5 email marketing tech essentials for 2025 success

Now is not the time to be an email marketing Luddite. From BIMI to AI scheduling, how we reach customers is changing rapidly. The more you use these tools to your advantage, the more of an impact you’ll make with your subscribers. 

I’ve seen these tech advances revolutionize email marketing strategies. Here’s what every agency and marketer should know to smash their 2025 KPIs.

1. The BIMI standard

BIMI (Brand Indicator for Message Identification) allows a verified business to display its logo next to each email in the recipient’s inbox. While it looks great and can be very helpful for brand recognition, there’s another important perk to using BIMI for your email marketing — trust.

Recipients are bombarded with phishing scams and spam. Understandably, they’re on high alert and ready to report anything that doesn’t look legitimate. BIMI offers a “stamp of approval” from authentication protocols like DKIM, SPF and DMARC so that your customers learn to trust your brand and — most importantly — your email campaigns.

BIMI is a must-have for any brand looking to stand out in a crowded inbox and strengthen its sender reputation.

Dig deeper: Email marketing strategy: A marketer’s guide

2. AI-assisted email scheduling

No 2025 list would be complete without mentioning AI-powered advances. While some AI services aren’t 100% there just yet, they can be a game changer in helping marketers reach customers when they’re most likely to check their emails.

AI tools can now determine optimal send times to help you sharpen your email strategy. It cuts through months of A/B testing and tells you exactly when to hit send. With AI-assisted scheduling, you can expect engagement to go way up and your team to achieve more in less time.

Dig deeper: How generative AI is impacting email marketing software

3. DMARC enforcement updates

Warning: Things are about to get a little technical. If BIMI is the badge, DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) is the force that protects against direct domain spoofing (when a scammer fakes a website’s name or email domain).

DMARC is the new required standard for improving inbox security used by Google and other email giants. It can be found in the public Domain Name System (DNS).

Here’s an example: Tweety sends an email to Sylvester. Before the email appears in the inbox, Sylvester’s service will review the DMARC policy on Tweety’s DNS to determine whether the email should go to Sylvester’s primary inbox, spam or ignored.

Although not 100% failsafe, DMARC is a major step toward inbox security. For it to be successful, both the sender and receiver must adhere to its policies.

Dig deeper: Bulk email restrictions from Google, Yahoo: What you need to know

4. Interactive emails

It’s called AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) for email and can add a whole new dimension to your email marketing. This Google-backed tech lets customers interact with your brand without leaving their inboxes. Read that again — and rejoice.

Customers can do almost anything within your email campaigns, from booking a call with a sales rep to filling out surveys. Besides cranking up the wow factor, it’s incredible for driving (and improving) customer engagement. I could suggest more uses, but you’re probably already staring at the horizon with a huge smile.

Thanks to this interactive aspect, emails are now more relevant than ever, and data collection is much easier.

Dig deeper: Don’t let innovation overcome email common sense

5. Email encryption enhancements

Another step toward safer inboxes is email encryption enhancements, which include security tech like MTA-STS (Mail Transfer Agent Strict Transport Security). This enforces TLS encryption for much safer email delivery. It’s a shield around your email to ensure no dastardly cyber crooks hijack your private message while it’s on its way to your subscriber’s inbox.

Considering the advanced tech used by cyber thieves these days, this is a must-have for brands that deal with a lot of personal information.

Final thoughts

Advanced security and developments might seem restrictive to some, but they’re essential for building and maintaining trust with your customer base. You’ll need to fidget under the hood a bit to ensure your emails get delivered, but that’s a small price to pay to ensure you don’t get flushed out with all the spam and phishing emails. And that, after all, is the end goal: a transparent, open and trusted channel between your brand and your subscribers.