THE EMAIL GROWTH SHOW EPISODE 180

Apple Mail just made a big move – and if you send emails, you need to know about it.

They’re rolling out AI-generated summaries that replace the preview text you thought you had control over. Which means… the inbox is changing. Again.

So what does that mean for your open rates? Your subject lines? Your content strategy?

In this solo episode, I’m breaking it all down in plain English – no panic required – and walking you through how to adapt right now so your emails still land, get opened, and convert.

TL:DR:

What you’ll learn in this episode:

– What Apple Mail’s AI summaries are (and who they impact)
– Why preview text might be dead 💀
– How to adapt your subject lines and intro copy
– Why your sender name and relationship with your list just became 10x more important
– 5 steps to make your emails stand out in the new inbox era

Listen to this episode here:

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What are Apple Mail’s AI summaries?

First things first – what exactly is happening?

• Apple Mail is introducing AI-generated summaries. Instead of showing the preview text that you carefully craft, Apple Mail will automatically generate a summary of your email.

• Subject lines are still important. Your subject line will remain unchanged, meaning it’s still your #1 opportunity to grab attention.

• The first lines of your email now matter more than ever. Since Apple Mail’s AI pulls from your actual content, the first few sentences of your email might influence what people see in the inbox.

• You lose control over your preview text. If you’ve been optimising your preview text to boost open rates, that strategy may no longer work for Apple Mail users.

And let’s not forget – Apple Mail has a massive market share.

So even if this doesn’t impact Gmail or Outlook (yet), it’s still a huge deal for email marketers.

What this means for your email strategy?

So, what’s the impact? Will this destroy your open rates? Not necessarily.

Here’s what matters more than ever:

Your sender name is CRUCIAL.

Let’s be honest – your best subscribers aren’t just opening because of the preview text or even the subject line. They’re opening because they know, like, and trust YOU. If you’ve built a strong relationship with your list, people will actively look for your name in the inbox.

This is why engagement matters more than ever. Your goal isn’t just to get subscribers – it’s to build a community that wants to hear from you.

Subject lines still carry the weight. Since AI summaries are replacing preview text, your subject line is now the only element you fully control. You need to make it count!

Your first few sentences must be STRONG.

AI summaries might pull from the first few lines of your email – so instead of wasting space with fluff, get straight to the point. Use a hook, ask a question, or share a bold statement to capture attention fast. social.

Clear, engaging content matters more than clever tricks. If you’ve been relying on “preview text hacks” to increase opens, it’s time to shift focus to the overall quality of your emails.

A strong relationship with your list will outperform any algorithm or technological change.

5 things you can do to adapt right now!

1. Strengthen your sender name. If your subscribers trust you, they’ll open your emails no matter what Apple Mail does. Build that relationship.

2. Refocus on subject lines. Treat your subject line like a headline – it’s the first (and sometimes only) chance to capture attention.

3. Start your emails with impact. The first sentence needs to hook the reader – because Apple Mail might turn it into your preview text.

4. Keep an eye on your email analytics. Track open rates to see if Apple Mail users respond differently. Test different approaches and refine over time.

5. Engage your list regularly. Your subscribers should expect to hear from you – so email consistently, provide value, and make your audience WANT to open your emails.

Final Thoughts: Apple Mail’s AI Summaries aren’t bad.

Change happens all the time in digital marketing, and this is just another shift to navigate. If you’re building genuine relationships with your subscribers, you have nothing to worry about.

Yes, you’ll need to tweak your approach. Yes, you should test and optimise. But at the end of the day? The best email marketers will always win – because they focus on value, not hacks.

If you want to dive deeper into email marketing strategies, make sure you’re inside The Email Growth Club – where I share up to date insights, templates, and coaching to help you make email marketing work for YOU.

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Full Transcript:

Kylie Kelly [00:00:00]:
More than half of the world’s email users use Apple Mail. More than half. 53.67%. So I can guarantee that a lot of your email subscribers are using Apple Mail to actually read their emails. So yes, it is important. Are you a female business owner frustrated with battling the algorithm and looking for growth strategies that don’t involve awkwardly pointing or dancing online or throwing cash at paid ads? Welcome to The Email Growth Show. I’m your host, Kylie Kelly, visibility and email marketing strategist. I grew my email list from zero to almost 10,000 subscribers in less than two years, and the same is possible for you too.

Kylie Kelly [00:00:40]:
Are you ready to build your email list and start making more money in your online business? Let’s head into today’s episode. Hey. Hey. Welcome back to the email growth show. Today, we’re talking about a big shift happening in email marketing. And if you send emails, you do need to know about this. Apple Mail is making changes that could completely change how your emails appear in the inbox. Specifically, AI generated summaries are replacing the custom preview text, which means anyone using email as their marketing platform might lose control over one of the most important inbox elements.

