The secret weapon email marketers should use in 2024

How many emails do you think your most valuable Gmail users received per day on average in Q4? I'd say it was at least 100.Many messages seeking revenue result in mass deletions and general oblivion.[プロモーション]displayed on the tab.

Don't you wish there was a way to stand out in that crowd? Well, here I am to tell you there is a way. In fact, the method has been around for several years, but it's rare for an email marketer to know how to do it, much less take advantage of it.

I'm talking about Google Annotations.This allows email marketers to use markup to add carousel images, discounts, expiration dates, etc.[プロモーション]This is a feature that can be added to the email in the tab.

Advantages of Google Annotations

Most email marketers aren't aware of annotations (as mentioned above), so finding examples is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. However, it looks like this:

Viewers can click on elements to learn more or see more without having to open the email itself. However, as you can imagine, when emails undergo this type of enhanced processing, open and click rates increase significantly.

Learn more: Email marketing strategy: A guide for marketers

Why isn't it used more?

With such great functionality, there are many opaque points to understand. Even after going through the approval process (more on this later), it's hard to know if your annotations are working.

First, the client[プロモーション]I've seen people try to use annotations to reclassify emails to primary instead of staying on the tab and reaping the benefits of annotations (which is definitely better).

Second, emails that appear with annotations in the Gmail mobile app may not be annotated on desktop. A single user may receive back-to-back emails from your brand. One with annotations and one without. Also, you may see one user's annotations and not another user's annotations in the same email.

This means that your annotations will appear in very unexpected ways, depending on the whims of the Gmail algorithm. This also makes it very difficult to measure the final impact.

Setup steps

If you're still interested, you should. Although we don't have hard numbers, we do know that annotations lead to increased engagement. The first step is to go through the approval process to get the green light from Google.

Once approved, you can instruct Google to retrieve specific metadata (such as images or promotions) through your code, or you can simply have Google retrieve the elements you deem important from the content of the email itself. .

We recommend the former, but it's worth going through the approval process even if you leave it to Google. To start, Google provides more information about annotating emails in the Promotions tab here.

Having to submit your brand for Google's approval may seem like an unnecessary hurdle. Still, this feature is designed for brands that need to feature this kind of content (specifically products and promotions), so I'm all for it. This is in Google's interest and in the brand's interest to improve the subscriber experience, but its effectiveness is diminished by mass adoption by brands that are less relevant to the offering.

On the other hand, this feature is relatively underused, so it's likely leaving you an opportunity for competitors to take up a lot of space in the inboxes of your most valuable users. Those who adopt annotations in 2024 will still be relatively early adopters. So take advantage of the window while it's open.

Learn more: The email marketer's guide to effective marketing automation

Stand out with this Gmail feature

With any luck, over time Gmail's algorithm will become more consistent, making it easier to quantify the impact of annotations. But even if you're a slow developer, know that active annotations can give you a way to stand out in a sea of ​​emails.

By combining elements of smart segmentation and personalization to make your content more relevant to each subscriber, annotations can be a huge source of great improvements to your email campaigns in 2024.

Learn more: Google and Yahoo's new rules for bulk email senders: What you need to know