Gmail has rolled out some massive inbox updates that have the potential to cause some major issues. If you're still blasting out generic emails to your entire list three times a week, it's likely that you're about to have a rough time. Read on!
𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱?
🟨 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗩𝗶𝗲𝘄 - Users can now see every newsletter they're subscribed to, how often you email them, and the ability to unsubscribe with one click. Your email frequency is now completely transparent to your subscribers.
🟨 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗩𝗶𝗲𝘄 - All transactional emails are grouped separately. Mix promotional content into order confirmations, and Gmail will catch on, damaging your deliverability.
🟨 𝗔𝗜-𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗧𝗮𝗯 - Gmail now shows emails based on relevance, not send time. Low engagement? You'll be buried beneath what your competitors' subscribers actually interact with.
🟨 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 - Stricter authentication and compliance requirements. Keep spam complaints under 0.1% or Gmail may potentially penalise you.
𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘅
𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝘀 𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀, 𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀.
🟩 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆 - I can't stress this enough. One well-targeted, relevant email beats ten generic ones every single time. Think about what your subscribers actually want to read, not just what you want to send.
🟩 𝗦𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗢𝗻 𝗜𝘁 - Because it does. Stop sending the same message to everyone. Use your data to create proper segments based on behaviour, interests, and engagement levels.
🟩 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗜𝘁 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 - Regularly prune your list of inactive subscribers. Yes, it hurts to see that number drop, but a smaller engaged list will outperform a massive uninterested one every time.
🟩 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗜𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 - Get your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC sorted properly. No shortcuts, no "we'll get to it later". If you're not properly authenticated, your emails won't get delivered. Simple as that.
🟩 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 - Subject lines, send times, content formats. What worked last month might not work today. Keep testing and pay attention to those Gmail-specific open rates.
🟩 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆-𝗮𝗻𝗱-𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱 - Time to get smarter about how we communicate with people who've trusted us with their email address.
If you send out email campaigns regularly... Are you ready for these changes?
#EmailMarketing #DigitalMarketing #Gmail #MarketingTips #SEO #YorkshireTechy
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