If you are using Gmail then you must have noticed the changes in Google Mail Inbox. Now, you can add different tabs to your inbox. By default, there will be 3 tabs: Primary, where you get all the direct mail and important stuff, Social where you get all the emails from social networks and Promotions where you usually get all the broadcast messages sent by online stores or email marketers. In fact, is not that much different because I used labels and filters before, but after the update, the process is automated. If you are interested in this, there is a chance that you have already disabled tabs, angry because some email newsletters that you wanted are going into the promotion tab and you miss it, or because you are a email marketer and you are angry that your messages are getting there. You may consider it a stupid feature but the truth is that most people won’t disable it. 

What impact it will have on your email marketing campaigns ? Some researches at mailchimp found that open rates falled on average from 13% to 12% after the change was applied. This is about a 7% change. This is also depending on the number of users in your list that use gmail to receive emails.

This change should benefit users and email marketers who provide valuable content, and it will penalize those who send a lot of emails a day. Why I believe that ? In my case, I never took the time to unsubscribe from newsletters that I subscribed, even I never read a message. I trained my eyes to skip promotional messages, but one in a while there is a message headline that get my attention, even if it is coming from a bad email marketer. On the other hand, I am subscribed to email marketers who always give valuable tips in their messages, and rarely send offers to buy something. I open at least half of their emails, but I don’t read them right away. When I get tired of working, I turn out to lecture that stuff. I already moved the things I like to receive in my primary email ( it is very easy to do so ), and now I can read more of it because the messages don’t get lost into the crowd.

So, if an email marketer provides value in their emails, people will want to keep that in the Primary tab. Past years email marketing has seen a huge growth. For example, if you browse WarriorForum ( A great forum for internet marketers ), there are a lot of newbies who are asking advice on how to start an online business, or how to make money online. 95% of the answers contains the recommendation to build a list, and a very small percent contains the advice to provide value and you will be rewarded ( which in the fact is the only way to build a real online business ). It is so easy to make money with email marketing ? In fact, it is not that easy, but email marketing can trick people and usually have a higher ROI. Why ? They are giving out something for free, but they request users to subscribe to a newsletter list, then they send 3 email a day with catchy titles but the goal is always to sell something. To build that list in the first place, they are buying solo-ads ( they pay another email marketer to send a broadcast email with their offer ) from other email marketers to promote their giveaway so they can grow their own list. In the end, same people interested in a subject will end up in hundreds of lists that send 3 emails a day.

Let me explain you the process better:

  1. A product is given for free when people subscribe to a new list 
  2. Traffic to that list is generated by paying other email marketers to send an email about the free offer to their lists
  3. A lot of emails are sent to the new list containing affiliate offers or promoting other stuff in exchange of money
  4. Go to step 1 again

 

Email marketers who go this way are so hooked up in the process that they are too busy to think about providing some value, or at least to attract people that are not already subscribed to hundreds of other lists in the same topic ( by getting traffic from somewhere else ).

There is a very big industry around making money without providing too much value and annoying their subscribers.

On the other hand, there are quality email marketers who always provide value. In this case people will either move to the primary, or checking Promotions tab ( is only a click away and almost popping out when they are new mails ), for mails from people they enjoy to read.