Requirements to Send AMP Emails

Emails have always been the most positive source of marketing to date. Now it has the potential to get much better with AMP for emails. Let's understand what AMP emails are and the requirements to send AMP emails.

Table of contents

• What are AMP emails?
• What do you need to get started with AMP Emails?
• 1. Building AMP emails
• 2. Authenticating Requests
• 3. Security requirements
• 4. Email testing requirements
• 5. Debugging
• 6. Registering with email clients or whitelisting
• Sending AMP emails with Mailmodo
• Conclusion

What are AMP emails?

AMP for email functions is a novel mark-up and infrastructure which allows interactive elements to be included in the email. It is a part of the AMP (short for Accelerated Mobile Pages) project, an open-source framework launched by Google in 2015. AMP for email was launched by Google in 2019 to make emails dynamic and emulate a web page-like experiences by enabling interactions to occur inside the email.

For example, with AMP for email, one can insert carousels, forms, surveys, and many lists format that can record submissions (RSVP) or can even act as meeting or appointment schedulers. Also, AMP messages inclusive of standard HTML mark-up provide a fallback for email clients that are not compatible with AMP technology.

What do you need to get started with AMP Emails?

There are certain requirements to be met before creating and sending your first AMP emails. But, first, let's look at the major hurdles you need to cross to start using AMP emails.

1. Building AMP emails

The foremost requirement for AMP emails is to build an AMP email. Due to the lack of AMP support with major ESPs and inbox providers, one needs to create AMP Emails by coding.

2. Authenticating Requests

Dynamic personalized email content usually needs user authentication. So, all HTTP requests made from inside AMP emails within Gmail are proxied and stripped of cookies to process user data. To authenticate requests made from AMP emails, you may use access tokens.

3. Security requirements

Dynamic emails are subject to extra security requirements and restrictions to ensure safety and privacy.

Sender authentication

AMP emails are subject to the following security protocols and certifications to ensure the sender's authenticity. The email must pass:

• Sender Policy Framework (SPF) authentication.

• Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) authentication.

• Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC)

Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption

TLS is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security through a computer network. To ensure the contents of the AMP email are encrypted in transit, you must TLS encrypt the email.

Related guide: What Is Email Authentication and How To Set It Up

4. Email testing requirements

To verify the contents of an AMP email, you can test it before sending it. There are two options for testing an AMP email:

1. Gmail's AMP for email playground helps you draft, preview, and send your AMP emails to your account for testing.

2. In the developers' settings of your Gmail account, you can whitelist an email address through which you can send AMP emails for testing.

5. Debugging

Enabling debugging banners can help developers determine why and which parts of their emails aren't displaying as AMP emails. To enable the debugging banner for a specific email, you must whitelist the sender's address in your developer settings and refresh the page.

6. Registering with email clients or whitelisting

One of the most important steps to sending AMP Emails is registering with your email client to whitelist your domain. Whitelisting is critical as it shows your emails to be safe to deliver to the subscribers' inbox bypassing all the spam filters in place; hence domain whitelisting is essential in sending AMP emails by the below three email clients:

• Gmail

• Mail.ru

• Yahoo Mail

Following are the prerequisites for registering with Gmail for AMP emails:

• To authenticate the email address, you need to use DKIM, SPF, and DMARC.

• Use correct HTTP headers as laid down in the security requirements of Gmail.

• Send a real, production-quality AMP email to Gmail.

• Review the contents of your AMP email before sending the email to Gmail.

• The email should be sent from a static IP address.

Similarly, there are prerequisites for the AMP Email registration process with Yahoo Mail and Mail.ru.

Sending AMP emails with Mailmodo

Getting started with interactive AMP emails might look a bit difficult. But, as discussed before, a typical roadmap for this looks as follows:

1. Get your domain whitelisted with your email client (Yahoo Mail, Gmail, or Mail.ru), which involves getting certifications like SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and sending verification requests to your email client.

2. Create your AMP email content. This will need development efforts and coding on your part.

3. Debug and test your AMP email.

4. Only after all these steps can you start sending your emails.

This process is not only time-consuming but also requires special expertise. As a result, it isn't easy to create and send AMP emails through this process.

But, there is another way to start sending out interactive AMP Emails. This entails using an ESP like Mailmodo with built-in AMP features support. Mailmodo allows users to send emails by helping create dynamic, actionable experiences within the email without any coding.

This enables marketers to focus on marketing and not the logistics of getting ready to send or create AMP emails. The roadmap of sending AMP emails then looks as below with Mailmodo:

1. Choose from various interactive AMP templates and change them easily with a drag and drop editor and previewer. No coding is required.

2. Start sending interactive emails.

Apart from this, Mailmodo offers the following features:

• Contact management.

• Auto-trigger scheduling.

• Transactional emailing.

• Email journey builder.

• Detailed analytics dashboard.

Conclusion

AMP emails have improved how email marketing works, and many marketers also vouch for it. Mailmodo is one such platform through which you can start sending interactive and dynamic content.

What are you waiting for? Sign up and start creating and sending your own interactive emails today.