Ads readers can use — right inside the email
Polls, quizzes, lead forms, offer codes, calculators and event sign-ups that work inside the newsletter for Gmail, Yahoo Mail and AOL readers. MailAdx picks the ad when the email is opened; Apple Mail, Outlook and forwarded copies show a static version of the same ad.
- 11 ad formats
- Ad chosen at open
- Static fallback in every other inbox
- Billed per impression, never per lead
Your Newsletter
to me · This week: the stories worth your time
Sponsored · Orbitly
How does your team ship code today?
Picked at open
Used in the email
Reported
Tap an answer to try it.
Format gallery
Eleven formats. Try every one.
Each demo below behaves the way the ad does in Gmail. Switch to Apple Mail · Outlook to see the static version those readers get, and watch what MailAdx records as you go.
Your Newsletter
to me · This week: the stories worth your time
Demo — in Gmail this runs inside the email
Sponsored · Orbitly
How does your team ship code today?
All brands in these demos are fictional, tallies and seat counts are sample data, and nothing you type leaves this page.
How it works
Decided when the email is opened. Used without leaving it.
The publisher's tag is the same in every email they send. The ad behind it is chosen at the moment each reader opens.
- 01
The reader opens the newsletter
The mail app fetches the ad section from MailAdx — Gmail does it through Google's own servers. Nothing about the ad is fixed at send time.
- 02
MailAdx picks the ad at that moment
The same waterfall as display and native — direct-sold first, then deals and marketplace demand, with budgets, caps, pacing and targeting checked live. A format is only served into a slot that can show it.
- 03
The reader acts inside the email
Vote, answer, open a question, reveal a code, pick a slot or submit a consented form. No new tab, no landing page in between.
- 04
Results reach the advertiser
Answers, slide depth, question opens and reveals land in reports. Leads arrive in the dashboard, as a CSV, by signed webhook or in a daily digest email.
Everyone else
They see a static version of the same ad
Every interactive creative carries a required static fallback. The HTML part of the email holds a fallback tag for the same ad unit, which serves it as a native image — so no reader gets an empty slot. Fallback impressions are billed and reported separately from AMP impressions.
- Apple Mail, Outlook and other clients
- Emails older than 30 days — the AMP part expires
- Forwarded copies — forwarding removes the AMP part
- Senders Gmail or Yahoo haven't approved yet
Impression = the ad was drawn
Counted when the ad's render pixel loads, not when the mail app fetches the slot.
No viewability in AMP email
AMP for Email has no viewability measurement — only that the ad was fetched and drawn.
Slot-safe by design
Carousels need a fixed height; nothing is served into a slot that can't show it.
Built in, not bolted on
The MailAdx stack you already use
Interactive Ads add an AMP layer to the open-time ad server. Everything else — waterfall, billing, reporting, review — stays the same.
Same open-time waterfall
Interactive line items run through the waterfall your display and native ads use — direct-sold first, with budgets, frequency caps, pacing and targeting applied when the email is opened.
Slot-safe serving
Each creative's worst-case height is measured before it serves. A format never goes into a slot that cannot show it, and empty elastic slots collapse.
Sender lock
An interactive unit only serves to the sending addresses the publisher declared. A tag pasted into someone else's email gets nothing.
Consent-first leads
Consent box unticked by default, wording written by MailAdx, the advertiser's privacy policy on every form, and a consent record stored with each lead.
Static fallback everywhere else
Every interactive creative carries a required static version, served as a native image from the HTML part of the same email.
Per-impression billing
CPM on each rendered impression, AMP or fallback. Engagements and leads are never charged; reports show the realised cost per engagement and per lead.
For advertisers
Answers and leads, not just clicks
Every format returns its own data — what readers chose, how far they swiped, which questions they opened, who asked to hear from you — next to the impressions and clicks you already get.
