Dear Email Dear friends,
Wow. Just…wow. The love for email this Valentine’s Day was real. From heartfelt tributes to playful jabs, the #DearEmail campaign reminded us just how much this channel means to the people who use it, build for it, and rely on it every day.
Here are the Four Biggest Trends in Email Today (and A Few Surprising Omissions)
💌 “#DearEmail, You had me at HELO. 🧡 💌 Love you always (more each day).” – Carmi López-Jones, Manager of Deliverability Success for Hubspot
We saw Dear Email letters that were nostalgic, poetic, and delightfully nerdy. People thanked email for giving them a career, for being reliable when other platforms disappeared, for teaching them about data and connection.
💌 “You’ve never been flashy, never the latest shiny thing, but that’s part of what I love about you. You’re reliable, adaptable, and quietly powerful.” – Kath Pay, Founder & CEO of Holistic Email Marketing
💌 “I remember the first time I really got email. It wasn’t some grand, “aha” moment. It was when I realized how an entire ecosystem works together to make email work the way it does. That spark and feeling of connection has kept me hooked for 20 years. It’s what drives my passion for email.” – Tim Moore, CEO at SocketLabs
💌 “Thank you, email, for the life you have given me and all the highs and lows we’ve faced together over the years. Here’s to many more!” – Autumn Tyr-Salvia, Klaviyo
And woven through those stories were quiet signals about where email is headed next.
💌 “I’ve watched you evolve faster than a Pokemon with a Rare Candy, from plain-text messages to a dynamic platform for marketing, offering interactivity, and more.” – Andrew Bonar, Managing Director at emailexpert
💌 “You’ve brought challenges, from deliverability hurdles to endless optimization, but also an incredible community of experts (and friends!) who keep pushing the industry forward. Through it all, you continue to deliver.” – Brandon Dingae, Chief Revenue Officer for SocketLabs
At SocketLabs, we read every one of those letters. Not just because we love this community (we do), but because this is the kind of reflection that keeps us grounded in what matters. We saw ourselves in many of your words, and it made us think about how our work fits into the future you’re imagining.
So, here’s our read on the four themes we saw rising to the top of the (Linked)inbox.
1. The Importance of Domain-based Reputation Keeps Growing (in a big way)
More than a few of you hinted at it: email’s shifting, and the rules of the road are changing. Over the last couple years, we’ve seen major mailbox providers (MBPs) make both official and unofficial moves toward prioritizing domain reputation.
More focus on domain security (and reputation) by major mailbox providers
From Google and Yahoo’s highly publicized rules that went into effect for bulk senders in early 2024, to quieter and actually more impactful treatment of unauthenticated mail by providers like Comcast and Microsoft, the evidence is there to support domain reputation plays a larger part in inboxing decisions than ever before.
In fact, shortly after rolling out their new requirements, Google updated their Postmaster Tools to show domain reputation for senders, allowing folks to get a direct look at how Google perceives their domain. Similarly, Yahoo spun up a Sender Hub, also designed to help people understand their domain reputation.
Proof of domain-based decisions is in the (email failure) pudding
Domain-based decisions are being noted in more failure responses.
The interesting thing is, Google and Yahoo are still slowwwly rolling out enforcement on their sender requirements, which means they’re only bouncing a portion of the mail not adhering to their guidelines. Meanwhile, our data showed Microsoft — who just officially announced their requirement of full email authentication (including DMARC) this week — was more stringent on mail than either of those two.
We felt that shift early. And because we’re obsessed with how mail travels (not just whether it lands), we rebuilt how our delivery engine prioritizes messages…
Now, if you’ve got a strong domain reputation and you’re doing things right, you don’t have to wait behind a sender who isn’t. It’s a bit like opening a fast lane for good behavior. And in those weird edge cases — like when a provider is temporarily down — we lean into smart delays instead of bouncing prematurely. Because, as one sender put it, it’s heartbreaking when good mail gets punished for something out of its control.
According to data available through our Spotlight analytics platform… It looks like we’re the only ones operating this way.
Which brings me to the next trend we saw in the community’s odes to email…
2. The Tech Behind Email Is Still Playing Catch-Up
We saw plenty of love for email’s longevity… mixed in with a heavy dose of playful sarcasm over some of the less-than-ideal aspects of email.
💌 “What impresses us most? You never stay stagnant. You’ve evolved with us, offering more personalized experiences, smarter automation, and deeper customer insight. You prove time and again that you’re not just relevant—you’re essential. Our design team, though? They have notes.” – Team Ragnarok
💌 “Thank you for being the backbone of modern communication, the ultimate digital packrat, storing millions of messages that nobody ever deletes. Your SMTP, IMAP, and POP3 services are like a fine wine… aged, temperamental, and sometimes requiring a full restart to function properly.” – Tom Bartel, SVP Data Services at Validity
💌 “It’s not a perfect relationship. We’ve had our ups and downs, you manage to endlessly confuse and intrigue me in equal measure. You like to change the rules at short notice, you get more fussy with age, you see all the newer communication tools out there, and yet still keep going doing your thing.” Alice Spencer, Senior Manager of Deliverability Services for Ometria
That truth came through loud and clear in a few of the #DearEmail letters we loved most.
