Gmail has been beta testing a new feature they are calling “Enhanced Email” with Sears that allows subscribers to scroll and browse directly within an email. This allows for a recipient to shop directly in an email versus going to the company website and allows marketers to provide more products or promotions within an email (hat tip to Chad White at The Retail Email Blog). A few of our Email Marketing Strategists hash out thoughts on this new feature:
Julie: This “Enhanced Email” test is very cool, and could definitely help to engage customers, but I wonder about the potential downsides. One impact it could have would be reducing website traffic, where behavior is more easily tracked from initial click to the shopping cart checkout. My first question would be, how are clicks and page turns tracked in this special section? Do you know who clicks on what, how deep they go, etc.? I hesitate to jump on the bandwagon that it will revolutionize how consumers behave in their inboxes. In order for video in email, or purchasing-from-the-inbox functionality to work, the ISPs have to make some big changes to their interfaces. Those changes would involve a lot of time and money, and open up vulnerabilities as well (hence why they don’t allow them now), so proving the value of this functionality to the ISPs would be challenging.
Kristen: I think going down this technology path has the potential to really change email marketing and will clearly effect the amount of time we spend looking and playing with messages.
I’m particularly excited to see that this test populated the products for browsing upon the time of the email open rather than send. This can help us alleviate the advertisement of sold-out products or potentially adjust recommendations based on customer behavior since time of send.
Kimberly: As an email marketer my mind hums with the endless options for personalized product recommendations within a message via the potential new Google offering called “Enhanced Email.” The power of this tool could add a significantly meaningful lift to your Gmail subscribers lifetime value by enabling browsing to occur within an email viewed via Gmail. This new offering will require unique campaigns created only for Gmail subscribers – which will pay for itself quickly given the ability to serve products for each subscriber’s affinity.
Takeaways: Initial test results are skewing positive for Sears, but the net impact has yet to be seen. There are some potential downsides around reducing website traffic and time on site and there are some potential opportunities to increase relevancy and personalization. Do you think this new feature will enhance subscriber experience? Tell us what you think!
Kelly Lorenz
Email Marketing Strategist at Bronto
@KNLorenz
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Author:
With a background in Account Management and Client Services at the top agencies in the Southeast, Kelly brings both hospitality and retail experience. In her role at Bronto, Kelly concentrates on top IR 500 clients to assist them in strategically optimizing their email marketing campaigns and driving ROI. Her blog posts have been featured in Marketing Profs Get to the Point Email Marketing, Retail Email Blog, Email Marketing Reports and Internet Retailer. In her spare time, Kelly can be found training for her next 10K race.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Those are all great points…which got me thinking: Will features like this ever cause marketers to advocate that their subscribers use one ISP over another?
Chad,
Thanks for commenting! Interesting thoughts. My belief is that it’s often, and should be, the other way around. Your business model and audience determines which ISPs your brand should target and/or focus efforts around. Google has been introducing a lot of sparkly new features recently, but if it doesn’t make sense for your brand or audience, why push them in that direction?
Thanks again,
Kelly