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Is AI reading my emails before my customers do?

The short answer

Increasingly, yes. Inboxes like Gmail are adding AI summaries that pull the key points out of emails before anyone opens them. If your offer, price, or deadline is buried in a clever intro or locked inside an image, the summary may skip it. Put the important details in plain text, near the top.

Two readers, one email

The person you're writing to still matters most. But an AI assistant may read your email first and decide what's worth showing. Write so both can find the point quickly.

How to write for both

  • Lead with the offer or the news in the first sentence or two
  • Put prices, dates, and deadlines in plain text, not only in images
  • Use one clear call to action with descriptive button text
  • Keep subject lines specific, not just clever
  • Add alt text to every image

What to stop doing

Skip the long warm-up paragraph and the all-image email. Beautiful design still helps, but it can't be the only place your message lives.

The bottom line

Clear beats clever. If a busy person or an AI summary only catches the first few lines, make sure those lines tell them what to do next.