{"id":123688,"date":"2026-04-15T09:36:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?p=123688"},"modified":"2026-04-15T09:36:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:36:06","slug":"inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email","title":{"rendered":"The Inbox Decoded: How Mailbox Providers Really Think About Email\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<div id=\"simple-text-block-block_196c8afc1527bbf01bb10489f373e872\" class=\"block-simple-text-block alignfull \" style=\"background-color:\">\n  <div class=\"container\">\n  \t<div class=\"row\">\n  \t\t<div class=\"col\">\n  \t\t\t<div class=\"copy\">\n  \t\t\t\t<table class=\"mt-3 mb-3\" style=\"background-color: #f2f3f6;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"block-1\" style=\"padding: 20px;\">\n<h3>Key takeaways \u2728<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Mailbox providers are filtering for relevance<\/strong>, not punishing legitimate senders.\u00a0Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft\u00a0want your\u00a0emails\u00a0to reach the inbox\u00a0and\u00a0work to\u00a0identify\u00a0good senders by looking at\u00a0your email engagement.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Authentication is now a hard requirement<\/strong>, not\u00a0a best\u00a0practice.\u00a0SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are mandatory for high-volume senders across all major mailbox providers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>AI is reshaping the inbox<\/strong> in ways that reward relevance.\u00a0AI-powered features like Gmail&#8217;s Gemini integration, Yahoo&#8217;s &#8220;Catch Up,&#8221; and relevance-sorted inbox views\u00a0helping brands with\u00a0high-value, well-structured\u00a0emails\u00a0stand out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>At\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/conference\">Litmus Live 2026<\/a>, we got something rare: an unfiltered look at how the inbox actually works\u2014from the people who build it.\u00a0In a session titled\u00a0The Inbox Decoded: How Mailbox Providers Really Think About Email, Validity&#8217;s Tom Bartel and Guy Hanson sat down with Ross Adams from Microsoft, Dan\u00a0Givol\u00a0from Google, and Marcel Becker from Yahoo.<\/p>\n<p>The conversation was candid, honest, and had both email\u00a0marketing\u00a0leaders and\u00a0practitioners hanging on every word.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/QdulH06CY6k?si=73C2pGCpgo1S4HVM\">full session recording here<\/a>\u00a0and read on for a session recap.<\/p>\n<h3 aria-level=\"2\">Table of Contents<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"%1.\" data-font=\"Proxima Nova\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#land\">Mailbox providers want your emails to land<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"%1.\" data-font=\"Proxima Nova\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#think\">How do mailbox providers think about email?<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"%1.\" data-font=\"Proxima Nova\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#good-sender\">What being a &#8220;good sender&#8221; means in 2026<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"%1.\" data-font=\"Proxima Nova\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#ai-changing\">AI is changing the inbox<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"%1.\" data-font=\"Proxima Nova\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#game-it\">Don&#8217;t try to game the system<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"%1.\" data-font=\"Proxima Nova\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#phishing\">AI is also making phishing more dangerous<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"%1.\" data-font=\"Proxima Nova\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#sender-tools\">Sender tools: use the data you have<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"%1.\" data-font=\"Proxima Nova\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#matters\">The one thing that matters most<\/a><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"%1.\" data-font=\"Proxima Nova\" data-listid=\"3\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:0,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769242&quot;:[65533,0],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;%1.&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#take-away\">What email marketers and marketing leaders should take away<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"land\" aria-level=\"2\">Mailbox\u00a0providers\u00a0want\u00a0your\u00a0emails to\u00a0land<\/h2>\n<p>Let&#8217;s\u00a0start by clearing up a common misconception. Many email marketers assume mailbox providers (MBPs) are\u00a0strict gatekeepers\u2014that Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft are on guard against\u00a0brand emails\u00a0by default.\u00a0But\u00a0that&#8217;s\u00a0simply not true.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We love email marketers,&#8221; said Yahoo&#8217;s Marcel Becker. &#8220;That&#8217;s what consumer\u00a0email is\u00a0about.\u00a0At the end of the day,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0very simple: send mail users want. They decide what that is, not us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft&#8217;s Ross Adams agreed: &#8220;Consumers want [marketing\u00a0emails].