they get emails.
So, that multiple paragraph email you just sent to that prospect you’ve been trying to close…
Or that image-heavy email blast you’re sending to promote a new service…
The AI email summaries may make it all practically invisible.
Key Takeaway: If you continue writing your marketing emails the same way you always have, your results will suffer.
Fewer opens. Less engagement. A trickle of clicks.
Less bookings. A drop in revenue. Sinking profits.
Don’t worry… Spartan Digital has your back! We know what you need to do to outsmart AI and keep your email marketing rocking and rolling.
Outflank AI With These 6 Changes to Your Email Marketing
Because each of the main email platforms utilize different AI email summaries, you may have to consider each of these situations when writing your marketing emails.
- Your prospect sees only the subject line and preview text.
- Your prospect sees an AI summary before opening the email.
- Your prospect opens and reads the full email message.
Here are our 6 recommended changes you should consider to make sure your email marketing gets opened, read, and acted upon.
Put the primary message in the first paragraph.
Rather than “warm up” with an introduction, story, or analogy, start with the juiciest details. Lead with the actual value.
Identify the problem. Share your solution. Include any deals or deadline.
Consider your subject line and first paragraph as the king of your message.
Now, if the AI summarizes your email message, those elements have a better chance of being shown.Use bullets to communicate important information.
Today’s TikTok generation has the attention span of a goldfish. Coupled with AI email summaries, bullet points help to bring your message to life.
Of course, don’t turn every email into a list. However, bullets will make the message easier to understand.Don’t hide important info in graphics.
AI email summaries focus on text. Images are fine to make your email more engaging. However, any text within your graphics may be ignored by AI.
Use graphics to enhance your message, but not to carry the weight of the message.Keep your email focused on one primary idea.
Too often home services businesses send out emails that focus on multiple services and multiple promotions. In today’s AI generation, much of that email may be skipped.
Rather, give each email one central topic. This makes the message easier for both AI and humans to understand. And confusion often kills action.Make the CTA clear and specific.
If an AI summarizes your email, a vague call-to-action (CTA) may not survive the summary. “Click here to learn more” may be a popular go-to CTA, but it isn’t specific and doesn’t drive prospects to take action.
Instead, an ultra-clear “Click here to get a free window replacement consultation” tells the prospect exactly what to do. And it is more likely to be included in an AI summary.Write emails that can stand alone when summarized.
Imagine your prospect only sees the AI-generated email summary. Would they understand:
- What the email is about
- What opportunity you’re providing
- What problem you’re addressing
- What action you want them to take
By following these 6 email writing tips, any AI summary should include your most important points.
Our Recommendation: Let Spartan Digital Improve Your Email Marketing
Employing world-class marketers, designers, and copywriters, the Spartan team has helped countless local home services businesses improve their email marketing.
We start by truly understanding your business, your customers, and what makes you special. Next, we craft beautiful emails that are engaging and drive prospects to take action. Finally, we optimize every delivery so it hits your prospects’ inboxes to get read.
Of course, we also employ these 6 rules to accommodate today’s AI email summary engines.
Why hope, wish, and wait for your email marketing to drive clicks, calls, and bookings? Spartan Digital does it all for you.