Gmail is one of the most popular email providers, with millions of users worldwide. Due to their familiarity with this service, the question arises if it can be used to send email marketing campaigns to lists with many subscribers.
The truth is that it is not a service designed to send mass emails, and using it directly for this can lead to various problems, among which the following should be highlighted:
Disadvantages of sending mailing campaigns through Gmail
Daily sending limit
The first problem we find when setting up campaigns through Gmail is the daily sending limit that this service imposes on its users. You cannot send more than 500 emails with a standard account during 24 hours.
Low deliverability
Another problem you may run into when sending many emails directly from Gmail is that it will be difficult for most of them to reach the recipients’ inboxes. A reasonable deliverability rate is key for an email campaign to be successful. Due to the ease with which a mass mailing from a Gmail account can be classified as spam, it can seriously hamper the good results of your mailings.
Difficulty managing cancellations
As Gmail is a service designed to be used between individual users, it does not have adequate unsubscribe management. This, beyond hindering a correct user experience, can lead to legal problems since data protection laws specify that recipients must be able to manage the use of their data and revoke the permissions granted at any time.
Does not provide statistics
As in any other field of digital marketing, having detailed statistics is key to optimising and improving your campaigns’ results. In the absence of them, you will be working blindly, without the possibility of measuring their success, and without being able to know which are the key points that you must improve in successive shipments.
When it comes to carrying out email marketing campaigns, knowing metrics such as the opening rate or the CTR is very useful. Gmail, by itself, will not offer you this data as the platforms dedicated to these shipments do.
Although when sending mass mail through gmail you may encounter all these problems, the truth is that there are solutions to solve them and to be able to use this service for mailing campaigns aimed at many subscribers.
Alternatives to send campaigns through Gmail
If you decide to send email marketing campaigns through Gmail, the recommendation for them to be successful is that you use one of the many Chrome extensions that exist for this purpose.
Most of these stats will fix the aforementioned issues: many offer more sends than Gmail’s daily limit, stats, email templates, and high deliverability when sending through your system.
Here are some that you can use:
Gumbamail
This mailing extension for Chrome offers various advantages, including its large number of customizable templates, a “drag & drop” editor, the ability to personalize emails, import subscribers from services such as Google Sheets and send more emails daily than the limit set by Gmail. You can install it here.
Gmass
Another of the most popular alternatives for sending campaigns through Gmail. It also offers good integration with other Google services and versatile rates according to your shipping needs.
Mail king
It offers similar functionalities to the previous two and is a top-rated service. In the same way, it allows you to send mailing campaigns without leaving the Gmail system.
( Note: Gmail is just one of many Google tools, there are many others you can use to grow your business.)
Configure email marketing campaigns to send through Gmail
In general, any of these extensions will offer you the possibility to create your campaigns:
Create lists
The most common is that you can create your lists through a .csv file that you upload directly, from a Google Sheets sheet with the email addresses, or import them from the Google Contacts service. In addition, you can include other subscriber data, such as the name, to personalize the emails.
Select a template
The next step will be to select and edit one of the available templates to adapt it to your design criteria and campaign needs. The advantage of using a template offered by this platform is that they ensure correct HTML, which is an essential factor so that the campaign does not reach the spam folder.
Set up shipping
Once you have edited your template’s design and content, you have to configure your mailing by choosing the subscribers, the subject and the date of the mailing.
Check reports
When you have sent it, you can consult its statistics in real-time, using them to measure the results and improve the following campaigns to obtain maximum performance.
As you can see, it is possible to send email marketing campaigns without leaving the Gmail environment, as long as you use one of the extensions that exist for it. This way, you will avoid the problems and limitations you can find if you send them directly from your Gmail account.