What You Need To Know About Gmail’s Promotions Tab Facelift

Marketers, rejoice!

Gmail’s recently updated Promotions tab is helping email marketing efforts go even further with brand new visual opportunities that simplify the information ingestion process for readers.

Using updated machine learning, the Promotions tab now has the capability to identify the most valuable emails for each user and can group them together to be organized by topic, such as “Top Deals” or “Top Picks.” Gmail sorts these bundles by scanning newly customizable modules that provide top-line information about a discount or deal to readers before they even click open the email. These customizable modules include:

• Logo – Subscribers can quickly identify correspondence from your brand with a logo displayed next to sender address.

• Single Image Preview – Add a custom image to your email preview that catches the eye of readers and allows them to get a sense of what is inside.

• Deal Badge – Underneath the subject line, Gmail has added space for marketers to reveal the deal they are offering. There is technically no character limit, but the space is most appropriate for short text, such as “50%” or “Buy 1 Get 1.”

• Discount Code Badge – Next to the deal badge, marketers can populate this field with the discount code needed to secure the deal. If no discount code is required for purchase, the field can be omitted.

• Expiration Date– In the top right-hand corner of the preview, email marketers can include a date for when the deal will end. This feature is especially important because it increases the chances of having an email featured more than once: when the email is first sent, and again shortly before the offer expires.

The most obvious downside to this Promotions tab overhaul is the work doesn’t do itself. For now, email marketers must plug in the aforementioned information and imagery. However, the benefits of utilizing these updates, including (but not limited to) higher email engagement, easier branding opportunities, and potentially higher sales, outweigh the cons of having to do a little leg work. Allow Gmail to do the heavy lifting when it comes to helping your email stand out in a crowded inbox.

ANYONE sending promotional emails should check out this presentation by Gmail Product Manager Jordan Grossman for more information on Gmail’s updated Promotions tab.