Summary
The overwhelming consensus from experts, marketers, and technical documentation is that avoiding emailing Gmail users based on 'growth hack' advice is a flawed and ineffective strategy. Instead, focusing on fundamental email deliverability best practices, such as email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), maintaining a clean and engaged email list, creating valuable and relevant content, segmenting your audience, building a positive sender reputation, and adhering to platform-specific guidelines (e.g., Gmail's sender guidelines) is crucial for email marketing success across all email providers. Such measures ensure improved deliverability, avoid spam filters, and foster stronger relationships with subscribers.
Key findings
- Growth Hack Debunked: The 'growth hack' advice to avoid emailing Gmail users is widely discredited as a poor and unsustainable strategy.
- Deliverability Paramount: Prioritizing deliverability best practices is essential for reaching your intended audience, including Gmail users.
- Audience Engagement is Key: Relevant and engaging content drives better deliverability and improves the overall customer experience.
- Authentication is Crucial: Implementing email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is vital for proving legitimacy and building trust with email providers.
- Segmentation Drives Results: Audience segmentation and tailored messaging help improve subscriber engagement and overall deliverability.
- Reputation Management: Building and maintaining a strong sender reputation is crucial for avoiding spam filters and ensuring emails reach the inbox.
- Audience Size: Gmail represents a large percentage of the audience and should not be ignored.
Key considerations
- Best Practices Adherence: Strictly adhere to email deliverability best practices to ensure your messages reach the inbox.
- Continuous Monitoring: Continuously monitor and adapt your email practices to address the evolving standards and algorithms of email providers.
- List Management: Maintain a clean and engaged email list by regularly removing inactive or unengaged subscribers.
- Content Strategy: Develop a content strategy that provides value and relevance to your subscribers.
- Staying Informed: Stay informed about industry best practices, platform-specific guidelines, and emerging threats.
- Audience Demographics: You should be aware of audience demographics when sending emails.
What email marketers say
9 marketer opinions
The consensus among email marketing experts is that avoiding Gmail users based on 'growth hack' advice is not a sound strategy. Instead, focusing on deliverability best practices, building a clean email list, authenticating emails, creating engaging and valuable content, segmenting your audience, and maintaining a positive sender reputation are crucial for email marketing success across all email providers, including Gmail.
Key opinions
- Deliverability Focus: Prioritize fundamental email deliverability best practices over platform-specific avoidance strategies.
- Audience Engagement: Engaging content, tailored segmentation, and email list hygiene are more effective than avoiding Gmail users.
- Sender Reputation: Maintaining a positive sender reputation is critical for reaching Gmail inboxes and improving overall deliverability.
- Generational Factors: Consider generational and demographic factors. A large amount of the younger generation use Gmail, it is important to still email these users.
Key considerations
- List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive or unengaged subscribers to improve sender reputation.
- Email Authentication: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to authenticate your emails and establish trust with email providers.
- Content Relevance: Create valuable, engaging, and personalized content that caters to the interests and needs of your subscribers.
- Segmentation Strategy: Segment your audience based on demographics and interests so you can further engage your audience.
- Growth Hacking Credibility: Be mindful of what sources you take your advice from. Growth hacking advice can often be misleading or even incorrect. Not all growth hacking advice should be taken seriously.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that the advice might be saying that Gmail's algorithms are sensitive to mailers who send too much mail, so you should only send to Gmail when it makes sense. Assumes Gmail users are 'knowledge workers'.
28 Sep 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that avoid generalized "growth hack" advice. Instead, segment your email list and tailor your messages to specific groups of subscribers based on their interests and behavior. User42 mentions that relevant and personalized emails are more likely to be well-received, regardless of the email provider.
5 Dec 2023 - Email Marketing Forum
What the experts say
4 expert opinions
Experts overwhelmingly advise against avoiding Gmail users based on so-called 'growth hack' advice. The prevailing opinion is that deliverability best practices and sender reputation are paramount for reaching Gmail users and that avoiding a large segment of your audience (Gmail users) is not a viable strategy. Moreover, some experts suggest such advice is disconnected from reality and potentially misleading.
Key opinions
- Gmail Audience Size: Gmail often comprises a significant portion of an email list, making avoidance a detrimental approach to growth.
- Sender Reputation Matters: A positive sender reputation is crucial for deliverability to Gmail users and should be prioritized.
- Deliverability Best Practices: Adhering to deliverability best practices is essential for reaching Gmail users and ensuring your emails land in their inboxes.
- Questionable Advice: Growth hack advice may lack a connection with reality or be driven by ulterior motives, warranting careful scrutiny.
Key considerations
- Audience Location: Email where your audience is, and for many, this is primarily Gmail.
- Sender Reputation Building: Focus on building and maintaining a positive sender reputation through consistent and ethical emailing practices.
- Staying Updated: Be aware that Gmail's deliverability practices are constantly changing, so staying up-to-date on best practices is crucial.
- Critical Evaluation: Critically evaluate 'growth hack' advice, considering its source and potential impact on your overall email strategy.
Expert view
Expert from Spamresource explains that deliverability best practices are key when emailing Gmail users, noting that these change regularly. Sticking to email best practices will help you reach your intended audience.
26 Nov 2024 - Spamresource
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks states the growth hacker is pulling stuff out of his, you should email where your audience is. Shares their top 10 domains (active audience, rolling six months) noting that Gmail makes up 58% of the audience and that mailing less to Gmail impacts growth.
8 Mar 2024 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
5 technical articles
Technical documentation from Google, RFC, Mailchimp, Microsoft, and SparkPost underscores the importance of adhering to email authentication standards (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and following platform-specific sender guidelines to ensure positive user experiences and improved deliverability. Spam prevention and sender reputation are central themes, with the consistent message that following best practices is crucial for reaching inboxes and avoiding spam folders across various email providers, not just Gmail. Suppression lists and audience segmentation are also important.
Key findings
- Email Authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are essential for email authentication and improving deliverability across platforms.
- Sender Guidelines: Adhering to sender guidelines provided by email providers like Google and Microsoft is crucial for maintaining a good sender reputation.
- Spam Prevention: Email authentication and platform guidelines primarily aim to prevent spam and abuse, protecting users from malicious content.
- Multi-Faceted Approach: Improved email deliverability requires many approaches, and suppression lists and target audience segmentation are helpful.
Key considerations
- DMARC Implementation: Implement DMARC to protect your domain from email spoofing and phishing attacks.
- Staying Updated: Keep abreast of platform-specific sender guidelines and adapt your email practices accordingly.
- Junk Reporting Programs: Utilize Junk Email Reporting Programs (JMRP) and Complaint Feedback Loops (CFL) offered by providers like Microsoft.
- Suppression Lists: Actively use suppression lists to ensure emails are not sent to emails that are known to be invalid.
Technical article
Documentation from Google Support explains that Gmail has specific sender guidelines to ensure a positive user experience. Focus on adhering to Google's best practices, such as authenticating your emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and providing easy unsubscribe options, to maintain a good sender reputation with Gmail users.
12 Sep 2023 - Google Support
Technical article
Documentation from SparkPost states that improving email deliverability requires a multi-faceted approach. Using suppression lists, where emails that are known to not work are actively removed, is an effective solution. Authenticating emails and segmenting target audience are also helpful for improving deliverability.
19 Apr 2025 - SparkPost
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