Interactive emails: When they help, when they hurt, and what marketers need to know

Interactive emails promise higher engagement and conversions — but are they always worth the effort?

That’s what Justin Khoo, founder of Proofjump and the mind behind the well-known Freshinbox blog, tackled in his recent webinar hosted by Stripo. Joining him was Stripo’s CEO, Dmytro Kudrenko, to break down when interactive emails deliver real value — and when they just add complexity.

In today’s crowded inboxes, marketers are under pressure to craft campaigns that grab attention and drive action. Interactive emails are often proposed as a solution, whether through simple hover effects or more complex AMP-powered forms embedded directly into the message. But reality isn’t always straightforward. While interactivity can increase engagement, it requires careful planning, technical expertise, and a clear strategy to implement successfully.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the following:

• what interactive email really means (and what it doesn’t);
• real examples of interactive elements in action;
• the benefits and pitfalls to consider before adding them to your emails;
• AMP vs. kinetic: when to use which, and why;
• expert recommendations to make interactive emails work for your brand.

What exactly is interactive email?

Interactive email is a term frequently used in email marketing, but what does it actually mean? According to Justin Khoo,

“Is it interactivity and animations in email using HTML and CSS? Is it Google AMP? Is it from an email where you can enter your text and submit it directly from the email itself?”

In simple terms, interactive emails allow subscribers to engage directly with the email’s content without having to click out to a website to complete an action. Justin explains that true interactive emails fall into three main categories:

1. Interactivity and animations using HTML and CSS (kinetic emails) — think hover effects, click-to-reveal sections, carousels, and accordions.
2. Google AMP emails that enable real-time interactivity, such as submitting forms or updating content directly inside the email.
3. Forms embedded in emails, where recipients can enter text, select options, and submit their input without leaving their inbox.

However, some elements that are often mistaken for interactivity aren’t actually interactive. As Justin put it,

“I personally don’t consider them interactive.”

These include the following:

• GIFs;
• countdown timers;
• videos embedded in emails.

While these elements can improve your design and be visually engaging, they don’t create true interactivity because they don’t allow subscribers to perform actions directly within the email content.

Types of interactive emails

Kinetic emails

Kinetic emails use advanced HTML and CSS techniques to create interactive elements within the email itself. This includes the following:

• hover effects, such as buttons that change color when hovered over;
• click-to-reveal content blocks;
• carousels displaying multiple images or product variations;
• accordions that expand and collapse to show more information.

These features add visual interactivity and minor functional enhancements that mainly work in email clients with strong CSS support, such as Apple Mail.

AMP emails

AMP for Email, developed by Google, enables true interactivity by allowing data to be sent and received directly within the email. This means marketers can build the following features:

• live forms that submit data without opening a browser;
• dynamic product recommendations that update in real time;
• feedback forms that instantly show follow-up questions after a recipient responds.

Although AMP brings a more app-like experience to emails, it requires technical setup and whitelisting and is only supported by certain providers, such as Gmail and Yahoo.

Forms in emails

Embedded forms allow subscribers to enter text, select options, and submit feedback directly from their inbox. This functionality is often built with AMP but can also be created with basic form elements in kinetic emails for supported clients. Common use cases include these:

• Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys;
• quick polls and feedback requests;
• preference update forms.

Compared to forms hosted on external landing pages, forms in emails streamline recipient actions, which reduces friction and boosts response rates.

The current state of interactive email adoption

Interactive emails might sound impressive, but how many marketers are actually using them in their campaigns today? During the webinar, Justin and Dmytro discussed adoption rates across the industry, and the results were revealing.

Poll data from the webinar

The team ran a quick poll among webinar attendees to understand how often interactive emails were part of their campaigns. Here’s what they found:

“Thirty percent never used interactive emails, 50 percent occasionally, and 2 percent in every campaign.”

Although half of marketers have experimented with interactive emails, only a small percentage include them as a standard practice. This shows that while interest is growing, many teams are still cautious about regularly implementing interactivity, likely due to technical challenges, compatibility concerns, or resource limitations.

Speaker reflection

When asked what motivated him to continue exploring interactive emails, Justin shared his perspective:

“It’s a passion, right? For me, interactive email is more of a hobby than a career. It’s almost like a puzzle every time you want to create something.”

