Take a look at the top picture and then compare it to the one below – the difference is like night and day – and that is exactly what Google is thinking about for their advertisers and promotions that are now pushed to GMail accounts. Promotional mail, once opened, has many images to attract a potential customer…you! But when all you see is a normal email line full of letters, those enticing pictures are lost, or at least their initial reaction or potential is gone – only viewed if the user decides to open those emails or simply discard them. Personally, I just delete them all anyway, but to some people who like to shop for the latest fashions, that image really helps draw the user in and could possibly be a potential customer…a picture has always been worth a thousand words.
If you are a shopper, then having your promotional emails arrive in a Grid format that allows infinite scrolling, should make it easier for you to pick out the topics that interest you the most and allow you to find them faster. To take part in Google’s field trial, you can sign up at g.co/gmailfieldtrial and if you are selected a new Grid View option will show at the top right of your inbox if you have the Promotions Tab enabled. You can jump back and forth between the two views by clicking on the Grid or List box.
The Google website where you can sign up for the trial reminds you:
This field trial is currently only available in English for @gmail.com addresses (not available on Google Apps accounts). Due to limited capacity and initial setup, we may not be able to activate this experimental feature for everyone. If you’re selected for the field trial, you’ll see a message in your Promotions tab when the feature is turned on for you.
By making things a lot prettier and appealing, Google is hoping to help satisfy the e-marketers who were critical of the way the old Promotion Tab handled their advertising and promotions. With today’s competition for customers the advertisers need and want every edge they can get – certainly a pretty picture will attract more potential customers than a line of print. Check it out, see what you think, and if you are selected, let us know on our Google+ Page what you think of the new Promotional Tab and grid look.