Gmail Experiment Shows Promotional Emails As Ads

There was much debate over Google’s decision to display marketing and promotional emails in a standalone “Promotions” tab in Gmail. Incoming emails that are deemed to be offering promotions or deals are no longer shown along with the users’ personal emails. An experimental Gmail feature is now being tested which displays these emails as large ads with images.

When the experimental view is turned on, users will no longer see a string of emails in the Promotions tab. Instead they will see an endless stream of large images. Users won’t have to open individual emails to see promotions, Gmail will automatically pull up what it believes to be the best image in that email to highlight the offer.

Marketers sending promotional emails will have a way to choosing which image to display in the new view, Google will let them decide the image and content that is to be highlight. If marketers don’t do it, Gmail will pick out the relevant image and content on its own. The Promotions tab will have a button through which users will be able to switch between the email and image-only views.

Right now the experimental view is being put through a “Field Trial.” It isn’t being rolled out to all Gmail users, and until Google is certain that its the right thing to do, it will stay as an experiment. Those wishing to try it out can request access from the company.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Web
Tags: GMail, Google