\u00a0They&#8217;re\u00a0ordering things. They want to know about various sales that are going on.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Google&#8217;s Dan\u00a0Givol\u00a0added a perspective worth pausing on: &#8220;Today, your marketers are part of this webinar, but as soon as this is over, you become our consumers. Put that lens on as you communicate with your users and ask yourself, do I want to receive this?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The nuance is that the email ecosystem has a serious noise problem. According to Marcel,\u00a0roughly 90%\u00a0of email in circulation is malicious. &#8220;Our job is not so much to identify the bad stuff,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s more to identify the good stuff for our users.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Tom Bartel, SVP of Data Services at Validity, framed it with his two rules of deliverability: &#8220;The first rule is, as a\u00a0sender,\u00a0it&#8217;s not really about you\u2014there&#8217;s ninety percent of really bad mail polluting the system.\u00a0They&#8217;re\u00a0not looking to punish good senders just because they feel like it.\u00a0The second rule is that it is all about you. Do the fundamentals well\u2014clear\u00a0transmission,\u00a0making sure the\u00a0identity\u00a0is\u00a0correct,\u00a0email authentication, DMARC. Beyond that, just send wanted mail. Don&#8217;t annoy\u00a0recipients.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"think\" aria-level=\"2\">How\u00a0do\u00a0mailbox\u00a0providers\u00a0think\u00a0about\u00a0email?<\/h2>\n<p>The session chat\u00a0was\u00a0filled with so many great questions that the speakers did not have time to answer them all. Here are a few that speakers were able to answer after the event ended:<\/p>\n<h3>Do mailbox providers view all emails as suspicious by default?<\/h3>\n<p>No,\u00a0there&#8217;s\u00a0no inherent bias against legitimate business email. MBPs acknowledge that most email traffic is malicious, so newer senders and domains face more scrutiny\u00a0than those that have been sending\u00a0engaging\u00a0emails\u00a0for a while.\u00a0But if\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0a legitimate sender and your subscribers are excited to engage with your emails, you should be good to go.<\/p>\n<h3>What signals do MBPs use to evaluate senders?<\/h3>\n<p>Engagement is the primary trust signal. Spam complaint rates, bounce rates, unsubscribe activity, and positive interactions all feed into how a sender is evaluated. According to Validity&#8217;s\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/resource-center\/2026-email-deliverability-benchmark-report\/\">2026 Email Deliverability Benchmark Report<\/a>, keeping spam complaint rates below 0.1% is now\u00a0desired\u2014down from the previously cited threshold of 0.2\u20130.3%.<\/p>\n<h3>How quickly does bad sender reputation recover?<\/h3>\n<p>It takes dedicated steps to change your sender reputation, not just time. Dan Givol described sender reputation as, &#8220;A backwards-looking proxy for the way that users perceive your messages.&#8221; His advice: &#8220;If you don&#8217;t like what you see, take action sooner rather than later because the deeper you get in the hole, the harder it is to get out.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Tom Bartel echoed this with a simple mantra: &#8220;Nothing changes if nothing changes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>How can senders reduce the spam complaints on their transactional emails?<\/h3>\n<p>Sorting emails according to function helps ensure the best delivery possible. MBP guidance recommends using different IP addresses for each message type. For example, you could use one IP address for account notifications, another for promotional messages, etc.<\/p>\n<p>The same applies to &#8220;from addresses.&#8221; This means sales receipt messages use coming from an email like sales@example.com while promotional messages use deals@example.com. Senders should always avoid mixing different types of content in the same message. Validity has a <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/blog\/tackling-transactional-email-complaints\/\">helpful article on this topic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>What are the benefits of implementing BIMI?<\/h3>\n<p><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/what-is-bimi-and-why-should-email-marketers-care\">BIMI<\/a> adds a verified sender logo that appears next to your message in the inbox. It&#8217;s a way for inbox providers to verify information about your brand and works right alongside SPF, DMARC, and DKIM to signal to email clients that you are you.<\/p>\n<p>Tom Bartel says, &#8220;Early adoption of BIMI ensures first mover advantage. While it\u2019s likely MBPs now see upwards of 40% of their inbound commercial email volume covered by BIMI certificates, there is still a missed opportunity to stand out in the inbox in these early (now mid) days of adoption.