How to Prepare for Gmail’s Passive Opt-Out Feature

Gmail recently dropped a bunch of new updates to their email platform. Most of them are really cool, but there was one that might concern some marketers:

“Gmail will start suggesting when to unsubscribe from newsletters or offers you no longer care about.”

Whoa. Timeout. Does that mean Gmail is going to cause my email list to see mass-unsubscribes? Maybe. Maybe not. Gmail is going to start telling people to unsubscribe from email lists if they haven’t opened an email from that sender in 30 days or more.

If you consistently have low open rates and send out generic mass emails that no one engages with, then yes, Gmail is going to cause a spike in unsubscribes for you.

But we actually think this new feature is a good thing. It’s going to cut down on the traditional “email blast,” and force marketers to get smarter in how they use their lists. And getting smarter will almost definitely give you better email results.

So what can you do to get smarter? A few ideas:

1. Mix up your messaging cadence. If you’re reaching out too often, not enough, or at the wrong times, your emails are going to suffer. There are two things you can do here. (1) Ask your audience when they’d prefer to receive emails. Or (2) Set up a preference center that allows subscribers to pick their time and frequency.
2. Try reaching out on day 28. Since Google is going to start telling people to unsubscribe around day 30, start running re-engagement campaigns on day 28 of inactivity. Need some inspiration for these campaigns? Really Good Email has a full list of ’em.
3. Invest in and innovate your triggers. Triggered emails, which are sent in response to specific actions, generate on average, almost 5 times the click rate of traditional campaigns. An innovative idea from GrubHub: they send emails, promoting their food delivery service, that are triggered by location-specific weather conditions, such as snow or rain. Dunkin Donuts sends a different type of real-time trigger campaign – one that is informed by a subscriber’s home team win.

More to unwind here. Get the full scoop below…

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