Gmail Inbox

The Gmail inbox prioritizes mail according to reading habits. When an email is read, it gains a higher priority in the inbox; and when a message goes unread or deleted, its sender gets tagged and sorted appropriately.

To predict which incoming message is important, Gmail automatically takes into account a number of signals, including:

• Who you email: If you email Bob a lot, it’s likely that messages from Bob are important and placed in your inbox.
• Which messages you open: Messages you open are likely to be more important than those you skip over.
• What keywords spark your interest: If you always read messages about soccer, a new message that contains the word soccer is more likely to get placed in your inbox.
• Which messages you reply to: If you always reply to messages from your mom, messages she sends are likely to be in your inbox.
• Your recent use of stars, archive and delete: Messages you star are probably more important than messages you delete without opening.

Gmail tabs are currently available and can be activated by each Gmail user who wants to take advantage of them. For those users looking for ways to reduce noise, all’s well for the subscriber, but tabs are one of the many Gmail tools that pose a challenge for email marketers.

As a marketer, best start planning to negotiate potential challenges:

• Combine email with other channels like blogging and social media.
• Increase email marketing engagement. If your recipients engage with your emails by clicking on them, it is more likely that your messages will stay out of the spam mail tab and land in the inbox.
• Set expectations at opt‑in. If a person isn’t anticipating your message and offers, your email will most likely get assigned to the spam mail folder and ignored. When you are clear with subscribers from the beginning—how frequently they will receive your emails, why these messages provide value—you increase the odds that your emails will be seen.