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond BIMI, MBP guidance is clear that, &#8220;Senders should use display names that are consistent, clear, and provide an accurate statement of the sender&#8217;s identity. Doing so will drive recognition and trust benefits similar to those described above. Senders should also consider implementing <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/blog\/business-logos-in-apple-mail-now-easy-as-abc\/\">Apple Branded Mail,<\/a>&#8221; notes Guy Hanson.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"container pt-3 pb-5\">\n\t<div class=\"row blog-cta-blue  p-4\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col-12 mx-auto\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"row d-flex align-items-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-lg-6 col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t<p class=\"bold fs-4\">Become a better email sender <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Assess where your email program is today, learn how to improve it, and take action to drive even more ROI. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"button-blue arrow\"><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/senderscore.org\/\" class=\"text-white text-decoration-none\">Get your Sender Score <\/a><\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/div><!--col-6-->\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-6 d-none d-lg-block\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/blog-cta-12172024.svg\" width=\"208\" height=\"171\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t<\/div><!--col-6-->\n\t\t\t<\/div> <!--row-->\n\t\t<\/div><!--col-12-->\n\t<\/div><!--row-->\n<\/div><!--container-->\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n<h2 id=\"good-sender\" aria-level=\"2\">What\u00a0being a\u00a0&#8220;good\u00a0sender&#8221;\u00a0means in 2026<\/h2>\n<p>There&#8217;s\u00a0no shortage of advice about what makes a good email sender. The panelists\u00a0identified\u00a0a few\u00a0very important\u00a0pieces that\u00a0move the needle\u00a0from ok to good\u2014or even great.<\/p>\n<h3 aria-level=\"3\">Authentication is non-negotiable<\/h3>\n<p>Sender Policy Framework (<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/sender-policy-framework\">SPF<\/a>), DomainKeys Identified Mail (<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/google-is-failing-your-perfectly-good-dkim-key-and-why-thats-a-good-thing\">DKIM<\/a>), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/reading-first-dmarc-reports\">DMARC<\/a>) are no longer best practices\u2014they&#8217;re\u00a0requirements.\u00a0Gmail, Yahoo, and Microsoft have all introduced bulk sender mandates that make authentication mandatory for high-volume senders.<\/p>\n<p>As of\u00a0November 2025, Gmail ramped up enforcement on non-compliant traffic. Messages\u00a0that\u00a0fail to\u00a0meet sender requirements\u00a0now\u00a0experience\u00a0disruptions\u00a0including temporary and permanent rejections.\u00a0Validity&#8217;s\u00a0benchmark data shows these requirements contributed to global inbox placement rising to 87.2% in 2025\u2014a 3.7% year-over-year improvement\u2014although they do vary significantly by MBP, region, and industry.<\/p>\n<p>For the strongest protection, set your DMARC policy to p=quarantine or ideally p=reject.<\/p>\n<h3 aria-level=\"3\">Email list hygiene matters more than ever<\/h3>\n<p>High unknown user rates (hard bounces) signal poor\u00a0email\u00a0list quality to MBPs.\u00a0Validity&#8217;s benchmark data shows the average unknown user rate held at 1.46% in 2025\u2014a figure that can climb quickly without active list maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"quote my-5 col-12 blue-quote\" >\n\t\n\t<div class=\"row d-flex align-items-center\">\n\t<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-9\">&#8220;<em>The hygiene of a list is critical. If you send messages to people who no longer want to receive them, they&#8217;re going to send you to spam. Take advantage of unsubscribe and other critical things that we put out there to make sure that you are getting through.<\/em>&#8220;<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-3 text-center\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/dan-givol.jpg\" alt=\"Dan Givol\" width=\"125\" height=\"125\" class=\"mt-3 mt-lg-0\">\t<p><strong>Dan Givol<\/strong>\t<br><span class=\"quote-title\">Group Product Manager at Google<\/span><\/p>\t<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dangivol\/\" target=\"blank\"><i class=\"fa-brands fa-linkedin\"><\/i><\/a>\t<\/div>\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>Senders should monitor hard bounces, soft bounces, and inactive recipients\u2014and remove invalid recipients from their lists promptly.<\/p>\n<h3 aria-level=\"3\">Engagement over volume<\/h3>\n<p>Relevance-sorted inboxes now prioritize emails based on user behavior, not send time. Validity&#8217;s\u00a02026 Email Deliverability Benchmark Report\u00a0notes that Gmail&#8217;s promotions tab ranks emails according to the brands users interact with most. A list full of disengaged subscribers\u00a0doesn&#8217;t\u00a0just waste\u00a0budget,\u00a0it\u00a0hurts your\u00a0sender\u00a0reputation.<\/p>\n<p>Ross Adams offered\u00a0a great\u00a0example\u00a0from his own experience: &#8220;I ordered a wallet online, and then I got bombarded with\u00a0mail. That type of experience, whilst maybe good for some people, was certainly not an expectation I had.