Summary
It can be perplexing when your Gmail email campaigns show strong deliverability and open rates, yet suffer from significantly lower click rates compared to other internet service providers (ISPs). This discrepancy often signals deeper underlying issues beyond mere inbox placement.
Key findings
- Data discrepancies: Conflicting reports from an ESP (showing 99.8% successful deliveries) and an inbox testing tool (showing 70-80% undelivered for Gmail) indicate a need to verify the accuracy of your email data sources.
- List hygiene impact: A primary cause of low engagement, despite delivery, is often poor list hygiene. If addresses are collected without proper consent (e.g., via incentives without verification), they may lead to unengaged recipients or even spam trap hits, which can ultimately land your domain on a blocklist.
- Engagement signals: Gmail's sophisticated filters rely heavily on user engagement. Even if emails reach the inbox, a lack of clicks or positive interactions sends negative signals, impacting future inbox placement and performance.
- Temporary fixes: Adjusting email templates to pass pre-send tests, without addressing the root cause of low engagement, provides only a temporary solution. Gmail's machine learning filters can quickly adapt, leading to a return of poor performance.
Key considerations
- Data accuracy: Thoroughly investigate discrepancies between your ESP's delivery reports and third-party inbox testing tools. Gmail typically doesn't simply 'drop' mail; if it's not in the inbox, it's likely being actively blocked or diverted.
- Auditing permission practices: Re-evaluate your email address collection methods. If incentives like coupons are offered without requiring email verification (e.g., double opt-in) or in-email coupon redemption, it increases the risk of collecting invalid or disinterested addresses. This can significantly impact your email domain reputation.
- Focus on engagement: Prioritize genuine subscriber interest and engagement over simply increasing list size. A smaller, highly engaged list will yield better results than a large list with low click rates, which can trigger spam filters and lead to a sender's IP or domain being added to a blacklist.
- Holistic deliverability strategy: Implement a comprehensive strategy to improve Gmail email deliverability, including regular list cleaning, segmentation based on engagement, and content optimization to encourage clicks. Understanding why click-through rates are low is crucial for sustained success.
What email marketers say
Email marketers often face a confusing scenario where their emails appear to be delivered successfully to Gmail, yet click rates remain stubbornly low. Their discussions frequently revolve around the tools they use, the adjustments they make, and the elusive nature of Gmail’s filtering system.
Key opinions
- Conflicting data interpretation: Marketers frequently express confusion when different deliverability tools or their ESPs provide contradictory metrics regarding email delivery and inbox placement.
- Template adjustments: Many marketers resort to continually tweaking email templates in an attempt to bypass spam filters or improve deliverability, often without fully understanding the underlying cause of their issues. While a new template can sometimes cause Gmail open rates to drop, adjusting them is often seen as a quick fix.
- Updates tab placement: Even when emails land in the Gmail inbox, their placement in the 'Updates' tab (rather than the primary inbox) is noted as a potential factor for lower engagement and clicks.
- Permission collection methods: The method of collecting email addresses, such as offering immediate discount coupons without verifying the recipient's genuine interest, is identified as a critical factor influencing overall engagement.
Key considerations
- Understanding 'undelivered' vs 'spam': Marketers should distinguish between messages truly failing to be delivered (bounces) and those going to the spam folder or other tabs. The latter still count as delivered but impact engagement negatively.
- Beyond templates: While template changes can seem helpful for low open rates in Gmail for new subscribers, the focus should shift to recipient behavior and list quality to ensure long-term inboxing success. Constantly adjusting content is unsustainable.
- Impact of list acquisition: Recognize that incentivized sign-ups without proper verification can lead to a list full of unengaged contacts or even fake addresses, resulting in low click rates even with high delivery. This can directly impact conversion rates.
- Pre-send testing: If using pre-send tools, ensure the testing methodology mirrors your actual campaign sends as closely as possible to get accurate insights into deliverability.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks observes that their Gmail users exhibit a click rate that is three times lower than that of other ISPs. This significant disparity raises questions about whether this is a common industry trend or indicative of a specific deliverability challenge with Gmail itself. The sender's Google Postmaster Tools report a 'medium' domain and IP reputation, adding to the confusion, as a medium reputation usually suggests reasonable deliverability. The market is primarily the US, which typically has high engagement expectations.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks indicates that their inbox testing tool, Glockapps, sometimes reports puzzling results for Gmail. Emails either land directly in the inbox or are reported as 70-80% undelivered, with no intermediate spam folder placement. This black-and-white outcome leads them to adjust email templates until the deliverability reaches 100% in the testing environment before sending actual campaigns. This strategy implies a reactive approach to content filtering.
What the experts say
Email deliverability experts highlight that low click rates despite high deliverability often point to fundamental problems with list quality and recipient engagement, rather than technical deliverability issues. They stress the importance of accurate data and sustainable permission practices.
Key opinions
- Data integrity: Experts emphasize that conflicting data from ESPs and inbox testing tools is a critical red flag. Google does not silently 'drop' mail, so any discrepancy suggests data is either inaccurate or misinterpreted.
- Root cause analysis: The core issue behind low engagement is frequently tied to recipients' actions, which indicate to Gmail that the mail is spam, even if it lands in the inbox. This feedback directly impacts sender reputation (or domain reputation) over time.