For Justin, building interactive emails isn’t just about marketing performance; it’s also about creativity, experimentation, and overcoming technical challenges to make emails more engaging and functional for subscribers.

Benefits of interactive emails

Interactive emails aren’t just about flashy designs. When used strategically, they can deliver real value for your campaigns. During the webinar, Justin explained how interactivity impacts results and why it’s worth considering for your email strategy.

Engagement and conversion boosts

One of the main reasons marketers explore interactive emails is their potential to increase engagement and drive higher conversions. As Justin explained:

“If you can create something engaging that makes your product more compelling, then it makes sense to use interactive emails because you get better results.”

Whether it’s a carousel showcasing product variations, a click-to-reveal feature that builds curiosity, or a simple hover effect that makes CTAs stand out, interactivity adds a layer of involvement that static emails can’t always achieve. This heightened engagement often translates into improved click-through rates and overall campaign performance.

Data collection

Interactive emails aren’t just about visual engagement; they can also simplify data collection and feedback gathering directly within the inbox. Using embedded forms or AMP-powered elements, marketers can collect valuable input from recipients without sending it to external pages.

As it was noted during the webinar,

“Up to 500 percent in terms of conversions, or basically the amount of people that will actually contribute information.”

Justin also shared how Google uses AMP in its products to increase recipient responses. For example, when someone is tagged in a Google Docs comment, the notification email allows them to reply directly from their inbox. This simple form of interactivity has led to impressive results:

“They found a 500 percent increase in responses to comments.”

Brands can significantly boost their feedback rates, NPS responses, and survey completions by removing friction and keeping the action within the email — all with fewer clicks for the subscriber.

Strengthening brand perception

Interactive emails don’t just drive clicks; they can also shape how subscribers perceive your brand. When used creatively, interactive elements can position a company as modern, innovative, and recipient-focused.

As Justin put it,

“Google is cool. So you kind of expect to see these kinds of emails.”

Brands such as Google and BBC use interactivity to reinforce their identities as leaders in technology and media. For them, interactive emails aren’t just functional — they’re part of the brand experience. When subscribers see thoughtful interactivity in your emails, it signals that your brand cares about creating engaging premium experiences.

Real examples of interactive emails

Seeing interactive emails in action helps you understand what’s possible and how each element enhances the subscriber experience. During the webinar, Justin walked through several practical examples that marketers could apply based on their goals and resources.

Simple hovers

One of the easiest ways to add interactivity to your emails is by using simple hover effects. For example, you can change a button’s color when a recipient hovers over it. This small enhancement creates a more dynamic and engaging feel without adding heavy code or risking compatibility issues.

Simple hovers work well in many email clients that support CSS, such as Apple Mail and some versions of Gmail. They can also be a great first step into interactive design for teams with limited development resources.

Click to reveal

Another popular interactive element is click-to-reveal functionality, where hidden content becomes visible when subscribers click a button or section. This technique is often used to do the following:

• uncover additional product details;
• show promotional codes;
• expand FAQs or informational blocks.

Click-to-reveal features encourage subscribers to interact with your email by adding an element of curiosity and engagement. These features prevent subscribers from simply scrolling past static content. Although implementation is slightly more complex than simple hovers, it is still achievable for many marketing teams that are familiar with basic kinetic email coding techniques.

Carousels

Carousels are a powerful way to display multiple images or product variations within a single email section, making them especially useful for e-commerce brands and real estate listings. They allow subscribers to swipe or click through options directly in the email, creating an experience similar to browsing a website.

Justin shared a practical example:

“My colleagues created an email for a real estate website featuring a carousel of properties. They saw a 10 to 20 percent boost, not just in click-throughs but also in opens.”

Carousels help maintain reader interest and increase engagement by showcasing more content without lengthening the email, thereby driving higher click-through rates. However, they require more advanced coding and thorough testing across clients to ensure compatibility.

Hotspots

Hotspots are an interactive technique in which clickable areas are placed over an image, allowing subscribers to access more information without leaving the email.

Justin shared an example from Penguin Random House:

“They created an email featuring a map with hotspots representing authors from different countries. When recipients clicked on a hotspot, details about the author and their work were revealed.” 

This approach does the following:

• makes emails more engaging and informative;
• encourages deeper exploration of content;
• adds an element of discovery that static images can’t provide.

Hotspots are ideal for storytelling, showcasing product features, or highlighting multiple items within a single visual layout and can significantly enhance recipients’ interactions with your emails.