💌 “Here’s to many more years ahead of us — JUST PLEASE stop complaining to Google and SNDS. We can work through this like mature adults. Can we agree on a couples’ therapy session? I’d prefer not to chase your feedback loops through every postmaster tool.” – Giada Sartor, CRM & Email Marketing Team Leader at Jobrapido
Then of course, there was Spamhaus’s Matthew Stith who basically pointed out that spam filters still need therapy, and Al Iverson of Spam Resource fame reminded us (in his blog post) that email deliverability’s been around for more than 20 years, yet some of the most basic infrastructure — like full authentication — has only just become mandatory. It’s giving: “We love you, but you’ve got some growing up to do.”
But here’s the upside: the tides are turning. It feels like we’re finally gaining ground. Standards are catching up. Conversations between senders and receivers are happening more often — and with more collaboration to make email a safe and enjoyable place for our mutual customers to hang out. And the tech is finally starting to meet the moment.
💌 “Dear Email […] Your future is bright, and the unprecedented commitment from mailbox providers to refine and improve data and tools shows just how much you’re still evolving. And we can’t forget the work getting started within the IETF around DKIM to make your path to inboxes around the world even more reliable” – Brian Godiksen, DelivOps & Director of Client Services for SocketLabs
SocketLabs is Innovating in Both Email Delivery and Performance Analysis
At SocketLabs, we’ve taken that cue to heart. From rebuilding our delivery engine to help good mail move faster, to building out tools like our Spotlight analytics platform, we’re focused on helping practitioners feel like they’re operating in the future — not stuck in email’s past. Not flashy. Just functional in all the right ways.
💌 “Precision matters in every step of your strategy. What I love about email is how making wise choices can significantly impact your success.” – Bill Volz, Cofounder and CTO at SocketLabs
For those senders who need or just want a little more control, we also offer Rule Engine, allowing our senders to create automated rules to intelligently route mail through various IP pools and other configurations (to your specifications) for more consistent delivery.
Remember how we said we’re queuing mail differently today than we were just over a year ago? We’ll let these numbers do the talking. Just look at how quickly and dramatically we reduced our own delivery errors with one (admittedly pretty simple) change to how we process mail.
3. Email’s Winning on Trust in a Noisy World
Email is where people turn when they need substance over noise.
💌 “I love you. Really, I do…for so many reasons. But if I had to choose my favorite thing about you, I’d say it’s that bangin’ spam folder you got. In a world full of platforms all trying to get my attention and force it where it doesn’t want to go, you still give me the ability to say ‘No’.” – Will Boyd, Sr. Marketing Automations Specialist for the Memphis Grizzlies
💌 “Email, my love, Always be mine, Social media is toxic, You’re the best of all time” – Alison Gootee, Compliance & Deliverability Enablement Principal II at Braze
Email gets called a lot of things, but when the community says this, it means something.
💌 “Thank you for not being X. Affectionately yours,” – Jennifer Nespola Lantz, VP of Industry Relations and Deliverability for Kickbox
Those lines hit home. It’s not that people no longer crave the connection social media provided (somewhat safely) for a long time. In fact, I’d venture to say we crave connection now, more than ever.
“From mothers talking to enlisted sons overseas to organizations educating global audiences through newsletters, you’ve given a free voice through distances and previous boundaries that would have been impossible otherwise.” – Travis Hazlewood, Head of Email Deliverability for Ortto
It’s when online community spaces become chaotic or worse that people remember good ol’ email. It doesn’t need to be loud to be effective. It just needs to be consistent, transparent, and ready when your audience is.
💌 “You fill my days and my inbox(es), yet still I find you interesting. You’re never a bother; you wait for me to come to you.” – Abby Gailey, Director of Marketing Operations for Vibrent Health
💌 “Everything else felt so disruptive and then I found you, an introvert’s dream! You seek attention in a different way and I love figuring you out!” – Fiza Naseem, Email Marketing Specialist for EasyDMARC
And it’s living up to expectations: In fact, email volume grew from 281.1 billion emails sent in 2018 to 347.7 billion in 2023, with projections of up to 408.2 billion in 2027.
💌 “You are more than a technology, you are a bridge, a lifeline, delivering messages that matter. […] In a world that constantly evolves, you remain essential, and my passion for you has never wavered.” – Alfred Wang, 18-year industry veteran
Email Isn’t Just Part of What We Do — It’s All of It
When people say, “Email is back,” we laugh. Because it never left. It just needed people who cared enough to keep making it better.
None of us do this work because it’s trendy. We do it because email is worth showing up for — with better tools, smarter decisions, and real respect for what makes this channel great.
That’s why we’ve stayed hyper-focused on email. Not SMS. Not CRM. Just email. It’s what we know. It’s what we do. And we’re here for the long game.
Some of our competitors are busy turning their ESPs into something else entirely — email’s on autopilot while they put their energy into other channels. It’s maintenance-mode over there… just enough to keep the lights on. But the folks who rely on email every day deserve more than that.