- Permission-based sending: If recipients haven't genuinely opted-in, or if the sign-up process allows for fake email addresses (especially common with Gmail), it inevitably leads to a list filled with unengaged users who won't click.
- Avoiding temporary fixes: Constantly changing templates to evade filters is unsustainable. Google's machine learning will eventually catch up. A long-term solution requires addressing the fundamental reason why subscribers are not engaging.
- Parallel testing: To gain accurate insights, experts recommend sending tests to inbox testing tools in parallel with actual campaign sends, using the same sending infrastructure and processes.
Key considerations
- SMTP bounce messages: Rely on SMTP bounce messages from your ESP. These provide the definitive reason why an email was blocked or not delivered, offering crucial insights that testing tools might miss.
- Engagement-based sending: To recover reputation and improve engagement, focus on sending only to the most engaged segments of your list. Gradually re-engage confirmed opt-in audiences by slowly expanding your sending volume.
- Enforce genuine opt-in: Revise your sign-up process to ensure that coupons or incentives are only redeemable after email confirmation. This prevents the collection of fake or disinterested email addresses and ensures a higher quality, more engaged list. This is key to improving domain reputation with Google Postmaster Tools.
- Google Postmaster Tools: Utilize Google Postmaster Tools (GPT) to monitor reputation, spam rates, and delivery errors directly from Gmail's perspective. GPT provides the most authoritative data for Gmail deliverability.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks, Laura, states that if 70-80% of mail is reported as 'undelivered' by an inbox testing tool, it indicates the mail isn't even leaving the ESP. This suggests that Google is actively blocking the mail at the server level, even if the ESP reports successful delivery. She clarifies that Google does not simply 'drop' mail, meaning if it's not showing up, it's being intentionally filtered or rejected. This discrepancy points to a severe data reporting issue, either from the ESP or the testing tool.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks, Laura, advises that to rectify Google's blocking, the sender needs to prioritize sending to highly engaged subscribers first. This means sending mail only to those who are actively clicking and engaging with content, and temporarily pausing sends to all others. Following this, senders should gradually reintroduce campaigns to their confirmed opt-in audience segments. This strategy aims to rebuild positive sender reputation signals with Gmail over time, demonstrating that the mail is desired and engaged with.
What the documentation says
Official documentation from major email providers and industry standards consistently emphasize that positive user engagement is paramount for sustained email deliverability and optimal inbox placement. While technical compliance (like SPF, DKIM, DMARC) ensures mail is authenticated and delivered, it's user interaction that dictates where it lands and if it's engaged with.
Key findings
- Engagement metrics: ISPs, especially Gmail, heavily weigh positive user engagement (opens, clicks, replies, adding to contacts) and negative engagement (spam complaints, deletions without opening) when determining sender reputation and inbox placement. Low click rates, despite high open rates, are a negative signal.
- List quality over quantity: Documentation often stresses the importance of maintaining a clean, engaged list acquired through confirmed opt-in methods. Sending to unengaged or questionable addresses can harm sender reputation, leading to filtering or blocklisting.
- Content relevance: Even with perfect authentication, irrelevant or uninteresting content will not generate clicks, signaling to ISPs that the mail is not valued by recipients. This can lead to placement in less prominent tabs (like Promotions or Updates in Gmail) or the spam folder.
- Spam complaint rates: While directly low, even minimal complaint rates combined with low click rates can indicate underlying issues that impact filtering decisions. Gmail monitors these signals closely through tools like Postmaster Tools.
Key considerations
- Monitor Google Postmaster Tools: Regularly consult Google Postmaster Tools for insights into your domain and IP reputation, spam rates, feedback loops, and delivery errors from Google's perspective. This is the most accurate source for Gmail-specific issues.
- Implement strong authentication: Ensure your domain has correctly configured SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. While these don't guarantee clicks, they establish sender legitimacy, a prerequisite for all other positive engagement signals.
- Optimize for engagement: Design emails with clear calls-to-action (CTAs), engaging content, and mobile responsiveness. Tailor content to segmented audiences to increase relevance and drive clicks. Understand that Gmail's categorization of emails into tabs can influence visibility and interaction.
- Consent and list management: Adhere strictly to explicit consent principles. Regularly remove unengaged subscribers and suppress bounced or invalid addresses to maintain a healthy list, as outlined in Google's bulk sender guidelines and industry best practices for email deliverability.
Technical article
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools Help explicitly states that sender reputation is dynamic and influenced by a multitude of factors, with user engagement being paramount. While delivering to the inbox is a basic step, sustained high click rates and positive interactions are crucial for maintaining and improving reputation over time. Low click rates, even with good initial delivery, can signal to Google that recipients are not finding the emails valuable, potentially leading to future filtering into spam or the Promotions tab for marketing mail.
Technical article
Google's Bulk Sender Guidelines emphasize the importance of providing a clear and easy unsubscribe mechanism. Furthermore, they highlight that even with perfect authentication, if recipients consistently mark emails as spam, Google's filters will learn and route future messages to the spam folder. This reinforces that user perception and action (or inaction, such as ignoring emails that don't elicit clicks) are more influential than just technical compliance.
Related resources
4 resources
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