AI summaries pull an average of just 29 words from your email, so every word in that window counts. Jay’s formula for the first 150 to 200 characters is action plus product plus deadline, things like “Shop 40% off all Nike running shoes through Sunday at midnight” or “Register for the 2027 HR compliance briefing by Friday,” and testing it is driving a 19% increase in click through rates. Bullet points matter even more: bulleted content gets pulled into AI summaries 77% of the time in Gmail, 84% in Apple Mail, and 92% in Microsoft Copilot.
Daniel argues Marketing headlines need to evolve too, since vague hooks like “this is crazy” lose their punch once AI strips away the context. He and Jay also unpack a MediaPost survey showing over 70% of people are comfortable with AI scanning their inbox for deals and recommendations, though Daniel notes businesses are far warier about AI reading emails with internal strategy. The bigger idea: email Marketing is being rebuilt around what AI can actually read, and the prettiest template loses if it’s not structured to get pulled into a summary. If you want the exact formulas and formatting Marketers are using to win in AI summaries right now, this is the episode for you.
Follow Jay:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schwedelson/
Podcast: Do This, Not That
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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Dmurr68
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing
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Daniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. To find out more, visit:
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