As 2026 kicks off, email continues to serve as a core component of business communication and customer engagement strategies. The UK remains one of the most active email markets globally, sending more than 830,000 campaigns each year, reflecting the continued reliance on this channel across both B2B and B2C operations.
While email maintains its position as a critical tool for reaching customers and prospects, B2B organisations are evolving the way that they operate. Economic pressures, shifting customer expectations and increasing digital competition mean that businesses will need to refine and strengthen their approach to email marketing in the year ahead in order to keep up. At the same time, advancements in technology and changes in how audiences consume content are creating new opportunities for organisations to improve performance and generate stronger results from their campaigns.
Below are three key trends that will shape B2B email marketing in 2026, and the opportunities they present.
1. Interaction beyond the button —
For years, many email campaigns have relied on simple calls-to-action (“click here”, “download the report”, etc.). But 2026 will see a shift – email is becoming more interactive, immersive and engaging.
Interactive elements such as embedded polls, swipeable product carousels, live content (such as dynamic inventory or availability updates), or embedded video and dynamic visual content – rather than static links – can significantly enhance user engagement. As inboxes grow more crowded and attention spans shrink, this kind of content gives brands an opportunity to stand out and deliver value without relying solely on external landing pages.
Some industry data suggests that more marketers are looking into or already adopting richer email formats. While open-rate statistics remain a useful baseline, click-through and click-to-open metrics are increasingly the more meaningful indicators of engagement, especially since privacy changes (e.g. inbox-provider policies) have made open-rate tracking more volatile.
For businesses ready to explore the possibilities, especially those with strong data hygiene, interactive email offers a chance to build deeper engagement and gather more meaningful behavioural insights. It also reduces friction in the customer journey, allowing brands to collect richer first-party data and understand intent without pushing readers off-platform – a commercial advantage as competition increases.
2. AI-powered personalisation —
AI is far from being a new addition to an email marketer’s toolbox – but the gift that keeps on giving is the ever-evolving scope of it, and the growing potential it has for email marketing. For
many organisations, the real opportunity in 2026 lies in using AI to create genuinely personalised experiences at scale.
As adoption grows, AI tools will become more closely embedded across different touchpoints – from email and social activity to customer service conversations and on-site behaviour. This level of integration allows marketers to build a clearer picture of what prospects need, and to serve content and recommendations that feel timely, relevant and helpful rather than generic.
The businesses that take advantage of these advances, will be the ones who’re able to deliver highly tailored journeys that improve engagement and lead quality. Those slower to catch on are at risk of missing out as expectations continue to rise.
It’s important to recognise that more capability also calls for more consideration. AI-driven personalisation must be used responsibly, with clear boundaries and a focus on enhancing, not overwhelming, the customer experience.
3. Taking a consumer approach for every audience —
The attention span of a consumer is getting shorter, with the average human attention span being 8.25 seconds in 2025, down from 9.2 seconds in 2022.
This not only affects how email marketers are shaping their content, but also how audiences are engaging with it. Readers are increasingly selective, scanning quickly and responding only to messages that feel immediately relevant, concise and easy to absorb. As a result, 2026 is likely to see more B2B organisations adopting techniques traditionally rooted in the consumer world – clearer structure, shorter copy, stronger visuals and messaging that feels direct and human rather than formal and corporate.
For many teams, this will mean taking cues from creator-led content. For instance, using hooks, scannable layouts, simple formatting and a more conversational tone that mirrors the way people read on social feeds. It’s a shift toward being faster, clearer and more instinctive, without losing the substance expected in B2B marketing.
Rather than long, dense emails, audiences now expect content that gets to the point quickly, conveys value immediately and mirrors the way they consume information across other channels. For marketers, this shift presents a clear opportunity to modernise their approach – meaning creating content that is not only informative but also compelling enough to cut through an increasingly competitive inbox.
Russ Wilmot is Co-founder and Director of Acquirz, specialists in B2B data and email marketing solutions.
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