Gamification

Gamification takes interactivity to the next level by turning emails into entertaining and engaging experiences for recipients. Justin highlighted an impressive example from the BBC: a dinosaur quiz email combining hotspots, reveals, and interactive quizzes. Subscribers could do the following:

• click on a dinosaur footprint to reveal bones;
• interact with hotspots to view different fossils;
• answer quiz questions directly within the email.

This type of deep interactivity not only educates but also keeps subscribers engaged far longer than a static email would.

However, Justin noted the investment required for such projects:

“The problem is that there’s quite a lot of investment that went into this, from planning to development to testing. It took many weeks or even months.”

While gamified emails can deliver exceptional brand engagement and memorability, they require significant resources, planning, and technical expertise to execute effectively.

AMP vs. kinetic: Which should you choose?

When it comes to interactive emails, marketers often wonder whether they should invest in AMP or stick with kinetic techniques. During the webinar, Justin and Dmytro shared their perspectives on this debate.

Speaker opinions

Dmytro explained why choosing one over the other isn’t practical:

“We never have to choose; we must use both because Gmail doesn’t support kinetic techniques and Apple doesn’t support AMP.”

This means that if you want your interactive emails to effectively reach both Gmail and Apple Mail users, you’ll need to implement a strategy that combines both technologies with proper fallback options.

Justin shared his take on how AMP and kinetic differ in purpose and complexity:

“AMP is more practical; kinetic is more about making it fun.”

However, he also expressed his concerns about AMP’s implementation:

“I think AMP — I’m kind of disappointed in the way Gmail decided to create AMP. They didn’t really understand how the email ecosystem works.”

Although AMP offers powerful features, such as real-time forms and live data, its technical requirements and complex setup make it inaccessible to many teams. Kinetic, on the other hand, is easier to start with but offers more limited interactivity options.

Implementation complexity

AMP

AMP emails bring true interactivity to the inbox, but they require a significant setup. To implement AMP, you need these:

• domain whitelisting with Gmail to allow AMP emails to render;
• an ESP that supports AMP, such as Klaviyo or Salesforce;
• technical expertise to effectively build, validate, and test AMP components.

Justin emphasized that AMP should be used strategically:

“If you just want to send one email and you want to make it AMP and that’s it, it’s not worth it.”

AMP is most effective when integrated into ongoing lifecycle campaigns, such as feedback forms, product recommendation flows, and other automated journeys, where the investment pays off across multiple sends.

Kinetic

Kinetic interactivity is easier to implement and serves as a great entry point for teams looking to improve emails without extensive development. Common kinetic techniques include the following:

• hovers for visual effects;
• checkbox hacks to create simple toggles or accordions;
• click-to-reveal features.

However, more advanced kinetic elements, such as carousels, require deeper coding knowledge. As Justin noted,

“Carousels are a bit harder because you need position elements everywhere, but once you do that, you can reuse that module in many different emails.”

This reusability makes the initial investment worthwhile, especially for brands that frequently showcase product variations or property listings.

Strategic recommendations for using interactivity

Before adding interactive elements to your emails, it’s important to approach them with a clear strategy. During the webinar, Justin and Dmytro shared practical recommendations to ensure that interactivity delivers real value rather than just becoming a design experiment.

Start with the message and the audience

The first step is to ensure that the interactivity aligns with your campaign goals and resonates with your subscribers. As Justin explained,

“You always start with your message and your audience. Is this something that will appeal to the audience or not?”

In other words, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does this interactive feature support the purpose of the email?
2. Will it help subscribers achieve their goals more easily?
3. Does it fit the expectations and behaviors of your target audience?

Focusing on your message first ensures that any interactivity you add will improve your communication rather than distract from it.

Productize your investments

As interactive elements often require significant time and development resources, it’s important to think about how to maximize their ROI. One effective strategy is to reuse interactive modules across multiple campaigns.

For example, if you invest in building a product carousel, consider integrating it into the following:

• regular promotional newsletters;
• automated product recommendation flows;
• seasonal campaign variations.

In this way, you can spread the development costs across many segments, making the investment more worthwhile.

Dmytro explained this approach perfectly:

“It’s like launching rockets into space. It’s very expensive to launch one rocket. But when you can return the rocket and refuel it, each subsequent launch becomes cheaper and cheaper.”

