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Overview

Not every inbox plays nice with interactive emails. While Kinetic is built to work across the widest range of inbox providers possible, a few still default to static-only rendering. That’s why every Kinetic email includes both an interactive version and a static fallback. We handle which one shows up automatically, so you can confidently send to your entire list without segmenting or worrying about compatibility. This guide explains how these two layers work, where they render best, and how you can preview them.

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Domain vs. Inbox Provider

Which version a user sees depends on their inbox provider, not their email domain. For example, someone with an @gmail.com address might be using Apple Mail on their iPhone, which means they’ll see the Apple-compatible interactive version, not the AMP one.

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The Two Versions of a Kinetic Email

Each email you build in Kinetic includes:
  1. Interactive Version: renders for inboxes that support advanced HTML/CSS or AMP.
  2. Fallback Version: a static version shown when interactivity isn’t supported.
Technically, there are three rendering technologies (AMP, interactive HTML/CSS, and classic HTML/CSS), but for the sake of simplicity, we will group AMP and interactive HTML/CSS together as the interactive version.

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Interactive Version

The interactive version lets customers click, scroll, select, or shop right inside the email. It’s powered by:
  • AMP for Email: used in Gmail, Yahoo, and others that support AMP.
  • Interactive HTML/CSS: used in Apple Mail and some others that allow advanced styling and input elements.
While the underlying tech differs, the user experience is nearly identical: interactive, responsive, and seamless.

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Fallback Version

If a customer opens your email in an inbox that doesn’t support interactivity, they’ll see a fallback version. This is the static email you originally built before importing it into Kinetic. It looks and functions like a traditional marketing email, no bells and whistles, just clean and readable content.

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Inbox Compatibility

For most D2C brands, roughly 80%+ of recipients will see the interactive version. Here’s the current breakdown (globally - Source):
  • Apple Mail: ~51.5%
  • Gmail & Yahoo (AMP): ~29%
  • Other (Outlook, Hotmail, etc.): ~19%
Kinetic handles this logic in the background, making sure every consumer sees the best version for the respectively used inbox provider.

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Device Support

Kinetic emails are fully responsive and work on both desktop and mobile. The version that renders isn’t based on the device, it depends entirely on the inbox app the user is using to open the email. If the inbox doesn’t support interactivity, the fallback version appears automatically.