iOS18 Mail Updates: What Email Marketers Need to Know
With the release of iOS18, Apple is rolling out significant updates to its Mail app, set to change how users interact with their inboxes. Much like Gmail’s shift to a more organized inbox with tab categories, these updates are designed to help users better manage their email flow, prioritizing time-sensitive information and offering more control over inbox organization. For email marketers, this means that strategies must evolve to adapt to new features that will influence email visibility and engagement.
“This is going to be one of the most significant updates to the inbox experience that we’ve seen in years. With Apple’s 48% email market share, we anticipate an impact to KPIs, but given some of the updates are limited to newer devices, we’ll have the benefit of seeing this impact gradually. This gives us time to get ahead and optimize before the majority of subscribers experience the new inbox. While exciting, it introduces new challenges as we adapt to an evolving subscriber experience.”
Kellie Collins Associate Director, Email & SMS at Tinuiti
While Apple has not yet provided a firm release date for these Mail app features, they are expected to roll out by the end of the year. Some users opted into Apple’s beta program are already seeing key features such as email summaries.
Key Features Impacting Email Marketers
Let’s break down the key features involved in this announcement and what this means for email marketers moving forward.
1. Priority Messages*
With iOS18, time-sensitive emails—such as travel details, meeting invites, and other urgent notifications—will be given priority. These messages will appear at the top of the inbox, ensuring that critical, real-time information is easily accessible. Marketers sending these types of communications may see increased engagement due to this enhanced visibility.
2. Digest View
This feature groups emails by sender and unread status, making it easier for users to locate specific messages. Promotional emails, transactions, and updates will be grouped together, providing a cleaner, more organized inbox experience. This change could reduce the prominence of marketing emails but improve accessibility for users actively searching for them.
3. Categorization
Apple will automatically organize emails into five categories:
- Primary: Personal conversations and time-sensitive emails.
- Transactions: Receipts and order confirmations.
- Updates: Newsletters and other general messages.
- Promotions: Marketing and sales-related messages.
- All Mail: A comprehensive view similar to the current default.
This segmentation allows users to have more control over their inbox, and brands may find themselves moved between tabs depending on user behavior. For marketers, this highlights the importance of delivering relevant, valuable content to avoid being relegated to less prominent tabs.
4. Unread Email Highlighting
iOS18 will elevate unread emails to the top of the inbox, ensuring users see new content more easily. This feature emphasizes the need for marketers to craft engaging subject lines and content that prompts users to open and interact with their emails quickly.
5. Bulk Unsubscribe Feature
The new bulk unsubscribe option makes it easier for users to clean up their inboxes, allowing them to unsubscribe from multiple senders in one action. Marketers should focus on retaining subscriber engagement with personalized, valuable content to avoid being part of an inbox purge.
6. Email Summaries & Pre-header Adjustments*
Apple’s new AI-driven Email Summaries feature will provide a summary of emails and adjust pre-header copy. This means that the pre-header you painstakingly crafted may be replaced by Apple’s interpretation, depending heavily on the content within your email. As AI can process text more effectively than images – we encourage coding campaigns using live text rather than using text embedded within an image.
*Indicates Apple Intelligence feature limited to the latest devices such as iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max and above. It’s important to note that these capabilities are limited to devices equipped with the necessary processing power to handle AI. As a result, many people may not immediately see these benefits, especially if they are using older hardware. However, as more people upgrade their devices over time, the reach and impact of Apple Intelligence will inevitably expand.
What This Means for Email Marketers
Like Gmail’s shift to tabbed inboxes, these changes may lead to an initial decline in email KPIs. However, the long-term outlook suggests that engaged subscribers will become even more engaged, while disengaged users are likely to stay that way.
“Now, more than ever, it’s crucial to prioritize user behavior and align with their preferences. As users gain greater control over their inboxes, we must meet them on their terms. These new features open up unprecedented opportunities for deeper engagement with our audience—so long as we consistently deliver content that resonates with what they want.”
Cathy Mace Senior Manager, Email & SMS at Tinuiti
Marketers should focus on:
- Personalization: Ensure email campaigns are highly relevant to each subscriber.
- Time Sensitivity: Optimize campaigns for time-sensitive offers or updates that can benefit from the new prioritization features. It’s unknown how AI will deem these notifications as time sensitive but assumptions could be made to events, transportation and order updates.
- Live Text Best Practices: Begin moving towards coding campaigns using live text rather than relying on text embedded within image slices. If you can’t make this immediate move, consider placing critical information as live text in the footer, similar to a disclaimer to allow Apple Intelligence to pick up this information.
- Apple Branded Email: Using Apple Business Connect, you can control how your brand shows up across Mail, Maps, Wallet, Siri and more. Use ABC’s Branded Email to add your brand logo and name to your business owners, helping you stand out in the Mail App in Digest View (and more!).
Conclusion
Apple Mail holds 48.33% of the email client market share, so these updates will have a considerable impact on how users interact with marketing emails. Once the full iOS18 Mail update is live, it will be critical to monitor performance metrics closely and adjust strategies accordingly.
Have additional questions about this announcement? Contact us today for more information.
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