&#8221; His point:\u00a0email service providers (ESPs)\u00a0and platforms should help senders understand when\u00a0they&#8217;re\u00a0crossing the line from helpful to overwhelming.<\/p>\n<p>If you do plan to increase send volume, MBP guidance is to do so slowly. Guy Hanson has great advice: &#8220;When initiating an increase start with your most engaged users. Regularly monitor server responses, spam rate, and the sending domain&#8217;s reputation using services like Google Postmaster Tools, Yahoo\u2019s Sender Dashboard, and Microsoft\u2019s SNDS. If messages start bouncing or deferring, reduce the sending volume until the SMTP error rate decreases, then increase slowly again. If bounces and deferrals continue at a low volume, review individual messages to identify problems.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"container pt-3 pb-5\">\n\t<div class=\"row blog-cta-blue  p-4\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col-12 mx-auto\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"row d-flex align-items-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-lg-6 col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t<p class=\"bold fs-4\">Unlock 2026 inbox benchmarks now<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Download Validity\u2019s 2026 Email Deliverability Benchmark Report and learn how your inbox placement compares before your next send.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"button-blue arrow\"><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/resource-center\/2026-email-deliverability-benchmark-report\/\" class=\"text-white text-decoration-none\">Get the report<\/a><\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/div><!--col-6-->\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-6 d-none d-lg-block\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/blog-cta-12172024.svg\" width=\"208\" height=\"171\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t<\/div><!--col-6-->\n\t\t\t<\/div> <!--row-->\n\t\t<\/div><!--col-12-->\n\t<\/div><!--row-->\n<\/div><!--container-->\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n<h2 id=\"ai-changing\" aria-level=\"2\">AI\u00a0is\u00a0changing the\u00a0inbox<\/h2>\n<p>The single biggest theme to\u00a0emerge\u00a0from the panel:\u00a0<strong>AI is not the enemy of email. Irrelevance is<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Dan Givol said, &#8220;We are injecting a new life into email. We&#8217;re taking all the benefits of a federated open system that lends itself to long form communication and we are supercharging it with technology that was designed exactly to solve the problem of what do I need to do next.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In 2025, MBPs introduced a wave of AI-powered inbox features:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"7\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Gmail<\/strong>:\u00a0subscription manager and Gemini integration<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"7\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Yahoo<\/strong>:\u00a0Catch\u00a0up\u00a0feature<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"7\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Relevance-sorted inbox views<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These tools are designed to help subscribers manage their inbox and surface what\u00a0messages\u00a0matter most to them. For senders whose content resonates, these features are\u00a0a\u00a0big benefit.\u00a0For those sending generic, low-relevance messages,\u00a0they&#8217;re\u00a0a big reality to send messages that\u00a0subscriber\u00a0want to engage with.<\/p>\n<p>Validity&#8217;s\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/resource-center\/q1-2026-marketer-survey-ai-plans-and-priorities\/\">Q1 2026 Marketer Survey<\/a>\u00a0found that\u00a0nearly half\u00a0of marketing teams are experimenting with AI-driven inbox optimization,\u00a0but fewer than one-third have a strategic approach. That gap is a real risk as MBPs increasingly act as intermediaries between brands and subscribers.<\/p>\n<p>Marcel Becker kept the\u00a0focus\u00a0where it belongs,\u00a0&#8220;Whether we use AI\u00a0to amplify good or bad behavior\u00a0doesn&#8217;t really matter at the end of the day.\u00a0It&#8217;s\u00a0a means to an end. We want senders to provide the best user experience to our mutual customers, and we want to provide the best user experience on top of\u00a0that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"game-it\" aria-level=\"2\">Don&#8217;t\u00a0try to\u00a0game\u00a0the system<\/h2>\n<p>One of the most direct moments of the session came when the conversation turned to senders\u00a0attempting\u00a0to manipulate AI systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"quote my-5 col-12 blue-quote\" >\n\t\n\t<div class=\"row d-flex align-items-center\">\n\t<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-9\">&#8220;<em>Gaming is going to be your worst enemy when it comes to these AI advancements we\u2019re making. Any of that sort of gaming is actually something we look for already. We see it in attacks and we see it coming through. So please just focus on sending the right content with the right words.