Bye bye automatic image blocking in Gmail

Bye bye automatic image blocking in Gmail

Whilst lately Google adjusted the tracking range of ESP’s to track impressions of sent campaigns to Gmail, Google now allows images to be shown directly in the browser (mobile users will follow in 2014). Before, they were blocked automatically.

This is some hope for e-mail marketers, as they now have more chance of tracking the impressions as soon as a receiver opens and thus reads the e-mail. Still, these are still some disadvantages for e-mail marketers trying to track e-mails in Gmail;

1. The tracking pixel, to track opens in e-mail clients is being used to see if a receiver has opened your e-mail. In most cases an IP address is being sent back to the e-mail marketing tool to be able to track where the e-mail has been opened. Google however saves the images on their own proxy server to block more information of the user being sent back to the marketer. This information could be the device that is being used to read the e-mail and the location of the user.
2. The images are being hosted on a proxyserver of Google to defend the privacy of their users. E-mail marketers are therefore unable to receive referral data. Another advantage for Google is that they are therefore more capable of filtering out malware and images with malicious code.

What does this mean for e-mail marketers?

E-mail marketers now have a better chance of increasing open rates at Gmail again, after the change of the tabs. But keep in mind, that you will only be capable of tracking the first open. Clicks will still be measurable, because the personalized link that is being created by the ESP is marked in the e-mail marketing tool and can thus be tracked at any time when clicked.

Furthermore it’s always wise to create individual content in your campaigns, specifically to Gmail users where you offer the possibility to drag and drop your campaign right into the inbox of the receiver. This message should only be shown to Gmail users.

Gmail still offers to deactivate the automated loading of the images, so users have the possibility to restore the default settings.