People like to talk about how old email is as a messaging channel, how it’s clunky and janky and overwhelming. Yes, email may be older than your average marketing manager, but it’s still an essential part of the way brands communicate with their customers.

Think about it: you checked your email today, didn’t you? (And you’ll probably check it, what, three or four more times before you go to bed?) The same goes for most people.

While email may date from the Nixon administration, the ways that smart marketing, growth, and engagement teams are using it to reach audiences across the customer lifecycle is anything but out of date. Let’s explore what brands need to know about email marketing right now—from deliverability to scale to cross-channel engagement, and beyond—from inside the inbox.