Should I Build It Should I Build It
30 May 2025
Email

An agentic email client for businesses where users define rules that ...

...the agent performs and it executes tasks based on email content

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Swamp

The market has seen several mediocre solutions that nobody loves. Unless you can offer something fundamentally different, you’ll likely struggle to stand out or make money.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.

Your are here

The idea of an agentic email client for businesses that automates tasks based on email rules falls into a crowded and somewhat treacherous area. We've identified 14 similar products, indicating a decent amount of activity in this space, however our confidence in these metrics is high. Given the "Swamp" category, it seems many prior attempts haven't truly resonated with users. You're entering a space where standing out requires a fundamentally different approach. The average engagement for similar products is low. This suggests that user interest tends to be fleeting, or that the value proposition isn't strong enough to maintain long-term user interest. The success of your idea will depend heavily on avoiding the pitfalls of previous solutions and offering a truly compelling and unique experience that addresses unmet needs in the market.

Recommendations

  1. Begin with extensive market research to understand why existing email automation solutions haven't fully satisfied users. Analyze their limitations, usability issues, and any gaps in functionality. Prioritize identifying the unmet needs and pain points that your agentic email client can uniquely address.
  2. Focus on a specific niche or industry to tailor your agentic email client. Instead of attempting to be a one-size-fits-all solution, identify a particular group of businesses with unique email-related needs. Tailoring to a specific niche allows you to deeply understand their requirements and offer specialized features, increasing your chances of gaining traction.
  3. Explore the potential of building tools or integrations for existing email providers rather than creating a completely new email client. Partnering with established platforms can give you access to a wider user base and leverage existing infrastructure, reducing the burden of building everything from scratch. You can provide added value without disrupting existing workflows.
  4. Carefully consider data security and privacy aspects. Users have expressed concerns about the security of sensitive data. Prioritize robust security measures, encryption, and clear data handling policies to build trust and address privacy concerns. Explore options such as self-hosting to give users greater control over their data.
  5. Implement comprehensive email deliverability strategies. Issues with emails going to spam or being rejected by email providers were common complaints. Ensure your system adheres to email authentication standards (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and continuously monitor your domain's reputation to maintain high deliverability rates. Consider providing users with tools or guidance to improve their own email deliverability.
  6. Start with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that focuses on a core set of features. Avoid feature creep and concentrate on delivering exceptional value in a few key areas. This allows you to gather user feedback quickly and iterate based on real-world usage. It also minimizes the risk of investing heavily in features that users don't need.
  7. Prioritize a seamless user experience (UX) and intuitive interface. Even with advanced features, users won't adopt your agentic email client if it's difficult to use. Invest in usability testing and design to ensure the interface is clean, efficient, and easy to navigate. Make it simple for users to define rules and manage automated tasks.
  8. Develop a clear and transparent pricing strategy. Hesitation about subscription costs and cancellation policies was observed in similar products. Offer a free tier or trial period to allow users to experience the value of your agentic email client before committing to a paid plan. Clearly communicate your pricing structure and cancellation terms to avoid any surprises.

Questions

  1. Given the issues with email deliverability in similar products, what specific measures will you take to ensure emails sent by your agentic email client consistently reach the intended recipients' inboxes?
  2. Considering the concerns about data security and privacy, how will you address these issues and build trust with your target users, especially when dealing with potentially sensitive business communications?
  3. In what specific niche or industry can your agentic email client offer the most significant value, and what unique features or integrations will you provide to cater to the needs of businesses in that niche?

Your are here

The idea of an agentic email client for businesses that automates tasks based on email rules falls into a crowded and somewhat treacherous area. We've identified 14 similar products, indicating a decent amount of activity in this space, however our confidence in these metrics is high. Given the "Swamp" category, it seems many prior attempts haven't truly resonated with users. You're entering a space where standing out requires a fundamentally different approach. The average engagement for similar products is low. This suggests that user interest tends to be fleeting, or that the value proposition isn't strong enough to maintain long-term user interest. The success of your idea will depend heavily on avoiding the pitfalls of previous solutions and offering a truly compelling and unique experience that addresses unmet needs in the market.

Recommendations

  1. Begin with extensive market research to understand why existing email automation solutions haven't fully satisfied users. Analyze their limitations, usability issues, and any gaps in functionality. Prioritize identifying the unmet needs and pain points that your agentic email client can uniquely address.
  2. Focus on a specific niche or industry to tailor your agentic email client. Instead of attempting to be a one-size-fits-all solution, identify a particular group of businesses with unique email-related needs. Tailoring to a specific niche allows you to deeply understand their requirements and offer specialized features, increasing your chances of gaining traction.
  3. Explore the potential of building tools or integrations for existing email providers rather than creating a completely new email client. Partnering with established platforms can give you access to a wider user base and leverage existing infrastructure, reducing the burden of building everything from scratch. You can provide added value without disrupting existing workflows.
  4. Carefully consider data security and privacy aspects. Users have expressed concerns about the security of sensitive data. Prioritize robust security measures, encryption, and clear data handling policies to build trust and address privacy concerns. Explore options such as self-hosting to give users greater control over their data.
  5. Implement comprehensive email deliverability strategies. Issues with emails going to spam or being rejected by email providers were common complaints. Ensure your system adheres to email authentication standards (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and continuously monitor your domain's reputation to maintain high deliverability rates. Consider providing users with tools or guidance to improve their own email deliverability.
  6. Start with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that focuses on a core set of features. Avoid feature creep and concentrate on delivering exceptional value in a few key areas. This allows you to gather user feedback quickly and iterate based on real-world usage. It also minimizes the risk of investing heavily in features that users don't need.
  7. Prioritize a seamless user experience (UX) and intuitive interface. Even with advanced features, users won't adopt your agentic email client if it's difficult to use. Invest in usability testing and design to ensure the interface is clean, efficient, and easy to navigate. Make it simple for users to define rules and manage automated tasks.
  8. Develop a clear and transparent pricing strategy. Hesitation about subscription costs and cancellation policies was observed in similar products. Offer a free tier or trial period to allow users to experience the value of your agentic email client before committing to a paid plan. Clearly communicate your pricing structure and cancellation terms to avoid any surprises.

Questions

  1. Given the issues with email deliverability in similar products, what specific measures will you take to ensure emails sent by your agentic email client consistently reach the intended recipients' inboxes?
  2. Considering the concerns about data security and privacy, how will you address these issues and build trust with your target users, especially when dealing with potentially sensitive business communications?
  3. In what specific niche or industry can your agentic email client offer the most significant value, and what unique features or integrations will you provide to cater to the needs of businesses in that niche?

  • Confidence: High
    • Number of similar products: 14
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 3
  • Net use signal: 6.9%
    • Positive use signal: 9.8%
    • Negative use signal: 2.9%
  • Net buy signal: -1.2%
    • Positive buy signal: 0.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 1.2%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

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Users appreciate the idea and integration with workflow engines, but seek more use-cases and self-hosting options for privacy. There's interest in the technical setup, like the use of NixOS, postfix, and dovecot. Questions about long-term capabilities, IP cleanliness, and email delivery issues indicate concerns about reliability. Some users report fixing deliverability issues with DKIM, SPF, DMARC, and switching providers. A nostalgic mention of an old IMDb email service and a preference for email over centralized platforms for 1 to 1 interactions are also noted.

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