As we sit at the Email Insider Summit in Park City, Utah, we realize that the industry has not failed us again. Another year of record growth in email volume, number of campaigns sent, increases in transactional messaging, more sophistication in customer segmentation and rapid increases in mobile messaging.

Email messages today deliver more value than their 20th-century counterparts through improved design and content, images, branding, and integration with websites and social networks. However, all those gains can come at a price: overly complex messages that sacrifice utility and usability for the latest email fad. Maybe it's time to consider that old design adage "Less is more" and simplify or streamline messages so that they serve both our subscribers' and our own needs without sacrificing the value that drives email's utility and ROI.