Will The New Gmail Change Email Marketing Forever?

If you use Gmail (and you probably do since 720 million people around the world do) then you’ve probably noticed some tabs at the top of your screen that look like this:

google-tabs

This is a change by Google in their never-ending quest to de-clutter your inbox.  While it could be a big win for you as a consumer trying to sort through your inbox, it’s not great for brands that rely on email for sales. Popular sites like Amazon, Fab, Gilt and many more do a substantial amount of their business over email and now all that mail will find its way into the “Promotions” tab.

google-tabs-options

You can fine tune the experience a bit by adding and removing tabs but the filtering all happens automatically out of the gate. What this means for email marketing is yet to be seen but I for one think that open rates are going to go down, way down.

I’ve already seen it first-hand from my own behavior. Emails from brands I used to browse  daily now only catch my attention every couple of days when I notice the “Promotions” tab getting full. This is, without a doubt changing user behavior which means brands will also have to change how they reach their customers and social media could see a major gain on email as a way for brands to reach their customers.

What do you think? Is Gmail going to change email marketing forever?

Comment and let your voice be heard!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton