Gmail just announced on their blog that they’ll automatically allow images from some of its users’ contacts (read the full posting here). Good news for best-practicing email marketers who already encourage whitelisting from list subscribers, but there’s an important additional step that you may not being doing yet.
The 3 criteria for automatically displaying a sender’s image are:
- The sender’s email address is one of the recipient’s contacts, meaning the recipient has “whitelisted” you by adding your <from address>
- The sender is SPF or DKIM authenticated
- The recipient has emailed the sender at least twice in the past
Google’s reasoning is that a recipient is more likely to have a relationship with a sender with whom they have two way communications. You want to be able to see pics of Uncle Norm’s kids, right? So “[n]ow, whenever someone you’ve emailed at least twice sends you a message containing images, you’ll see them right away,” says the post. This may be something a bit new and, ok, a bit daunting, but it’s really an opportunity for your email marketing program. Email marketing bloggers and experts agree that feedback and testimonials hold the power in today’s interactive marketing world, so… ask for it.
Encourage your email subscribers to “Tell us your story about…” and “Let us know what you’d like to see in the next issue.” You’ll get valuable feedback from your list and let them know you’re listening. The added bonus that Google is going to throw in is acknowledgement that your subscriber is engaged and wants to receive your emails – int tact, with images on and all.
Important to watch: Gmail, a constantly improving platform like it’s parent Google, has already said it may change the two-email threshold if it proves to not be beneficial to their inbox users. “Note that we picked this threshold of two messages to start with, but we may tweak it if it doesn’t seem right going forward.” So keep an eye out for updates both on the Gmail blog (http://gmailblog.blogspot.com) and right here at the emfluence blog of course.
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