Voice assistants, a new element that redefines email design
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2024 8:18 am
Smart assistants are becoming more and more a part of our daily lives. They now allow us to activate various devices in our home, perform voice searches, make purchases, receive notifications about tasks to be completed when we get home and even read our email.
Among these features, Amazon announced a new update to its Alexa voice assistant that will allow us to ask it to read our emails . It is currently only available in the EU, but its arrival in Spain is expected soon, just as Google Home is also expected to integrate this functionality soon.
How does it work?
Once we have connected it to our email account, we can ask Alexa to do the following: “ check my email ” or “ read my email ”. Alexa will tell us how many unread messages we have received in the last 24 hours. Then, she will tell us about them one by one. She will start with the most recent gmail email list message we received and indicate the name of the sender and the subject line. Then Alexa will ask us if we want her to read the text of the email to us, reply to it, delete it or archive it.
If we're expecting an email from a specific person, we can ask her: “Alexa, did I receive an email from [contact]?” If that email hasn't arrived yet, Alexa will offer to set up a one-time notification. That way, once the email arrives, we'll be notified immediately.
The update also allows users to distinguish between the importance of messages received based on criteria that they have set for their account, meaning that Alexa will give priority to the most relevant emails.
More advanced features like tagging, folder creation, and more don't seem to be supported. It's also not possible for Alexa to create and send a new email from scratch. It's only a response support at the moment.
Which providers are supported?
Initially, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Hotmail and Live.com are the only supported email providers. If the feature proves popular, support for more services will likely be added.
What does using this new tool mean for email design?
Email professionals don't need to do anything new to make the emails they send accessible to voice assistants. We simply need to focus on using the good practices that should already be standard in our email marketing. So designing an accessible email is no longer just a good idea, but in this context it is a priority.
And what elements should we take into account to create an auditory dialogue between us and our client?
• The subject. We must consider how it might sound to the human ear and not necessarily how it would look. As always, we will opt for a concise, direct and catchy subject, but trying not to rely on visual cues or special fonts (emojis, strikethroughs, words censored via stars, etc.). In this context, they will no longer offer a fun and different touch to the email because the voice assistant will not be able to interpret them correctly.
Since users won’t see any text or images (they’ll just hear the sender’s name and subject line), they’ll have little information to determine whether they want to read the email, save it for later, or delete it. Promotional emails will therefore have a more restricted audio window to grab attention and avoid deletion. In short, subject lines will need to be more compelling than ever.
• The preheader . As we have already mentioned, Alexa and Siri will use the header text before reading the emails. So we must consider, once again, optimizing the text for audio. Calls to action that do not require physical interaction should be included.
• Discard the no reply. Now that Alexa allows you to respond immediately upon hearing your voice, the strategy of not allowing the user to respond is even worse. We need to make sure we are using an email address to encourage recipients to respond, which supports true one-on-one interaction.
• Not using images to tell a story. A well-designed and relevant photo can do a lot for an email, but if your subject line doesn't engage the reader enough to want to save the message and actually look at it, the image will never get seen. You'll want to make sure there's enough text in the email to get the message across.
• Test emails before implementing them. If you are not used to having a pre-header for the audio presentation, it will be important to test the email to make sure the preview in the inbox looks correct. Every time you try something new, testing is key.
Ultimately, it is necessary to adapt and be in line with new technologies so that our email marketing offers the content we want, while our subscribers consume it in the way that best suits them.
Among these features, Amazon announced a new update to its Alexa voice assistant that will allow us to ask it to read our emails . It is currently only available in the EU, but its arrival in Spain is expected soon, just as Google Home is also expected to integrate this functionality soon.
How does it work?
Once we have connected it to our email account, we can ask Alexa to do the following: “ check my email ” or “ read my email ”. Alexa will tell us how many unread messages we have received in the last 24 hours. Then, she will tell us about them one by one. She will start with the most recent gmail email list message we received and indicate the name of the sender and the subject line. Then Alexa will ask us if we want her to read the text of the email to us, reply to it, delete it or archive it.
If we're expecting an email from a specific person, we can ask her: “Alexa, did I receive an email from [contact]?” If that email hasn't arrived yet, Alexa will offer to set up a one-time notification. That way, once the email arrives, we'll be notified immediately.
The update also allows users to distinguish between the importance of messages received based on criteria that they have set for their account, meaning that Alexa will give priority to the most relevant emails.
More advanced features like tagging, folder creation, and more don't seem to be supported. It's also not possible for Alexa to create and send a new email from scratch. It's only a response support at the moment.
Which providers are supported?
Initially, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Hotmail and Live.com are the only supported email providers. If the feature proves popular, support for more services will likely be added.
What does using this new tool mean for email design?
Email professionals don't need to do anything new to make the emails they send accessible to voice assistants. We simply need to focus on using the good practices that should already be standard in our email marketing. So designing an accessible email is no longer just a good idea, but in this context it is a priority.
And what elements should we take into account to create an auditory dialogue between us and our client?
• The subject. We must consider how it might sound to the human ear and not necessarily how it would look. As always, we will opt for a concise, direct and catchy subject, but trying not to rely on visual cues or special fonts (emojis, strikethroughs, words censored via stars, etc.). In this context, they will no longer offer a fun and different touch to the email because the voice assistant will not be able to interpret them correctly.
Since users won’t see any text or images (they’ll just hear the sender’s name and subject line), they’ll have little information to determine whether they want to read the email, save it for later, or delete it. Promotional emails will therefore have a more restricted audio window to grab attention and avoid deletion. In short, subject lines will need to be more compelling than ever.
• The preheader . As we have already mentioned, Alexa and Siri will use the header text before reading the emails. So we must consider, once again, optimizing the text for audio. Calls to action that do not require physical interaction should be included.
• Discard the no reply. Now that Alexa allows you to respond immediately upon hearing your voice, the strategy of not allowing the user to respond is even worse. We need to make sure we are using an email address to encourage recipients to respond, which supports true one-on-one interaction.
• Not using images to tell a story. A well-designed and relevant photo can do a lot for an email, but if your subject line doesn't engage the reader enough to want to save the message and actually look at it, the image will never get seen. You'll want to make sure there's enough text in the email to get the message across.
• Test emails before implementing them. If you are not used to having a pre-header for the audio presentation, it will be important to test the email to make sure the preview in the inbox looks correct. Every time you try something new, testing is key.
Ultimately, it is necessary to adapt and be in line with new technologies so that our email marketing offers the content we want, while our subscribers consume it in the way that best suits them.