How to avoid the Gmail Promotions Tab

It’s been some time now since Google first introduced a new way to organize users inbox, so they have now a Primary, a Social and a Promotions Tab. You’ve probably noticed that your shipments usually arrive at the Promotions tab since then. In this post, we tell you all you need to know about this topic.

The best advice to avoid the Promotions Tab

Some people say that Subscribers don’t respond the same way to Emails that reach the Primary Tab and those that come to Promotions. However, if you’ve followed all the advices we’ve ever given to you to generate a perfect Email Marketing strategy, this should not be a problem for you.

That is, if your Subscribers have chosen to receive your Emails, if you do segment your Lists properly, if you send high value content, if you pick the best time to send your Campaigns and constantly improve your tactics to strengthen the link between your brand and your leads, they will be the ones who do the work for you.

Are you wondering how they will do it? They will either open your Emails from the Promotions tab, or will change the settings to view them directly on the Primary one. That is, beyond the tricks you may use to avoid the Promotions Tab, the best strategy for your contacts to opening your Emails is to generate their interest to do so.

In fact, Google’s initial idea was promotional Emails not to interrupt users experience when they want to work or send an Email to a friend. Subscribers are not ready to shop or read promotions all the time. So it could work better that your Email is available just when they are in the mood to interact with it.

A promise is a promise

We told you we would share with you the tricks needed to beat Google algorithms and we will keep. So take note of the following tips and put them into practice to win this battle!

– Don’t abuse links: Generally, promotional Emails include several links to Social Networks, Web Sites, Landing Pages, etc. So if you want to go unnoticed, try not to include more than one.

– Avoid the excessive use of images: They are commonly used by promotional Emails because of their attractive style. So if you want to differentiate yourself from them, the best you can do is manage them with caution.

– Use Campaigns automatically sent via RSS tools carefully: If you use this to send your Blog posts directly through a Campaign to your Subscribers, you need to keep in mind that these practices tend to generate Emails practically identical, making it clear for Google that it’s not about a traditional Email.

– Customize your sendings: If you want your Campaigns to look as traditional sendings between two people who know each other, the best thing you can do is to treat your recipient by his name using Customized Fields. Moreover, your Subscribers will surely like this gesture. Seize the opportunity!

– Structure your Email as if it was from one friend to another: Start greeting, asking how things are doing and only then address the main content. Don’t forget the final greeting.

– Try Plain Text Campaigns: While tools such as Doppler offer very attractive templates for your Email Marketing sendings, sometimes it can be more effective a simple plain text Email to avoid suspicions.

– Think well your CTAs: Generate original calls to action, which are not obvious to the algorithms. “Click here” is a button that Google may quickly identify as a Call to Action. Put your creativity to work!

Another action that might help you is to tell your Subscribers that your Campaigns might be reaching the Promotions Tab. Of course the most effective way to do this wouldn’t be through an Email Campaign if your fear is that your leads are not reading them.

You can use any of your other Marketing Channels (or all), such as Facebook, Twitter and other networks to let your contacts know this information. So you would have one more chance for your Subscribers to choose receiving and reading your Emails.

Conclusion

We have shared with you the most promising techniques to avoid reaching the Promotions Tab of your Subscribers. However, you know, the most effective one, even more than absolutely meet all these rules, is to offer quality content to your leads.

Even if you meet all the advices we’ve given to you, you can not be sure that Google will not detect your Campaigns. But if you follow the best practices to run your Email Marketing Campaigns, your Subscribers will do their utmost to get your valuable sendings. So rather than fight against powerful algorithms, it comes to implementing effective Email Marketing strategies.

So, no doubt your Subscribers will want to access your Emails, either from the Promotions tab or, if they don’t actually open those Emails, moving yours to the Primary Tab. So don’t panic! Continue doing your best, try to implement these tips we’ve shared with you and your Open Rate will not stop amazing you!

How was your experience with this tab? Have you tried to avoid it? Tell us your results!