Something interesting is happening inside Gmail, Reader.

Google has started testing out AI-powered email summaries and inbox tools.

For us that means admins can now ask their inbox questions like:

“What decisions came out of last month’s faculty meeting?
“What are the PD dates for SoR?”
“Which email mentioned a webinar?”

That’s new (but keep in mind this is in its beta-form; Google's simply trying out for now).

Email has never had to think about search behavior before.

SEO lived on websites while email lived in stories, persuasion, timing, and tone.

And SEO and website traffic's taken a hit because of AI overviews.

Your emails may now be parsed, summarized, and queried before they’re ever read.

This will affect open and click rates, even before deliverability filters come into play.

And that brings me to my two cents.

Email doesn’t need SEO, but it does need answerability

You won't need to start stuffing your emails with keywords.

But your emails will need to clearly answer the questions your reader is already asking.

Things like:

• What is this about?
• Is there something I need to do?
• Is there an offer here?
• Does this apply to me right now

AI summaries reward clear, direct language.

Vague, image-heavy emails are much easier to skip or misinterpret.

You might be thinking, but wait, if I use images, can't AI read my alt image text?

And the answer (as of today) is not reliably. That doesn't mean it won't be able to in the future.

• Alt text is still valuable for accessibility (screen readers, users who block images, deliverability) and may sometimes help AI understand content.
• But alt text shouldn’t be your only strategy for making emails AI-friendly, especially if you want Gmail to answer specific questions about intent or action.

Best practice: put your main offer, dates, actions, and messages in live HTML text, and use alt text as a backup layer, not the main content source.

The marketers who will adapt fastest are already doing answerability well:

• They track common buyer questions
• They listen to sales calls and demo objections
• They notice the same “wait, but…” emails in their inbox again and again

And then, they answer those questions inside their emails.

Where open loops still matter (a lot)

One thing that hasn’t changed:

Your subject line and CTA still need an open loop.

AI might summarize the email, but humans are still clicking when curious enough.

That means:

• Subject lines that spark curiosity without being cryptic
• CTAs that point to a clear next step instead of the vague “learn more”
• Emails that balance answerability with intrigue

We're being clear over cute and clever always, always, always.

No need to panic, but keep watching

Adoption is still unknown.

People can opt out of these features, and schools still don't have solid policies surrounding AI (yet becasue no one wants to box themselves in with a tool that's still so new).

Google may tweak or roll things back, and they often do.

But this is one of those moments where you can prepare yourself now versus scrambling later.

If your emails:

• answer questions
• use plain language
• make the next step obvious
• and open a loop that pulls the reader forward

You’re already ahead.

Read more

Two solid pieces that informed my thinking:

• A breakdown of how AI summaries could change email marketing (EMARKETER)
• A closer look at Gmail’s new AI tools and the privacy trade-offs (The New York Times)

I recommend reading both, and then looking at your last 3–5 emails through this lens:

If someone asked Gmail a question about this email… would it know the answer?

See you next Wednesday.

And as always, I'm rooting for you, Kelly

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