Last June Gmail introduced the “tabs” that sorted promotional emails into their own section outside of the inbox.
For those who don’t use Gmail here is what it looks like:
People all over the internet were chiming in about how this was going to alter email marketing as we know it.
Even email service providers were writing “theories” on what was going to happen. Â With our PAR Program company, we not only are a service provider with email being a component but more importantly, Â unlike any email service. Â I actually have real experience actually doing what I am providing. Â Over 11 years now.
And being I have an actual product myself that I sell using my PAR Program, Â again unlike these companies developing theories, Â I see real stats.
So here are my findings. Â Again only related to Gmail Users (@gmail.com addresses):
- 10-25% decrease on initial open/click rates on average 24 hours after the email is sent .
- Average time to open/click emails much longer.
- Overall 10 day average had a significant increase in click/open rates.
- Increase in revenue from emails (20% in my ShoeMoney Products).
I believe the increase in e-commerce sales from our clients and my own products is pretty simple.
- People get the email but its non intrusive because its filed away. Â Which is why we see the delay in open/clicks/purchases.
- When people get time to actually go through their promotional section they have time to read the email and react. Â This is why we see an increase in opens/clicks/purchases over the long haul.
Now I don’t expect these results to be typical. Â I have been doing email marketing for 11 years now focusing on consumer engagement. Â I personally write all the copy for our clients as well as advise them on various key points.
If your subject line, from address/name, and email copy are not good (or you just don’t know how to do it right) Â then this is going to hurt you. Â Now people have time to unsubscribe and report you as spam.
So if you have good copy these gmail tabs are going to help you a lot as people digest the value you are giving them and react as such.
I have some other really interesting stats coming up soon so stay tuned!
I love the gmail tabs as a user but as a business I was worried as to how they’d affect me. The big thing I’ve noticed, similar to you, is the delayed open. When we do a 24-48 hour sale on something I get emails days later from people wanting to take advantage of something that’s all ready over.
Good infromation, thanks for sharing.
I never thought about the delays, good point.
I’ll just stick with my AOL account, lolz.
The PAR program seems awesome. I like how hands are you with it.
Crazy stats, glad you shared them with us.
Never thought it would work this way.
I saw this shared on the Internet marketing social bookmarking and networking site, Kingged.com and I “kingged” it because it’s great to get real stats from not just from someone like you who has been doing email marketing for over a decade, but from someone like you who actually has a service that tracks these things.
Also great to get real stats, instead of just crying “the sky is falling” as most of us did when this first got introduced.
Anyway, thanks for sharing the stats, Jeremy. Hopefully this will help us write better subjects and better copies, 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I was wondering about that a few weeks ago. Our company was having a promotion via email and some emails ended up in the promotion section and others in the primary. I was thinking how the emails that got in the primary got more click-rates you would want all of them to get there, but your article and statics make more sense.
I love the new gmail tabs. At first it was hard to manage and get use to but it really helps to sort out all of the distractions from promos during work hours. I now find myself finding more time to shop… which is a plus and minus 😉
I feel like this has been a great upgrade and helps keep the spam out. Gmail is always stepping up their game and challenging email marketing platforms. Just one thing I wish that would not happen is that sometimes it miss categorizes some emails and I go without ever responding to them which sucks. Does anyone know of a way to help the gmail tabs know what emails you want to receive in your primary inbox?
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I was wondering about that a few weeks ago.
This is pretty good. I’ve noticed people with Gmail addresses opening messages less and insisting they did not get their message that was sent to them (that contained important information of course).
But I think Gmail is pretty weird anyway the way it’s been organised. I don’t like it as a user.