7 Strategies to Get Your Ad Listed in the &quotTop Picks&quot Section of Gmail&039s Promotion Tab

From the moment Google introduced Gmail tabs, it changed the way marketers used email for promotions. most promotional emails no longer end up in the coveted main tab section. instead, promotional emails now have their own tab, which is only read by 19.2 percent.

The best chance for promotional emails to return to the main tab is to ask current subscribers to manually set up their domain for it.

but what about your cold prospects? It will probably end up in the promotions tab, but how can you increase your chances of being one of the 19.2 percent of promotional emails that are actually read?

the answer? pointing to the “top picks” section of the promotion tab, where your email will float to the top of the inbox. you can also do it by creating gmail ads.

There are many reasons to send a gmail ad, but one of the most important is to be able to send a campaign to a potential customer even if they don’t have their email address yet. Additionally, Gmail Ads have the potential to interact with other emails – recipients can choose to save your ad to their inbox and forward it to their friends.

To reap all of these benefits, you need to make sure your email ads are in tip-top shape. In this blog post, we’ll cover strategies to help you start gmail ads that are exactly that.

strategies to get your emails to appear in the “top picks” section

1. treat your gmail ad as a landing page

Let’s start with the basics: what your gmail ad should not have.

It’s tempting to be a little pushy to get your prospect to do what you want, but google doesn’t give you much space, especially for text in the collapsed ad view. it only has 20 characters for the subject line and 90 characters for the description.

Be careful how you word your subject lines and descriptions, not only because your potential customer will ignore your ad, but you could also risk getting flagged. Avoid subject lines that are risky or click-generating, as Google could mistake your ad for a phishing scam.

Think of your ad like a landing page where you entice your audience with an eye-catching image and then direct them to your call to action.

A good landing page has an attention-grabbing cta. it’s mobile friendly, not too heavy with media that bogs down page load times. it doesn’t have too many links or fields, which distracts your potential customer from converting. highlights the benefits and values ​​of your offer.

2. leverage your email marketing data

Treating your gmail ad as a landing page is the first step. the next would be to optimize these ads by following strategies that have worked for you before.

If you’re thinking about running (or have already run) gmail ads, you’ve probably done email marketing before. Your past email marketing campaigns contain treasure troves of data that you can apply to strengthen your email ad.

Review your email marketing metrics. Which emails had the highest open rates? what about these emails worked fine? Is it the way you worded your subject line? Is this how you designed your cta?

Strategies that have worked well for you organically before are likely to work even better in a paid ad campaign. It also fits because a gmail ad looks and works like an email marketing campaign.

You also want to see what kind of audiences give you the highest open rates or even convert to paying customers from your previous promotional emails. these details will be valuable when it’s time to select the audience and demographic targets for your ad.

You want to target prospects who more or less fit the persona of the customer who buys from you.

3. spy on your competitors

what keywords should you target?

For gmail ads, you need to target your own branded keywords as well as your competitors’ branded keywords. this will allow you to sneak into your existing customers’ inboxes and let them know that you are an option.

Take full advantage of Gmail Ads’ domain targeting feature by targeting ancillary domains related to your business. With the way Google targeting works, it’s likely to show up in the inboxes of potential customers who have received non-spam email from these domains in the past.

If you do this, make sure your ad copy can communicate why it’s a better (or related) option to your potential customer. you can offer a discount or highlight your unique selling points in the enlarged ad.

4. replace remarketing with keyword targeting

remarketing is tricky for gmail ads as user privacy prevents you from simply remarketing to people who have interacted with your brand before in some way.

but it can still end up in your inbox by using branded keywords as well as your own domain as a keyword and retargeting them that way.

You want to end up in their inboxes because they will have heard of your brand before and are likely to click on your ad. it might even catch them at a better time when they’re ready to engage with your brand again.

When setting up your targeting campaign, you need to set up targeting automation based on your advertising budget. for smaller budgets, select manual or conservative targeting to set the parameters yourself. if you have a larger budget and want to target a larger market, select aggressive automation.

In addition to being very specific with keyword targeting, you can also exclude keywords, site categories, and topics.

5. diversify your ad formats

You can’t stop at a gmail ad. testing different ads is how you optimize your campaign. you can set different ads to rotate on google ads platform.

google offers four different templates for your ads:

• gmail image – a single image your prospect clicks on, which sends them to your landing page
• single product – an image with a description and a button for your cta
• multiple products: a carousel where you can display different products
• custom html: you can upload your own custom coded ad

if gmail’s default templates are limited, sign up for benchmarkemail, an email marketing tool that has a solid builder, allowing you to create an email ad that’s sure to stand out.

In addition to custom html capabilities, you can also use ad extensions. You can even create an ad where the recipient can call you directly from your ad without going to your website.

When diversifying your ad formats, don’t forget to diversify your content, targeting audiences at different stages of your marketing funnel.

Be sure to check that the metrics you want to measure are being tracked. keep an eye out for the “gmail clicks to website” metric which measures how many times your link was clicked when your gmail ad was opened.

6. include visual elements

Because your promotional emails can be saved and forwarded, you’ll want to make sure your audience wants to do it. you can do this by making your emails stand out!

gmail ads support images, and a high quality image will interest your prospects much more than a poor quality carousel of images.

You can use typography to highlight your brand value without using too much text. The fewer words you use, the more direct you will be and the more your prospect will be compelled to take action.

take full advantage of the custom html template and create a video ad. be sure to test for desktop and mobile view to see that none of the information is obstructed or difficult to read or see.

Another interesting visual element you might consider using is an emoji. Emails that have emojis in their subject lines are 254 percent more likely to be opened. Of course, these emojis should be related to the topic of your email and should be appropriate to your industry.

7. allows your brand personality to shine

Your brand is not just how your brand looks; it’s also the way you communicate with customers and prospects. From how your images look to how you phrase your ads, it all affects how likely your ad is to succeed.

Instead of giving the audience the hard sell on your ad, word your copy as “reducing the threat” to whoever reads it. Instead of telling them to “buy now,” ask them to “see more.” Cold prospects are unlikely to buy right away, especially if it’s the first time they’ve encountered your brand.

Make sure your branding is consistent with the look and feel of your ad. you don’t want prospects who clicked on your cta to think they’ve been scammed with a completely different ad.

accounting software, freshbooks, uses the same style and tone for their emails as they do for their site copy. their brand is consistent and they are known for making accounting accessible to their users.

key points

gmail promotion tab is not a dead zone for businesses that prevents them from reaching their potential customers through email marketing. crafting an optimized email and taking full advantage of gmail ads make it possible for promotional emails to stand out in any inbox.

no other email strategy will let you email specific leads before you get addresses.

Of course, as with any strategy, you need to set kpi’s and monitor metrics, constantly improving what you’re doing. When you do, your email won’t just be one of the top picks for Google’s algorithm; it will also be one of the best options for your audience!

author biography

kevin payne is a content marketing consultant who helps software companies create marketing funnels and implement content marketing campaigns to increase their inbound leads.