Gmail has an incredibly smart filter that divides emails into Primary, Social and Promotions Tabs. The algorithms that go into determining the type of email uses multiple criteria which you need to look out for.

The Promotions Tab is pretty much a trash bin that hardly gets any attention. All your money that goes into paid subscription for email marketing tools will go to waste if you are unable to overcome Gmail’s promotions tab filter.

Here are the observed criteria that Gmail uses to categorize emails:

 

Personalised Names

If you greet your recipient by name, there is a higher chance that your email is a personal email rather than a promotional email. It is important to collect your subscribers’ names along with the emails so that you will avoid greeting them by their email ID which is a dead giveaway.

 

Pain Text

A personal email will normally use only 1 font type and size. After all, in my other post about Trends That Will Dominate Email Marketing, I mentioned that your readers are increasingly weary and cynical about email marketing. You should go for authenticity and plain text to lower your readers’ defences and speak personally to their emotions. Use up to 50 words per email only.

You will commonly find multiple font types in promotional emails due to their fancy formatting, but that is a huge red flag for Gmail.

 

Multiple Images

Besides using plain text, you need to use very few images to convey your message. Ensure that a single GIF or image is sufficient to illustrate your product.

Kill your company logo, fax icon, mobile icon, address icon etc. Avoid them completely. Make your email look completely like a personal email that you send to your friend.

 

Hyperlinks

Use only 1 hyperlink. There should only be 1 Call-To-Action link that leads to your landing page. Avoid all other links to avoid suspicion. Your “Unsubscribe” button should only be at the bottom of the email.

 

Sales Talk

Do not talk directly about your product. Instead share casually. The following phrases will immediately get detected by Gmail “Buy now and save 35%” or “Limited time offer” or “Click here to buy”.

You stand a better chance if you choose your words carefully, for example “Want to share this tool with you” or “I think this will help” or “consider this option”.

The whole idea is that you write like writing to your friend. Avoid pushing the sale, but present an option. The selling should be done on the landing page.

 

HOWEVER…

Gmail’s algorithm is always changing. There are some really intelligent guys at Google covering every single loophole in their algorithm. There is no permanent answer to this email marketing problem but we do have some tips!

DISCLAIMER: Even if you follow our guidelines, you may still end up in the Promotions Tab.

 

SO HOW…

There a few options for you. It is increasingly difficult to find loopholes in the algorithm and I think it is not productive to do so. You can do A/B testing to see what works, but I have a better idea.

During your welcome email (which likely ends up in the Promotions Tab), ask your subscribers to click and drag your email into the Primary Tab.

Incentivise them by telling them that you will give out a free gift in the second email that is available only to the first 100 clickers. That will create a sense of urgency from FOMO (fear of missing out).

But beyond the second email, you need to provide real value to your subscribers. You need to give relevant insights in your blog posts, free gifts periodically and a tightknit community on your website that your subscribers feel belonging to.

 

Concluding Thoughts

Quite clearly email marketing is getting tougher with Gmail’s strict algorithm. But that only filters out your spammy competitors, keep providing value and striving to make a real connection and you will succeed… just keep trying!

But to keep trying, you need more leads and this makes email lead generation all the more vital yet it’s never easy… We know and that’s why we built a solution – If you want to find 200 email leads in 5 minutes, use TQ Prospector Tool for FREE!

ThunderQuote is the most comprehensive business services portal in Singapore, Australia and ASEAN , where hundreds of thousands of dollars of procurement contracts are sourced every month by major companies like Singapore Press Holdings, National Trade Union Congress and more.