What’s New in Gmail?

Keeping email marketers everywhere on their toes, powerhouse Gmail recently rolled out a new interface that offers a whole set of brand new features for users. The updates include smart reply integrations, unsubscribe suggestions, nudging reminders, a snooze function, and more.

Many of the changes affect personal use, but will anything impact email marketers? Take note of a few updates in particular:

Unsubscribe Suggestions When an “Inbox Tip” card first appeared in Inbox by Gmail in 2017, email marketers were fearful that the automated unsubscribe button would unfairly impact brands – especially those that don’t send emails daily or get frequent engagement. Back then, the tool relied on a four-week inactivity window to trigger the unsubscribe suggestion. Now, the updated tool will instead rely on other factors like sending frequency and overall engagement to trigger the easy button option.

Security Notifications Gmail has always had warnings about suspicious emails, but the new interface makes warnings bigger and bolder, so they aren’t easily overlooked. However, Gmail’s technology is very advanced and typically does a stellar job at identifying genuinely suspicious emails. Email marketers should monitor their emails to Gmail users in the coming months to see if there are any changes to overall delivery.

Nudge and Snooze The new interface is helping users manage how and when they read through their inbox. The nudge function, which is more likely to impact personal messaging, will remind users when an action may be needed on an outstanding email. The new snooze button allows users to temporarily hide an email they want to read later. At the subsequent time selected by the user, the email will pop back up. Users could potentially hide your marketing message and set it to reappear at a better time.

Interactive Email is Becoming More Complicated Say goodbye to roll-over and hover effects within emails. Gmail is no longer supporting these elements, which is a major setback for email design in a time when interactive elements are so valued. If you’re scratching your head, this change may indicate Gmail’s long-term plans. In February 2018, Gmail announced that support for interactive email powered by AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages Project) would be installed, meaning marketers could start working with AMP once available.

Familiarize yourself with these new updates (and obstacles) that may affect your next campaign and be sure to check out the new Gmail as it rolls out gradually over the next few months.