<\/em>&#8220;<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-3 text-center\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Ross-Adams.jpg\" alt=\"Ross Adams\" width=\"125\" height=\"125\" class=\"mt-3 mt-lg-0\">\t<p><strong>Ross Adams<\/strong>\t<br><span class=\"quote-title\">PM Principal Architect at Microsoft<\/span><\/p>\t<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/rosspa2\/\" target=\"blank\"><i class=\"fa-brands fa-linkedin\"><\/i><\/a>\t<\/div>\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>Ross also gave an example of what not to do: hidden text embedded in emails. Marketers do this to attempt to manipulate how AI systems process the email&#8217;s information. While this isn&#8217;t a new concept for marketers, and it&#8217;s still not advised. &#8220;Just good content, sent the right way. The system will do the right thing with it,&#8221; Ross added.<\/p>\n<p>Dan\u00a0Givol\u00a0agreed completely,\u00a0\u201cHidden text has been\u00a0leveraged\u00a0in email quite a bit. As we shift into AI,\u00a0we&#8217;ll\u00a0see\u00a0less support for hidden text.\u00a0Don&#8217;t\u00a0stuff your emails with something that the user\u00a0doesn&#8217;t\u00a0see. Think about it from your own lens:\u00a0when you look at something, do you say,\u00a0\u2018this\u00a0doesn&#8217;t\u00a0look right?\u00a0Is this AI? Am I being spoofed?\u2019\u00a0If we see that\u00a0you&#8217;re\u00a0not trying to trick the user, but\u00a0you&#8217;re\u00a0trying to trick our system, then we will take enforcement action on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This also applies to so-called &#8220;warming services&#8221; that simulate engagement, and vendors who claim they can guarantee primary tab placement.\u00a0As Tom\u00a0Bartel noted, &#8220;These reputation systems and algorithms are complex and dynamic. They&#8217;re not binary switches.&#8221; Anyone selling certainty without effort should give senders pause.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"phishing\" aria-level=\"2\">AI\u00a0is\u00a0making\u00a0phishing\u00a0more\u00a0dangerous<\/h2>\n<p>The same capabilities that help marketers personalize at scale are being used by bad actors to craft more convincing fraudulent emails. Ross Adams explained that he\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0predominately\u00a0see\u00a0AI\u00a0crafting\u00a0the\u00a0initial\u00a0message, but in automating the follow-through once someone falls for a\u00a0scam. &#8220;They\u00a0don&#8217;t have to deal with that manually anymore. Now [attackers] can automate the response back to get all the details they need.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For legitimate brands, this creates both\u00a0a responsibility\u00a0and\u00a0an opportunity. When phishing emails are increasingly hard to distinguish from real marketing messages,\u00a0authentication\u00a0and visual identity signals like BIMI become part of your customer protection strategy\u2014not just your\u00a0email\u00a0deliverability strategy.<\/p>\n<p>Dan\u00a0Givol\u00a0put it plainly,\u00a0&#8220;Help us identify you as a good actor by doing all the things that will make you identifiable. As we shift into this larger field of threats that are going to be easier to put together, do your part by identifying yourself.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"sender-tools\" aria-level=\"2\">Sender\u00a0tools:\u00a0use the\u00a0data\u00a0you\u00a0have<\/h2>\n<p>Each major MBP has invested in tools to help senders understand their performance:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"8\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Google Postmaster Tools (now v2, with a Pass\/Fail Compliance dashboard)<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"8\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Yahoo Sender Hub<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"8\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\">Microsoft SNDS<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"quote my-5 col-12 blue-quote\" >\n\t\n\t<div class=\"row d-flex align-items-center\">\n\t<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-9\">&#8220;<em>I personally believe in providing meaningful and actionable data in a privacy-conscious way to senders. Stop trusting random guys on the Internet. Use the tools we actually provide because that data is a little bit more meaningful.<\/em>&#8220;<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-3 text-center\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Marcel-Becker.png\" alt=\"Marcel Becker\" width=\"125\" height=\"125\" class=\"mt-3 mt-lg-0\">\t<p><strong>Marcel Becker<\/strong>\t<br><span class=\"quote-title\">Senior Director of Product Management at Yahoo<\/span><\/p>\t<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/marcel-becker-1a69a9\/\" target=\"blank\"><i class=\"fa-brands fa-linkedin\"><\/i><\/a>\t<\/div>\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>Ross Adams noted that Microsoft is actively working on expanding SNDS, with more domain-level visibility on the way.\u00a0It&#8217;s\u00a0their way of making sure that small senders\u2014doctor&#8217;s\u00a0offices, nonprofits, local businesses\u2014do not get overlooked because they\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0understand how email really works. &#8220;The number of doctor surgeries that try and send me an appointment that never arrives because it fails authentication,&#8221; he said. &#8220;As a community, we should do a little bit more to make sure those small senders are being taken care of.