Remember when Gmail changed the way they delivered emails to users by filtering newsletter content into a promotions tab within the inbox? No doubt this had many #churchcomm folks groaning as they feared their opens and click-throughs would decline. Important information about upcoming services and devotional messages from church staff were now being relegated to an easy-to-overlook tab along with Groupon and Amazon e-mails. (The good news is, if you’ve been tracking your statistics, opens and click-throughs have, on average, been very minimally affected by the change).
Well, Gmail is at it again. Google is testing a new way of displaying promotional e-mails (i.e. your church newsletter) in the Gmail Promotions Tab, and this could be significant for you and your church.
BUT, this time, I see more opportunity than heartache.
If you haven’t noticed, the web is going more and more visual. The rise of Pinterest, cat memes, photo posts on twitter, etc. show that surfers on the waves of the internet ocean want to see pictures, not words. If you manage your church’s Facebook page – or if you spend anytime on the social network – you’ve probably seen that image-rich posts are king. So, Gmail is following suit.
The new promotions tab, currently being tested by select users, will take a cue from the success of pinterest. Here’s a screenshot of the new layout (courtesy of Marketingland.com):
For those of you who just simply hate change, there’s not much encouragement we can give you. But, we see a lot of opportunity here. We’re no longer slaves to the clever subject line. We can now use exciting and inspirational images to grab the attention of our subscribers and drive those open rates up. The possibilities are vast.
You can read more about the changes here.
What do you think? Do you see this as a blessing or a curse?
this. is. so. awesome.