Google tries hard to give its customers the best that it can. One example of the efforts made by Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) to please its users is the changes that the company made in Gmail. Only last year Google introduced three tabs in Gmail: Social, Promotions and Updates.
When the three tabs were introduced by Google many advertisers were not thrilled about them. The tabs meant that Google will scan all the emails and divide them into three categories and then send them to their respective folders. The advertisers were worried that users will not check all the emails frequently due to this division and their worries were justified.
Now Google has come up with yet another idea that is again not in favor of the advertisers. Google recently made an announcement for its new app known as “inbox”. The main element of inbox is “bundles”. In this app the inbox will bundle up similar kind of mails like receipts, business mails etc. users will be able to see the mails in a bundle and this will make it easier for them to quickly browse through all their emails.
Another feature is “Highlights”. This feature will let users quickly get their hands on key information like flight details or any other important information. However, the extraordinary thing about this feature is that it will be able to gather information from the net that was not included in the e-mail. For example if there in an email with your flight details, then the “Highlight” feature will be able to extract the correct timing of the flight from the web. Google has not yet revealed whether it has any plans of including ads in its new app and both its features or not.
Both these features of the “inbox” are expected to make the advertisers feel really annoyed. Taking a look at the market it can be seen that all the known main features in the business do not take advertisements as priority and neglect them profoundly. Due to this existing trend it can be said that all advertisement emails are likely to get pushed into the “promotions” bundle. And as “inbox” gains popularity chances are that more advertisement oriented emails will get ignored by users.
Google’s new app will make things easier for its users for sure but due to this app users will know which email requires their immediate attention and which one can wait. Gmail has always been a very important forum for advertisers, but its new feature may cause them a few problems.
Another reason that will upset advertisers is that because of smartphones people have finally started opening their promotional emails as well. Because email access has become so easy with phones that users, just to kill time, open every email in their inbox, according to a recent research conducted by Forrester. Promotional emails have also become more focused and targeted therefore at a time like this a feature like “inbox” is likely to upset more than just a few advertisers. It is interesting that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) should introduce such a feature when the company itself drives a major chunk of its revenue from advertising.