Google recently made some changes to Gmail that could help or hurt marketers. Unfortunately, some features are too new to determine what the full impact will be. For example, in December Gmail started serving images through its own proxy servers versus external servers. This means that images automatically appear in emails instead of users having to enable them first.
This is beneficial if you’re in sales or marketing and want to convey a brand image, or include a picture of a product in your emails. You no longer have to use clever phrases to entice a potential client or customer into enabling an image. Additionally, some of your open rates will now be more accurate. Previously, if a person read your email but did not see the image, the intended content of the email was not as effective.
While statistics on first time opens is now more accurate, this new system could potentially result in a loss of other information. For instance, the longer Google decides to store images on its own server, the more information stays with Google instead of going back to you. This affects data on multiple opens. MailChimp discussed this in their blog as well: “This won’t interfere with the count of ‘unique opens’ you get in your reports, but it could prevent us from seeing multiple opens per subscriber.”
If you utilize a host of email data for business decisions, then be aware that you can no longer determine the location, or IP address, of an opener. This means that you can no longer compare whether users in certain states, or international versus national users, opened your emails more. Gmail has also made it so you cannot see the type of device that was used, like a cell phone or a desktop computer. Marketers who rely on very specific user profiles are at a serious disadvantage unless Google provides more information in future changes.
If pictures do not play a large role in your email marketing, but you have still noticed changes in open rates in recent months, it could be because of Gmail’s new inbox. It was implemented early last summer, but because it separates emails automatically, it has continuing effects. Emails are now organized by “Primary,” “Social,” “Promotions,” and “Updates” tabs.
Primarily for non-B2B marketing, if you’re sending emails to customers or clients who do not regularly reply or open them, your emails may not be considered “Primary.” This means that they do not even appear on the main screen, but instead require the Gmail user to click on a different tab to read their less relevant mail. With this information, direct email marketing has to be even more targeted.
Trying out tactics like requiring customers to respond to choice emails may be worthwhile to see if open rates go up the more people respond. Keep in mind that Gmail assigns the tabs for emails so that users will be less overwhelmed by the quantity of their emails and can stay on top of quality emails.
Just as Gmail is always changing, so is marketing. Marketers cannot dismiss updates like these and assume that reformatting does not pertain to them. The ability to easily view pictures and sort through copious amounts of emails means a lot to those of you taking advantage of emailing for marketing purposes. Even though updates like these are fairly new and may change again very soon, understanding and adapting to them is the only way to keep up so your current marketing relates to current practices.
Are you in the healthcare or technology industry and want expert advice on how to stay ahead of the curve? Contact our certified healthcare technology marketing agency. Call 877-887-7611 or visit www.clarityqst.com for more information.
Author: +Chris Slocumb
