Inbox by Gmail and email marketing – how will it be impacted?
October last year google announced their new email client ‘Inbox by Gmail’. The idea is that this new email reader will change how you interact with your emails. As email marketeers how will it impact us and what do you need to know?
Some people have speculated that this is set to replace the ever popular Gmail. This is not true, well at-least not for now. Depending on how Inbox by Gmail is received, this could change.
Inbox by Gmail is set offer a new kind of email experience. It is really designed for users who receive a large volume of emails, helping them to better organise and manage incoming mail. So for email marketeers, will Inbox by Gmail and email marketing be impacted?
Let’s find out what Inbox by Gmail offers:
Bundles
Designed really for users with busy inboxes. Incoming emails will be grouped into categories, this is something we have started to see in the current Gmail, however Inbox sets to take this to the next level.
Finance emails, social networks, and promotional emails will all be grouped together, allowing the user to read them at the same time.
Highlights
This one will really change how we interact with our emails. Highlights looks to pull out the most important information from your email, allowing you to get a summary of the message without actually opening the email.
As an example, you may have made a purchase from Amazon. Highlights will pull out the message telling you that your order has been dispatched, giving you all the important details, without actually opening the email.
Reminders
This feature allows you to create a reminder for yourself. The idea is to replace the old fallback that we all do, when you want to remind yourself of something, you send a quick email reminder to yourself.
Snooze
With Snooze, reminders and even email messages can be snoozed for days, hours or even weeks. After you set an alert to snooze, the user is alerted to the message and it will pop to the top of their inbox after the designated snooze time.
How will this impact your email marketing?
On paper the new proposition by Google sets to really change how we interact with our emails. Highlights effectively removes the need for users to open your email to view the key parts. So as an email marketeer using Inbox by Gmail with email marketing,  this could result lower open rates – but does not mean that users are not viewing your email.
Inbox snooze also offers an interesting proposition, allowing users to snooze your email for a date in the future. Traditionally when we send out an email blast, you see an instant reaction. However with snooze, this may stagger how users interact with your email.
Will this change the game? Possibly. Inbox by Gmail is not yet publicly available, so as an email marketeer, you do not need to change your focus just yet – but you need an eye on the horizon. Gmail currently has a 16% market share, so this is not going to drastically change your email marketing.
Even with a 16% market share this could shape the future of email marketing. The question is, will other ESP’s follow suit, releasing similar products?
Inbox by Gmail, is potentially a good thing. Rather than your email message getting lost in a busy inbox. Inbox will offer users the ability to group your messages together into manageable segments. This could even increase your user engagement.
Certainly exciting times ahead. What are your thoughts? Will Inbox by Gmail change your marketing plans?
