Gone are the days of bland emails. Your audience’s inbox is full of unread messages. Why? Most of those emails are one-dimensional and unreadable.

If you’re not familiar with interactive emails, they’re the hyped-up versions of the emails you send to your friends and colleagues. Instead of plain, black and white emails with a simple call to action, interactive emails encourage engagement through tabs, buttons, forms, and video. They’ve gotten so expansive that they’re now being referred to as “microsites.” So far, there’s not much buzz about this topic. But that doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Open your inbox and look at all the interactive emails you’ll find.

Don’t let your emails stay stagnant in an inbox. If you’re not jumping on this trend, you’re missing out. Here are some of the biggest reasons you should invest in interactive emails.

Act Directly from Email

When you send an interactive email, you’re placing the products and services directly in front of your consumers. Instead of having them read an email, download an app, or visit your website, their journey from browsing to acting on your call to action is in one place. The added convenience of a “one-stop shop” not only pushes consumers to take an action, it makes them look out for other interactive emails from you. For example, a functional interactive email may be one sent to a customer who left items unattended in their shopping cart. The email would look like this one:

The customer would be able to adjust their shopping cart within the email instead of leaving the email and going back to their shopping cart on the product’s website.

Promote Engagement in Other Forms

Did you know that 66% of businesses agree that their audience engagement has increased since they started utilizing interactive content? The power of interactive can’t be ignored—it increases brand engagement and visibility. So how does an interactive email promote user engagement?

There are a few ways businesses and marketers use interactive components within their emails. Here’s an example from Ticketmaster. They incorporated a survey within their email. The user could take the survey directly within the email. Once they’d taken the survey, they were directed to a web page where they could see the results.

One of the more common examples that you’ve seen in emails lately is the social media link. It only takes a moment to link your social media pages to an email—an easy way to get your readers to share content on their own social media platforms. It’s also an easy way to get your email list to subscribe to your social media pages. Take it a step further—add an option to have your audience share the email itself with their friends!

Designed for Mobile

If you’re anything like me, you check your email on your phone more often than you do a regular desktop or laptop. According to EmailMonday.com, almost 68% of users access their email on their smartphones. More people are using their smartphones for tasks that used to be designated for regular computers—this means email has to adapt. Right now, you probably don’t have issues accessing your email on your smartphone. In fact, it’s probably second nature.

That’s because email clients like Google and Outlook are making mobile-friendly email systems. When you create emails tailored to mobile, you’ll be able to cut down on the amount of content within your emails—without taking away from the main points. For example, there are tools (like menus that flip, scrollable pages) that make it easier for users to scan your emails without missing out on the important pieces. Both interactive email and mobile are about convenience and you’ll be able to incorporate them into one.

Adapt Easily

Still on the fence about interactive emails? Is it because you’re worried about the technical piece? Some email clients are cutting CSS access. This means that if you’re using a client such as Outlook, you may not see interactive emails—especially if they’re using advanced CSS. Other client versions, like Gmail, AOL, and Yahoo, are allowing most interactive features—meaning you’ll be able to see most of the important parts. Email clients such as Applemail and Android are allowing all interactive elements.

And even with these setbacks, interactive emails are able to customize and adapt easily to operating systems. For example, you won’t need to redesign to customize for Apple iOS or Android—emails show up the same way on any operating system.

They’re also easily adaptable for users. There’s no installation required (looking at you, apps!). Simply open them and proceed.

Incorporate Interactives in Your Emails

Now that you know what makes interactive emails so special, you need to implement them into your marketing strategy. Before you spend time and money on an interactive email marketing campaign, test the waters. Make sure that your audience is going to respond positively to these new emails. Depending on your audience, these types of emails may not work. For example, if your audience is traditionally a millennial group, you might have a better response than an organization whose target is baby boomers.

Try A/B testing once you’ve sent a few emails. Check your metrics to see how well this form is doing. For example, is your click-through rate high? How many conversions are a result of this form?

Creating emails that not only excite your audience but engage them and simplify their journey is something all marketers want. With interactive emails, this is all possible. However, as with any new strategy, make sure it will work for you as well as your audience. While this form of communication is relatively new, odds are it will become the standard before we know it.