Email Marketing May Get Easier Because of Gmail Tabs

Email marketing is the most cost-effective acquisition tactic for subscription sites, but 6 months ago, marketers began to worry that Gmail would divert their

Email marketing is the most cost-effective acquisition tactic for subscription sites, but 6 months ago, marketers began to worry that Gmail would divert their marketing messages to the Promotions tab of the new Gmail Tabs feature.Turns out they were right, but ironically that’s not a bad thing.That’s because consumers seem to actively searching their Promotions tab, looking for deals and opportunities to shop, according to a recent analysis by Return Path. In its downloadable report, Return Path found that while gmail users were unlikely to re-categorize a message (as we recommended you tell your gmail users to do — so, oops, sorry!), 93% of messages intended for the Promotions folder avoided the spam folder, and 14% of messages were read on average.In addition, marketing messages fared better in the Promotions tab, with fewer getting reported as spam (0.12%) compared to the Primary Inbox (0.26%).This data, while not exhaustive or conclusive (Return Path analyzed data from its clients), indicates that gmail users are starting to see the Promotions tab as a folder to sift and rummage through for deals and information.This can be a good thing for marketers looking to target prospective subscribers when they’re in a buying mood.However, it also causes some problems for newsletter delivery and other non-marketing messages. I’ve personally had two email newsletters delivered daily from a subscription site end up in different tabs — one in my Primary tab and one in my Promotions tab. There’s little data yet on newsletter delivery, the bread and butter of most subscription marketing programs.But for now, it looks like the Promotions tab may not be the spam folder stepchild it was thought to be.

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