With 93 percent of people checking their inboxes at least once a day, email is still one of the highest-ROI channels out there. But over the past few years, email marketing has become easier to do poorly. Artificial intelligence and automation have removed friction, but they’ve also made it easier to overlook the basics that mailbox providers now scrutinize more closely. Here are some of those basics, and the problems they bring.
Email marketing feels easier, but that can be a trap: Email marketing is far more accessible than it was even two years ago. That’s a good thing, but it’s also why many businesses have picked up habits that quietly hurt performance.
Sending at scale takes minutes: Modern platforms make it easy to upload a list and automate campaigns, often without pausing to evaluate list quality or engagement metrics.
Content creation no longer slows anyone down: Templates, drag-and-drop editors, and AI-generated copy mean emails look polished, even when the strategy behind them is thin.
Automation creates a false sense of “set it and forget it”: Once workflows go live, many teams stop reviewing who they’re sending to, how those emails perform over time, and how they can be improved.
Volume can feel like progress: More emails, more campaigns, more activity. But activity isn’t the same as effectiveness.
The problem isn’t that these tools exist. It’s that they make it easy to confuse convenience with good email marketing, at a time when mailbox providers are doing the opposite and tightening standards.
Avoid these pitfalls
Here are some of the pitfalls to watch out for, and how to make the most of AI without losing the human judgment email marketing still depends on.
Dirty data: Sending emails to outdated contacts has never been a good idea, but today, it can hurt your campaigns even more. A bounce rate higher than 2 percent is an immediate red flag: It signals poor list quality, typical of spammers, so your emails may start going to spam.
Keeping your bounces at a minimum is part of ongoing data maintenance, and it’s quite easy to do. Before you add a new contact to your list, check it for accuracy. Also, once every few months, verify your entire list to identify and remove disabled email addresses.
Automation without oversight: You can save hours by automating welcome emails or re-engagement campaigns. When your email platform makes it so convenient, it’s easy to adopt a “set it and forget it” mindset, but these setups can age badly.
Your customer base is always evolving, so your messaging can become irrelevant or repetitive. Also, automated volume can cause errors as you scale. So at least once a quarter, set a reminder to go through all your automated emails and check them for relevance. Sometimes, all you need is a few small tweaks to keep your campaigns current and high-performing.
Over-mailing can backfire: Emailing your customers regularly is a cornerstone of good email marketing, but more emails doesn’t always mean better results. Frequency without strategy can burn out your list and lead to low engagement, unsubscribes, and even spam reports. They all affect your ability to reach the inbox.
Restraint is a competitive advantage, so in 2026, be more intentional about the emails you send. Scrutinize every message and only hit send on those emails that communicate something worthwhile.
Bonus tips to keep your email marketing effective in 2026
In 2026, mailbox providers are less forgiving, and small mistakes add up faster. Save these extra tips to help your emails perform:
- Monitor your metrics after every send. Opens and clicks are powerful trust signals, so you can’t afford to ignore engagement. If you notice a dip, be ready to quickly switch to a new approach.
- Avoid replacing yourself with AI. Using AI to write your emails entirely is tempting, but never copy and paste bot-written copy into your templates. Even if your emails are imperfect, use your own words as much as you can to preserve authenticity.
- Make review part of your routine. Regularly audit your campaigns and automated flows to make sure they still reflect how your business and your audience have evolved.
In 2026, email rewards intention and discipline, so stick to these habits and you’ll continue to see steady, satisfying returns.
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Liviu Tanase
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