Treating interactive features as reusable components rather than as one-off experiments allows you to build a library of branded, engaging modules that can drive consistent results over time.

Ensure compatibility and fallbacks

Finally, when implementing interactive emails, always plan for compatibility across email clients and build reliable fallback options. Justin summarized this with his 4Cs framework:

1. Client
   Which email clients do you target?
   Different clients support different types of interactivity. For example, Apple Mail supports kinetic effects, while Gmail supports AMP. Others may not support either.
2. Compatibility
   Do you have fallback experiences in place?
   Make sure that subscribers using clients without interactivity support still receive functional and visually appealing emails, such as a static image version or a linked landing page.
3. CTA/message fit
   Does interactivity align with your campaign goal?
   If an interactive feature doesn’t support the primary message or distracts from your CTA, it’s better to skip it.
4. Complexity
   Is the effort worth the return?
   Before investing resources, consider development time, testing requirements, and long-term usability.

By applying the Four Cs, you can confidently decide when interactivity is worth implementing and ensure that it enhances your email performance without causing unintended drawbacks.

Challenges and pitfalls

While interactive emails offer great benefits, they come with technical and strategic challenges that marketers need to consider before implementation.

Size limitations

One of the biggest issues with interactive emails is file size. Adding advanced CSS, multiple images, and interactive modules can quickly increase your email’s total weight.

As Justin warned,

“You have to be very careful because Gmail clips emails over ~102KB.”

When an email exceeds this limit, Gmail clips the message, hiding part of the content and potentially breaking the design or tracking pixels.

How to manage size limitations:

• optimize images and CSS wherever possible;
• host external CSS for Apple Mail users, as Apple Mail supports linked CSS files, which helps reduce the email’s inline size.

Deliverability

Many marketers worry that interactive elements might negatively impact email deliverability. However, as discussed in the webinar, content itself rarely causes deliverability issues if your domain authentication is properly set up.

This means that you should do the following:

• ensure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are configured and passing;
• maintain a good sender reputation by sending relevant, engaging content that avoids spam complaints.

For AMP specifically, reputation requirements are stricter. AMP emails will only render if 

• your sender domain is whitelisted by Google;
• you have strong authentication and a positive sending reputation.

Without these requirements met, AMP emails will default to your HTML fallback version, which is why building reliable fallbacks remains essential.

Accessibility

Accessibility is a critical but often overlooked aspect of email design, and interactive emails make it even more challenging. Because interactivity can add complex code and dynamic elements, it’s important to ensure that all subscribers can navigate and understand your content, including those using screen readers.

Dmytro highlighted a concerning statistic:

“Ninety-eight point nine percent of emails don’t even meet very basic requirements for accessibility.”

To improve accessibility in interactive emails:

• test with screen readers to ensure that interactive elements don’t interfere with navigation;
• use ARIA tags to hide non-essential interactive content from screen readers and prevent them from reading out irrelevant or complex code structures.

Implementation complexity

Building interactive emails isn’t just about adding a few lines of code — it requires thorough testing and careful implementation to ensure compatibility across different email clients and devices.

Justin emphasized the importance of testing:

• use tools like Litmus or Email on Acid to preview your emails in all major clients and identify rendering issues before sending.

He also shared his perspective on using AI coding tools to assist with interactive email development:

“AI is surprisingly good at producing emails that are compatible across different email clients. It will get you halfway there, which is better than nothing.”

While AI tools like ChatGPT are improving in generating HTML and CSS for emails, they still require human review and adjustments, especially for advanced interactivity and accessibility compliance.

Wrapping up

Interactive emails can be a game-changer when used strategically. They offer opportunities to boost engagement, drive conversions, and strengthen your brand perception — but only when planned and implemented with care.

Key messages to remember:

• choose interactivity that aligns with your brand, message, and resources;
• start simple with elements such as hovers or click-to-reveal;
• productize your investments by reusing modules, such as carousels, across multiple campaigns;
• test thoroughly to ensure compatibility, accessibility, and deliverability.

As Dmytro summed it up,

“Don’t send interactivity just because you can. It has to be useful for your audience; it should give additional value to the email, not just because you can send it.”

Interactive emails aren’t about showing off your coding skills; they’re about creating better experiences for your subscribers, achieving campaign goals, and purposefully standing out in a crowded inbox.