What each format returns
Per creative, per publisher, per day.
| Format | You get | Main KPI |
|---|---|---|
| Poll | Answer distribution (also by publisher) · Votes · Vote rate | Vote rate |
| Quiz | Answer distribution · Share answering correctly · Button clicks | Answer rate |
| Explainer | Opens per question — which questions readers care about | Open rate |
| Calculator | Uses (first input on an impression) · Button clicks | Use rate |
| Lead form | Leads: email, fields and a consent record · Lead rate · Realised cost per lead (spend ÷ leads) | Leads |
| One-tap subscribe | Subscribers (leads marked double opt-in required) · Subscribe rate | Subscribers |
| RSVP / slot picker | Registrations per slot (each one a lead) · Seats left | Registrations |
| Offer reveal | Reveals · Codes issued · Reveal rate · Clicks | Reveals |
| Native brief | Impressions · Clicks · CTR | CTR |
| Image card | Impressions · Clicks · CTR | CTR |
| Carousel | Slide-depth funnel (reached slide 2 … N) · Clicks per slide | Swipe rate and CTR |
An engagement is the first interaction on an impression — a vote, answer, reveal, form submit, slide 2 or later, question open, calculator use or click. Engagement rate = engaged impressions ÷ AMP impressions.
Billed per impression. Never per lead.
You pay the line item's CPM for each rendered impression — interactive or fallback — through the same prepaid wallet as every other MailAdx format. Votes, answers, reveals, clicks and leads are never charged. Reports divide spend by results so you can compare the realised cost per lead with your other channels.
Leads you can act on
- A consent record with every lead: the exact consent text, your privacy-policy link, the publisher, the impression and the time.
- Leads table in the dashboard with CSV export, plus a daily digest email.
- Signed webhook (HMAC-SHA256) with retries and a delivery log, to send leads into your own systems.
- Email addresses stored encrypted; personal details deleted after 90 days. One lead per email per line item.
Set up like any other creative
- Pick a format, fill in the builder, and watch a live preview that runs the real AMP runtime — phone, desktop and fallback views.
- Automated checks before review: HTTPS links, image sizes, a reachable landing page, a privacy-policy link on forms, exactly one right quiz answer, future RSVP slots, two to eight carousel slides.
- Same approval queue, then a line item: format Interactive, delivery “AMP + fallback” or “AMP only”, your CPM — targeting, deals, frequency caps and pacing work as they do today.
Reports → Interactive
A trend, by-format and by-publisher tables, and an insight panel for each creative: poll and quiz answers (by publisher too), the carousel slide-depth funnel, which questions readers opened, calculator use, reveals and RSVPs by slot. CSV export, and the same numbers through the API.
- AMP impressions
- Fallback impressions
- Engagement rate
- Clicks and CTR
- Leads
- Realised CPM
- Cost per engagement
- Cost per lead
For publishers
We take you as far as Google's and Yahoo's approval
MailAdx can do everything except own your domain, press submit on the registration form, or make your platform send AMP. Your existing display and native tags keep working throughout. Read the registration guide.
1Platform check
MailAdx: Tell you whether your sending platform supports AMP for Email.
You: Send from an AMP-capable platform.
2Domain checks
MailAdx: Check SPF, DMARC policy (Yahoo recommends quarantine or reject), MX, your website and privacy page — and supply the privacy paragraph about interactive content.
You: Fix DNS and publish the paragraph.
3Unit and snippet
MailAdx: Generate the AMP head, style and body snippets plus the HTML fallback, escaped for your platform's template language and carrying the email-hash merge tag.
You: Paste them into your template.
4Test-email check
MailAdx: Read the .eml of a test send: MIME parts, AMP size, the tag, the resolved hash, your From address, SPF/DKIM/DMARC results, unsubscribe header, placement — and run the official AMP validator.
You: Send the test to your own inbox.
5Registration pack
MailAdx: Prefill the answers for Google's form and Yahoo's checklist, with use-case text that truthfully describes labelled sponsored sections.
You: Submit the form and send the sample directly.
6Live detection
MailAdx: Mark your sender “Live in Gmail” or “Live in Yahoo” automatically once real opens arrive through that mailbox with your address.