Kylie Kelly [00:01:18]:
So what does this mean for you? Are your emails about to become less effective? Will your open rates drop? Or is there a way to use this change to your advantage? Today, we’re breaking down what’s happening, what this means for you and your email strategy, and what you can do right now to prepare. Let’s dive on in. So first things first, what exactly is happening? So Apple Mail is introducing AI generated summaries. So instead of showing the preview text that you carefully craft that goes alongside that subject line, Apple Mail is automatically generating a summary of your email. Now my reaction to this when I first heard it was like, well, is that really that important? Like, I don’t use Apple Mail. I then did some research and found out that as of September, so pretty recently, more than half of the world’s email users use Apple Mail. More than half. 53.67%.

Kylie Kelly [00:02:10]:
So I can guarantee that a lot of your email subscribers are using Apple Mail to actually read their emails. So yes, it is important. I do want to stress though that subject lines are still important. Your subject line is going to remain unchanged, meaning that it’s still your number one opportunity to grab attention. Alongside that, the first lines of your email now are going to matter more than ever. Because Apple Mail’s AI is going to pull from your actual content, the first few sentences of your email might influence the AI summary. Right? So what’s the impact? Will this destroy your open rates? Not necessarily. This is what matters more than ever.

Kylie Kelly [00:02:48]:
Firstly, your sender name is crucial. So let’s be honest, your best subscribers aren’t just opening because of the preview text or even at the subject line. They’re opening because they know, like and trust you. If you’ve built a strong relationship with your list, people are going to actively look for your name in the inbox. This is why engagement matters more than ever. Your goal isn’t just to get subscribers, it’s to build a community that wants to hear from you. This is something that we focus on heavily in my membership in the email growth club. Because yes, it’s great to build your email list, but it’s more important to nurture them and then convert as well as business owners.

Kylie Kelly [00:03:23]:
It’s not just stopping after the growth, right? We need to build that relationship. I’ll also add that subject lines still carry weight. Because AI summaries are replacing just the preview text, your subject line is now the only element you fully control. So we want to make it count. Also, your first few sentences must be strong. This really matters. Because the AI summaries are going to be pulling from that first few lines of your email, instead of wasting space with fluff, we want to get straight to the point at the start. We want to use a hawk, ask a question, or share a bold statement to capture attention fast.

Kylie Kelly [00:03:56]:
And then lastly, it’s really important she’s clear, engaging content, and that’s going to matter more than clever tricks. If you’ve been relying on preview text hacks to increase open rates, and if you have no idea what I’m talking about, don’t worry. That’s not you. But if you do and you’ve been relying on them, it’s time to shift focus to the overall quality of your emails. A strong relationship with your list is going to outperform any change like this that happens because of an algorithm, because of AI. Right? We want to build that relationship first. So what can you do to adapt right now? So number one, I want you to strengthen your sender name. If your subscribers trust you, they’re going to open your emails no matter what Apple Mail does.

Kylie Kelly [00:04:31]:
I want you to build that relationship and focus on that relationship. I want you to refocus on the subject lines. Treat your subject line like a headline. It’s the first and sometimes only chance to capture attention. Number three. Start your emails with impact. That first sentence, it needs to hook the reader and Apple Mail might turn it into your preview text. So let’s make sure that we start it off strong.

Kylie Kelly [00:04:56]:
Number four. Keep your eye on your email analytics. Track your open rates to see if Apple Mail users respond differently and test different approach and refine it over time. Remember, with email marketing, with any good business plan, we’re in it for the long game, not just the short wins or hacks. We’re going to be here for a long time building businesses that are sustainable, that build generational wealth. We want it to last. So we need to make sure that we are testing and we’re refining it and we’re giving it time to work. And then number five, we want to engage with our lists regularly.

Kylie Kelly [00:05:24]:
Your subscribers should expect to hear from you. So email consistently, provide value and make your audience want to open your emails. So one final thought that I want to leave you with is that this isn’t the end of email marketing. Change happens all the time in digital marketing and this is just another shift to navigate. If you’re building genuine relationships with your subscribers, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Yes. You should test and optimize. But at the end of the day, the best email marketers, the best business owners will always win because they focus on value and not hacks.

Kylie Kelly [00:05:58]:
Now, if you wanna dive deeper into email marketing strategies, make sure you’re inside the email growth club where I share insights as they happen, templates and coaching to help you make email marketing work for you, especially in this ever changing climate. The link to join is in the show notes below. The doors are actually closed, but I always give a secret link to my podcast listeners. I would love to welcome you inside. Alright. That is all from me today. Go and send some amazing emails, focus on building that relationship, and I will see you next week. Bye for now.

Kylie Kelly [00:06:26]:
Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the email growth show. I hope you found valuable insights into the next steps you can take to grow your email list and boost your business without relying on social media or paid ads. If you enjoy this episode, please take a moment to rate and review the show and share it with others. Your feedback helps me reach more female entrepreneurs just like you who are ready to say goodbye to social media and leverage email marketing to grow their business and make a bigger impact. Thank you so much for listening and I’ll see you in the next episode.