Gmail's Format Change Impacts Deal Sites

Gmail's change of putting promotional e-mail into a separate folder had a large impact on revenue for deal sites like Groupon and Living Social.  In the third quarter, Groupon came in with a loss of $2.58 million on revenue of $595 million and Living Social had losses of $26 million on revenue of $120 million. 

Typically these deal sites send a personalized blast of deals in your region, but with Gmail's change, e-mail is much less effective, leading to lower click-through rates.  It is prompting Groupon to test ways to become less reliant on e-mail.  For example, in order to view Groupon's deals, you are required to have an e-mail and account, but they are thinking of having a website that doesn't require these in order to reach more customers. 

According to Litmus though it seems like 50% of Gmail users don't read their email in a platform that supports the tabbed interface - only about 19% of Gmail users read their email in Gmail's web client.  Over 55% of users read their mail on either mobile device.  I personally get my e-mail from Apple Mail which bundles all my email from all my e-mail addresses together and have never clicked on the promotions tab even if I am logged into Gmail.  

The take from Silverpop, a digital marketing provider, on Gmail's redesign is that it has "Darwinized" email marketers' subscriber lists, improving performance with the more attentive customers and phasing out the least-attentive.  Silverpop surveyed 236 clients, 13% of whom reported seeing a decrease in email opens and 10% of whom experienced a decline in conversions and revenue in the wake of Gmail's new format. 

Mr. McDonald, a VP at Silverpop said,

"If you're deploying a not-great email program, it may negatively impact you. If people are already ignoring your emails, they may ignore them at a higher level."

50% of Gmail users don't read their email in a client that supports the tabbed interface: just 19% of Gmail users actually read their email in Gmail's Web client.  More than one-third of Gmail users, on the other hand, read their mail on Apple's iPhone mail client. Another 20% of users check Gmail on their native Android app. Neither mobile interface currently supports tabs. Overall, mobile devices now account for 47% of opened emails, regardless of mail provider. - See more at: http://www.pinpointe.com/blog/gmail-tabs-email-marketing-impact#sthash.c7P6y37l.dpuf

50% of Gmail users don't read their email in a client that supports the tabbed interface: just 19% of Gmail users actually read their email in Gmail's Web client.  More than one-third of Gmail users, on the other hand, read their mail on Apple's iPhone mail client. Another 20% of users check Gmail on their native Android app. Neither mobile interface currently supports tabs. Overall, mobile devices now account for 47% of opened emails, regardless of mail provider. - See more at: http://www.pinpointe.com/blog/gmail-tabs-email-marketing-impact#sthash.c7P6y37l.dpuf

50% of Gmail users don't read their email in a client that supports the tabbed interface: just 19% of Gmail users actually read their email in Gmail's Web client.  More than one-third of Gmail users, on the other hand, read their mail on Apple's iPhone mail client. Another 20% of users check Gmail on their native Android app. Neither mobile interface currently supports tabs. Overall, mobile devices now account for 47% of opened emails, regardless of mail provider. - See more at: http://www.pinpointe.com/blog/gmail-tabs-email-marketing-impact#sthash.c7P6y37l.dpuf

Source:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303309504579184160007333006
http://www.pinpointe.com/blog/gmail-tabs-email-marketing-impact
http://adage.com/article/digital/gmail-s-redesign-end-email-marketing/243634/