Smarter Email, Stronger Results: Key Takeaways from Email Innovations World Conference

Recently, The Engage Group’s Senior Email Developer Erick Quijada attended the Email Innovations World Conference in Phoenix to scout out the latest trends. Here are some insights we look forward to putting into action:

Using AI to Improve Workflows

Here are some practical ways to improve email implementation with AI:

• Automating repetitive tasks like subject line testing and A/B variant generation
• Analyzing audience data more efficiently to inform segmentation and targeting
• Accelerating content creation

Dark Mode Is No Longer Optional

82% of users use dark mode at least some of the time. Usage continues to grow, particularly among mobile users and younger audiences. Dark mode is no longer just a preference; it’s now a design standard. Keep these in mind to optimize your emails:

• Plan for visual consistency for all users
• Use transparent image formats like PNGs
• Avoid pure white backgrounds that can cause issues with inversion (how email clients automatically change or “invert” colors in an email to make it readable against a dark background)
• Test across multiple environments (Gmail, Apple Mail, and Outlook)

When done right, dark mode optimization sends a clear message: We care about your comfort and your experience.

Accessibility Is a Standard, Not Just a Best Practice

Accessibility isn’t just a best practice—it’s a legal and ethical imperative. Your email should work for everyone. This means:

• Maintaining strong color contrast between text and background elements
• Writing clear and descriptive alt text for images
• Organizing content with a logical reading order
• Making sure your email can be navigated using screen readers and assistive technologies

By building accessibility into every part of the email development process, we’re not only expanding our reach but also creating a more inclusive and human-centered experience.

The Small (But Powerful) Details

Subtle design choices can have a major impact on usability:

• Are your CTA (Call to Action) buttons large enough to tap without having to zoom in or be an expert marksman?
• Is your font size comfortable for someone who doesn’t have perfect vision?
• When was the last time you viewed one of your emails using the “Larger Text” setting on a mobile device? About 25 percent of users increase their font size to some degree, and that number is expected to grow as the population ages and accessibility becomes more prominent.

Thoughtful, user-first design shows attention to detail and increases the chances that your audience will actually engage with the content you’ve worked so hard to deliver.

Final Thoughts

The 2025 Email Innovations World Conference was a great reminder of just how fast our field continues to evolve.

Whether it’s embracing AI thoughtfully, designing with inclusivity in mind, or just remembering to test our emails at larger font sizes, we will continue to sweat the details of human-centered, data-driven, and accessibility-first best practices so our client partners can plan better, write more, and innovate thoughtfully.

Want help implementing some of these strategies in your next campaign? Let’s talk. 

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