What impact does the Gmail Promotions tab have on our Email Marketing?

Gmail tabs are the different categories that Gmail has for sorting all your emails received by the users of the accounts. These emails are classified according to their content so that all users can receive all e-mails in an organised way.

The eyelashes with the highest mail volume are as follows:

Main. This is the tab that receives the most mail. In this tab, we usually find all the emails that we consider to be the highest priority.

Promotions. In this tab we usually find all the promotional emails from brands.

Social. Here we find all emails mainly related to social networks.

A few years ago, different tabs began to appear in users' inboxes that automatically organised the emails they received. This change was not well received within the email marketing industry, as there were several reports linking the loss of subscriber opens to the appearance of the tabs.

In this post, we will talk specifically about the promotions tab and learn about its advantages, along with all the problems it has had during the time it has been working in the inboxes of Gmail accounts.

Can the Gmail algorithm be fooled in order to appear in the main tab?

As mentioned above, when email tabs first appeared, mail openings were affectedThe problem was then linked to the tabs. From that moment on, many brands began to apply different strategies with the aim of avoiding this classification that Gmail did automatically in order to appear in the main tab of its users.

One of the solutions they found was to cheating the algorithm which is in charge of organising the emails so that it places your emails in the main tab.

However, Gmail has been evolving and improving its AI to ensure that this does not happen. It is very important to understand that other groups, such as the spammers and the phishers, have been trying to trick Gmail for a long time by changing the algorithms with the same goal of appearing in the users' main tab. Therefore, using the same technique as these groups will only cause problems for your submissions.Gmail punishes brands that engage in manipulative SEO tactics.

In this screenshot, we can see how Gmail currently is constantly integrating new actions to combat the phishing and other techniques that people use to cheat Gmail's placement algorithms.

Is the promotions tab interpreted as spam by users?

Thinking that the promotions tab is comparable to spam is a mistake. In the end, as we have said before, the different tabs only serve for Gmail users to have their emails classified by categories. In addition, all tabs are considered as inbox, and therefore, this is very far from what the spam folder is.

That is to say, an email that arrives in the promotions tab will have a much better impact than an email that arrives in the spam folder.

What are the benefits of Gmail tabs?

The most notable advantages of Gmail tabs are as follows:

– User convenience. From the user's point of view, the tabs have been very well accepted because they allow users to sort emails by subject matter, which helps them to be more comfortable and familiar with how the inbox works.

– Classification according to content. Your content is going to be more popular if it appears where the user would look for it if they wanted to find it. Therefore, if they are looking for discounts from your brand, it will help them if your emails appear in the promotions tab. 

– Purchase intention. When users choose to spend time in the promotions tab, it is probably because they are in a situation where they want to make a purchase. 

In short, if at first Gmail tabs were responsible for users not opening emails, it has been shown, after having learned to live with them, that they can even help brands to achieve more sales. 

In the end, The most important thing is that your subscribers find your emails where they expect you to be.. For example, if your brand is offering a promotion, surely the user who is in that tab will be interested in that type of content, and therefore, you will have more chances that they will end up opening your email and fulfil your objective. On the other hand, appearing in the main tab could mean more views, it is true, but it would probably mean being more intrusive and less welcome.