Why AMP Will Matter to You and Your Emails
It’s been a year since Google announced that AMP support would be added to its mail apps and web clients, and the rollout has finally begun. (Several other email providers have joined the cause as well.)
AMP – short for “Accelerated Mobile Pages” – is touted as the next big step for email, much like RCS is the next big step for mobile text messaging (also, of course, backed by Google). It has been around since 2015 and has traditionally been used to help developers build faster and more responsive websites.
AMP can also make email messages more interactive and useful. Instead of emails being a static container of text, images, links, and perhaps one or two attachments, developers can create AMP-based emails that act like stand-alone web pages; you don’t have to open a new browser tab or app to complete tasks such as booking a hotel, opening attachments, or filling out a survey. Instead, you can do all of these steps in an email.
Will this change how I use email?
Yes, as it will make some emails look and act differently and reduce the number of external pages or attachments you need to use to complete your email tasks. But while AMP is likely to make communication easier for businesses and provide developers with a broader set of tools to use over email, overall, this new technology won’t change the messages you send to others.
You will probably start to see these webpage-like emails as more companies and email service providers support AMP, which is a limited list for now. Currently, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook and Mail.ru are the only major email services that support AMP, along with companies such as Booking.com, Despegar, Doodle, Ecwid, Freshworks, Nexxt, OYO Rooms, Pinterest, and Redbus.
However, for those whose email providers don’t support AMP, AMP-based email can replace the standard HTML5 we’ve been used to for years, so you don’t have to worry about missing important messages.
Is it really good?
For ease of use and convenience – yes. At a superficial level, AMP will benefit both users and businesses. However, there are concerns over whether this is transforming previously independent infrastructure like email into another part of Google’s platform, and some have questioned the security of AMP .
While AMP emails technically prevent users from accidentally clicking phishing links or downloading malicious attachments, some argue that running code in an email message (not to mention advertising and potential data collection) is much more risky as ad blockers, pop-up blockers, and etc. and otherwise antivirus software might intercept fragmentary links and files.
While these concerns about privacy and Google’s expanding influence and control over the Internet are true, they are mostly speculative as well. Personally, I wouldn’t worry too much about AMP; in fact, I think it will probably prove to be a handy change that regular users will welcome. Plus, no matter how AMP email integration evolves, there is almost always a different option than what Google or other big companies are promoting.