We’re doing the opposite. We’re doubling down on email. Solving the real, hard problems around deliverability, compliance, routing, and analytics — and building tools like Spotlight and Rule Engine to help ESPs (and their senders) stay in control and deliver email reliably.
We also don’t take shortcuts. Every sender on our platform is held to strict compliance and anti-abuse policies. Not because it’s easy, but because the trustworthiness of this channel depends on all of us doing it right.
TL;DR – We’re email people — the kind who write love letters to it, build for it, and obsess over how to make it better. We wouldn’t have it any other way. 💌
4. AI Isn’t the Story — But It’s in the Subtext
Truth be told, we thought there’d be more AI hype in the #DearEmail campaign (even if only for the pure snark of it all). But what we saw instead was actually more interesting. AI was quietly embedded in conversations about automation, personalization, smart data, and workflow shortcuts. But it didn’t feel forced… it felt like a reflection of how practitioners are actually using it today.
💌 “You combine complex data points, content with depth, appealing design (and even a little science!) all into one magical package. You have the power to inform, motivate, and even delight millions of people every single day.” – Stefani Read, Senior Marketing Automation Manager for SS&C Technologies
💌 “You are more than strategy, subject lines, KPIs, timing, automation flow and personalization. […] You taught me how data fuels success, turning numbers into insights and insights into action. Data-driven marketing is storytelling with purpose—leading every step toward growth.” – Eingyin Khaing, student
That feels right.
AI will be (and already is) a tool changing the way people build, send, receive, analyze, and interact with email. But it should not be the end-all-be-all. In fact, it shouldn’t even be a part of the discussion until you’ve spent time understanding, cleaning up, and analyzing your data to ensure whatever model you have running can be trusted.
What You Do Before — and During — the AI Matters More
Which is why at SocketLabs, we’re not slapping AI on everything. But we are using it in our Spotlight analytics platform to surface insights faster, crunch numbers from a variety of sources more intelligently, and help you answer questions like “what’s wrong with my performance?” before you even ask them.
Here’s the thing though: AI is only as good as the people guiding it.
Take it from Jaina Mistry, of Litmus:
💌 “Email taught me the importance of data. But that sometimes you need to trust your instincts on what you know to be the best action, despite what the data might be telling you.”
The setup matters, but it’s not just about getting the inputs right. It’s about staying engaged with the outcomes. That’s why we believe in keeping humans deeply in the loop. Email has a LOT of nuances (to put it lightly), so anyone using AI needs to be asking the right questions, providing ample context, validating the outputs, and applying scrutiny where it counts. AI should be your co-pilot, not your autopilot.
We’re not building something that takes decisions out of your hands. We’re building tools that help you make smarter ones, faster… which is clearly necessary when you consider all the things that email people are tasked with (most of which is behind the scenes work that goes unappreciated).
💌 “Working with email is a humbling experience. It takes an understanding of legal requirements, human psychology, technical setup, and deeply outdated rendering platforms. It takes the ability to sift through data, tell stories, and weed out bullshit “advice” from people who can “totally guarantee inboxing with this one weird trick!” It takes finesse, it takes flair, it takes a certain willingness to roll up your sleeves and figure things out.” – Skyler Holobach – VP, Product Design and Experience here at SocketLabs
If you’re tired of dashboard fatigue and want your data to actually tell you something, that’s what we’ve created. Just enough automation to make you feel like the smartest person in the room — not the most replaceable.
That’s the tip of the iceberg, so if you’re interested in learning more, head over here to read a bit more about it and see a video of it in action.
After all, our Head of Product Louis Driving Hawk said it best in his own letter: 💌 “What keeps me coming back? You evolve daily, making every data point count.”
And if you’re still warming up to all this change? That’s okay too. It’s kind of like realizing the song you’ve been humming for weeks is actually by Taylor Swift. You didn’t want to love it. But here you are. Welcome to your Swiftamine moment.
These aren’t just features — they’re responses to the challenges and aspirations about email that you shared. We’re not building email’s future in a vacuum. We’re building it with you.
XOXO, SocketLabs
To the email geeks and DelivOps pros, the compliance warriors, and the campaign dreamers — we see you. Thanks for reminding us why we do what we do.
💌 “You’ve got your quirks but so do I. Maybe that’s why we get along. You never make it easy, but I’m here for it 4ever. XOXO” – Lauren Del Vecchio, Email Deliverability Manager at Yotpo
💌 “Love that you keep it interesting, even after all these years” – Rachel McCarthy, Director of Customer Success at SocketLabs
If any of this resonated — the passion, the pain points, the potential — you’re our people.
And if you’re looking for tools that treat email with the same care you do, we’d love to show you what we’re building. Let’s talk. Let’s collaborate. Let’s make this channel even better, together.
WE LOVE EMAIL! Woo! But we know loving email can be complicated and messy, like all relationships at some point. If you’re still figuring out where your mail fits in this new era, you can count on us being at your side.
Abby Gailey said it best, and we’ll send you off with her note: 💌 “The people who love [email] are a special kind of people. They’re my kind of Geeks.”
Yeah, they are. 💌