You: Nothing.
7Concierge review
MailAdx: Review your sample on request before you submit it.
You: Ask.
Free house modules
A reader poll, a 1–5 rating and a single-choice feedback question, served through the same tag under your own label. They are never billed. They give you an ad-free AMP sample to register with, fill fixed-height slots when no ad wins, and tell you what your readers think.
Your inventory, your rules
- Sender lock: a unit serves only to the sending addresses you declare.
- Top and middle units use a fixed height; a unit directly above your footer can be elastic and collapse when empty.
- Choose the label — Sponsored, Partner or Advertisement. It can never be removed.
- You write and send the newsletter. MailAdx never sends from your address.
- Interactive revenue, eCPM next to your display and native units, AMP share of opens, fill, engagement rate and sender status. Lead counts only — never lead data.
Where it renders
Interactive where it can be. Static everywhere else.
AMP for Email runs in a handful of mail apps. The HTML part of the same email carries the static version, so no reader sees an empty slot.
| Email client | Readers see | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gmail — web, Android and iOS appsFrom sending addresses Google has approved. Readers who turn off dynamic email in Gmail settings see the static version. | Interactive | From sending addresses Google has approved. Readers who turn off dynamic email in Gmail settings see the static version. |
| Yahoo Mail — web and appsFrom sending addresses Yahoo has approved. | Interactive | From sending addresses Yahoo has approved. |
| AOL MailListed as an AMP for Email client. | Interactive | Listed as an AMP for Email client. |
| Apple MailDoes not render AMP; shows the HTML part. | Static fallback | Does not render AMP; shows the HTML part. |
| OutlookDoes not render AMP; shows the HTML part. | Static fallback | Does not render AMP; shows the HTML part. |
| Other mail appsUnless the app is on the AMP for Email client list. | Static fallback | Unless the app is on the AMP for Email client list. |
After 30 days
The AMP part of an email expires; older emails show the static version.
When forwarded
Forwarding removes the AMP part, so the forwarded copy shows the static version.
Mail.ru
Also renders AMP, with its own sender requirements. MailAdx's registration pack covers Gmail and Yahoo.
Gmail behaviour is tested by MailAdx in real inboxes. Yahoo Mail and AOL support follows the published AMP for Email client list.
Reader-first rules
Real controls, with rules to match
Interactive Ads put working buttons and forms in front of readers, so the rules are stricter than for a static ad.
Always labelled
Every ad reads “Sponsored · Advertiser” (or Partner / Advertisement). The label can't be removed.
Consent you can see
The consent box starts unticked and its wording is written by MailAdx — advertisers can't weaken it.
Privacy policy on every form
Lead, subscribe and RSVP forms must link to the advertiser's own privacy policy.
Data we never ask for
No passwords, payment details, government IDs, health, religion, caste, sexual orientation, political opinion or children's data.
No games of chance
No contests, sweepstakes, spin-the-wheel or scratch cards. No payments inside the email.
Real results only
Poll results come only from real votes, shown once at least 20 readers have voted.
No political or issue ads
Political and issue advertising isn't available as an Interactive Ad.
Publishers send, not MailAdx
The ad is a labelled section of the publisher's own email. MailAdx never sends from a publisher's address.
The full rules are in the advertising policy and the privacy policy.
On the roadmap
Planned — not available yetProduct picker
Choose a size or colour, see the live price, jump to that variant.
Availability check
Type a PIN code to see delivery time or the nearest store.
Survey + brand lift
Short stepped surveys with an exposed-versus-holdout comparison.
Rating and NPS for advertisers
Rating ships first as a free publisher module.
Animated teaser
A moving preview with a watch button — email has no video.
CRM sync
Leads straight into HubSpot, Zoho or Google Sheets.
FAQ
Interactive Ads questions
Setting it up? Read the Interactive Ads docs or the AMP sender registration guide.
Put an interactive ad in your next issue
Publishers: check your sending platform and sender readiness. Advertisers: see each format with your own creative.