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"quote my-5 col-12 blue-quote\" >\n\t\n\t<div class=\"row d-flex align-items-center\">\n\t<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-9\">&#8220;<em>Receivers are providing this data to help senders do better\u2014to get signals, to get feedback. Think of this as teamwork, not opposition. It&#8217;s not senders versus receivers. It&#8217;s a combined effort to drive the satisfaction in what makes it to the inbox.<\/em>&#8220;<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-3 text-center\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/tom-bartel.jpg\" alt=\"Tom Bartel\" width=\"125\" height=\"125\" class=\"mt-3 mt-lg-0\">\t<p><strong>Tom Bartel<\/strong>\t<br><span class=\"quote-title\">SVP of Data Services at Validity<\/span><\/p>\t<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/barteltom\/\" target=\"blank\"><i class=\"fa-brands fa-linkedin\"><\/i><\/a>\t<\/div>\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<h2 id=\"matters\" aria-level=\"2\">The\u00a0one\u00a0thing\u00a0that\u00a0matters\u00a0most<\/h2>\n<p>Near the close of the session, each panelist was asked: if a sender could do just one thing consistently well over the next year to ensure their email is wanted by users, what should it be?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"4\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Ross Adams<\/strong>: &#8220;Help the small senders, fight any abuse in the system, focus on customers.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"4\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Marcel Becker<\/strong>: &#8220;Send email people want. Put yourself into the receiver&#8217;s shoes. Ask yourself, is this something I would want to receive? If the answer is no, don&#8217;t do it.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"4\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Dan Givol<\/strong>: &#8220;Obsess over the numbers each of our platforms gives you to know where you stand.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"4\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Tom Bartel<\/strong>: &#8220;Set and meet expectations with your customer for your email relationship with them.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"take-away\" aria-level=\"2\">Takeaways for\u00a0email\u00a0marketers and\u00a0marketing\u00a0leaders<\/h2>\n<p><strong>For\u00a0email practitioners<\/strong>: the technical fundamentals\u00a0like\u00a0authentication,\u00a0list hygiene,\u00a0and\u00a0monitoring\u00a0aren&#8217;t\u00a0background tasks.\u00a0They&#8217;re\u00a0the foundation everything else is built on. If those\u00a0aren&#8217;t\u00a0in place, no amount of creative excellence, segmentation, or send-time optimization will compensate.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For\u00a0marketing leaders<\/strong>: inbox placement is a revenue issue, not just a technical one. Validity&#8217;s\u00a02026 Email Deliverability Benchmark Report\u00a0found that the average global inbox placement rate in 2025 was 87.2%\u2014meaning\u00a0roughly 13%\u00a0of email never reaches its intended destination. At scale, that gap has\u00a0significant\u00a0impact on campaign ROI, customer engagement, and brand trust.<\/p>\n<p>The inbox has never been more complex.\u00a0It&#8217;s also never been more rewarding for brands that send email people actually want to receive.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the\u00a0<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/QdulH06CY6k?si=73C2pGCpgo1S4HVM\">full session recording here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n<div class=\"container pt-3 pb-5 px-1\">\n\t<div class=\"row blog-cta-purple rounded-5 p-4\">\n\t\t<div class=\"mx-auto col-12\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"row d-flex align-items-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-lg-6 col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t<p class=\"bold fs-4\">Your favorite email marketing conference<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Learn from the pros at Litmus Live, the 100% free and virtual email conference loved by marketers worldwide.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"button-blue calendar\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/conference\" class=\"text-white text-decoration-none\">Check out Litmus Live<\/a><\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/div><!--col-6-->\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-6 d-none d-lg-block\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/blog-cta-event-07292024.svg\" width=\"221\" height=\"144\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t<\/div><!--col-6-->\n\t\t\t<\/div> <!--row-->\n\t\t<\/div><!--col-12-->\n\t<\/div><!--row-->\n<\/div><!