What are the main concerns about AMP for email?

Key findings

• Limited support: Many email clients and providers do not fully support AMP, leading to a fragmented user experience and the necessity of robust HTML fallbacks. This limits the universal reach of interactive features.
• Development complexity: Creating and maintaining AMP emails requires specialized coding skills and adds significant complexity to the email production workflow, potentially outweighing the perceived benefits for many organizations.
• Security implications: The dynamic nature of AMP emails introduces new potential security vulnerabilities, raising questions about how user data is handled and whether malicious content could be embedded.
• Google's influence: As a Google-led initiative, concerns exist about a single entity having too much control over email standards, potentially leading to a less open and interoperable email ecosystem.

Key considerations

• Return on investment: Evaluate whether the enhanced interactivity provided by AMP justifies the increased development time, testing, and potential deliverability challenges. Consider if the gains in engagement outweigh the added costs. For more, see how AMP impacts deliverability.
• Fallback strategy: Always prioritize a well-designed HTML fallback version to ensure a consistent and accessible experience for all recipients, regardless of their email client's AMP support.
• Deliverability impact: Monitor your inbox placement and engagement metrics closely when implementing AMP to ensure it does not negatively affect your overall email deliverability. Read more about AMP code and spam placement.
• Evolving support: While Outlook.com announced developer preview support for AMP for email, its long-term commitment and broader adoption across other clients remain uncertain. Keep up-to-date on developments, such as those discussed by Microsoft's tech community.

Key opinions

• ROI skepticism: Many marketers question if the return on investment justifies the significant effort required for AMP development and maintenance.
• Development overhead: The need for specialized coding and extensive testing adds a substantial burden to email teams, especially for those with limited development resources.
• Audience reach: Given that not all email clients support AMP, marketers worry about excluding segments of their audience from the interactive experience, requiring careful segmentation and fallback planning.
• Performance tracking: Challenges in accurately tracking performance and user interactions within dynamic AMP emails can hinder campaign optimization efforts, as highlighted by Mailmodo's guide on limitations.

Key considerations

• Resource allocation: Assess whether dedicating resources to AMP development aligns with overall marketing goals and budget, especially when considering alternative ways to enhance email engagement.
• Audience compatibility: Understand your subscriber base's email client usage to determine if a significant portion will actually benefit from AMP functionality, which is critical for successful implementation. For deliverability, understand why your emails fail.
• Brand control: Consider the implications of Google's influence over the AMP standard and whether this aligns with your brand's philosophy on open web technologies.
• Content strategy: Evaluate if your email content genuinely benefits from interactivity, or if a well-designed static email with clear calls to action remains more effective for your objectives. Sometimes image-based emails are not good practice.

Key opinions

• Vendor lock-in: Concerns are frequently raised about AMP being a Google-controlled technology, potentially giving one company too much influence over email's future and leading to a closed ecosystem.
• Security surface area: The introduction of dynamic content and remote requests within emails broadens the attack surface for phishing and malware, making it harder for receivers to detect malicious content.
• Complexity and debugging: Debugging deliverability issues with AMP content is significantly more complex due to the dual HTML and AMP versions and the dynamic nature of the content. This is especially true given why your emails go to spam.
• Fundamental email principles: Some argue that AMP fundamentally changes email from a static, archival medium to a dynamic application, potentially undermining its core strengths and introducing unforeseen issues, as explored by Intelligencer's view on AMP email.

Key considerations

• Standardization efforts: Consider the long-term implications of adopting a proprietary standard versus advocating for open, community-driven email technologies.
• Risk assessment: Thoroughly assess the security risks associated with fetching live content into inboxes and implement robust validation and sanitization processes.
• Deliverability impact: Be aware that complex, dynamic content can trigger stricter spam filters or even cause emails to be blocklisted, impacting overall inbox placement. This is similar to how who is using AMP in email can face roadblocks.
• Future-proofing: Evaluate whether investing in AMP is a sustainable long-term strategy for your email program, given its evolving support and the broader changes in email authentication (e.g., Google and Yahoo sending changes in 2024).

Key findings

• Whitelisting requirement: Senders must be whitelisted by supporting email clients (e.g., Gmail) to send AMP emails, which adds a barrier to entry and control mechanism, as outlined by Stripo's explanation of whitelisting.
• Mandatory HTML fallback: All AMP emails must include a standard HTML fallback version to ensure deliverability and readability in clients that do not support AMP.
• Strict security model: AMP for email operates within a tightly controlled sandbox environment to prevent malicious code execution, limiting the types of interactive elements allowed.
• Limited component set: Only a specific set of AMP components and HTML tags are permitted, restricting design freedom compared to traditional web development.

Key considerations

• Adherence to specifications: Strictly follow the AMP for email specifications to ensure proper rendering and prevent emails from being flagged as spam or not rendering correctly.
• Thorough testing: Extensive testing across various email clients and devices is crucial to ensure both the AMP and HTML fallback versions display as intended. This is similar to how BIMI setup for AMP requires testing.
• Security best practices: Despite AMP's built-in security, always follow general email security best practices, such as ensuring all links use HTTPS, to protect your recipients. Learn why HTTPS is important for links.