--container-->\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n  \t\t\t<\/div>\n  \t\t<\/div>\n  \t<\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Experts from Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft shared how they think about marketing email in an AI-driven era\u2014and how it affects your subscribers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":123693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[45,488],"blog_category":[10302,53],"class_list":["post-123688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-deliverability","tag-litmus-live","blog_category-email-deliverability","blog_category-tips-resources"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How MBPs Think About Email: Google, Yahoo, &amp; Microsoft - Litmus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Experts from Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft share how they think about marketing email in an AI-driven era\u2014and how it affects your subscribers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How MBPs Think About Email: Google, Yahoo, &amp; Microsoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Experts from Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft share how they think about marketing email in an AI-driven era\u2014and how it affects your subscribers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Litmus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/litmusapp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T13:36:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T13:36:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Litmus-Live-2026-MBP-sesion.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"The Inbox Decoded: How Mailbox Providers Really Think About Email\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@litmusapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@litmusapp\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How MBPs Think About Email: Google, Yahoo, & Microsoft - Litmus","description":"Experts from Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft share how they think about marketing email in an AI-driven era\u2014and how it affects your subscribers.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How MBPs Think About Email: Google, Yahoo, & Microsoft","og_description":"Experts from Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft share how they think about marketing email in an AI-driven era\u2014and how it affects your subscribers.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email","og_site_name":"Litmus","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/litmusapp","article_published_time":"2026-04-15T13:36:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-15T13:36:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1380,"height":725,"url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Litmus-Live-2026-MBP-sesion.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"The Inbox Decoded: How Mailbox Providers Really Think About Email\u00a0","twitter_creator":"@litmusapp","twitter_site":"@litmusapp","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email"},"author":{"name":"Lindsey","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8b6e4299624ea0fd0f7525574ecb9036"},"headline":"The Inbox Decoded: How Mailbox Providers Really Think About Email\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-04-15T13:36:05+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-15T13:36:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email"},"wordCount":10,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Litmus-Live-2026-MBP-sesion.png","keywords":["Deliverability","Litmus Live"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email","name":"How MBPs Think About Email: Google, Yahoo, & Microsoft - Litmus","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Litmus-Live-2026-MBP-sesion.png","datePublished":"2026-04-15T13:36:05+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-15T13:36:06+00:00","description":"Experts from Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft share how they think about marketing email in an AI-driven era\u2014and how it affects your subscribers.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Litmus-Live-2026-MBP-sesion.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Litmus-Live-2026-MBP-sesion.png","width":1380,"height":725,"caption":"Blog title on Litmus Live background"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/inbox-decoded-how-mailbox-providers-really-think-about-email#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Inbox Decoded: How Mailbox Providers Really Think About Email\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/","name":"Litmus","description":"Are you getting the most out of your email marketing?","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#organization","name":"Litmus Software","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/featured-image.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/featured-image.png","width":600,"height":314,"caption":"Litmus Software"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/litmusapp","https:\/\/x.com\/litmusapp"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8b6e4299624ea0fd0f7525574ecb9036","name":"Lindsey"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123688"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123701,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123688\/revisions\/123701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123688"},{"taxonomy":"blog_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog_category?post=123688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}