Impact of automated image display on email marketing
In December 2013, Google changed the default settings for loading images in external emails to an automated image display. And recently the function has also been expanded to the mobile applications in Android and iOS . Previously you had to confirm the loading of images in emails, but now this is done automatically by Google.
Logo GMail
To protect users from harmful content in the image files , Google has built in an intermediate step : the images are no longer displayed from the sender's original server, but directly from Google proxy servers. Google promises users more security and faster retrieval of email content. But what changes for professional email marketing and is this function even legally permissible? The following article provides an overview .
This changes for you as a marketer
Adverse effects of automated image display
The change means that senders lose some information tunisia phone number data about the retrieval from Gmail. For example, it is no longer possible to determine from which IP address an email is retrieved. This has the following consequences:
No geo-location possible
This means that marketers can no longer track which location and device the email was opened from.
No gross openings measurable
Even multiple openings of the same email can no longer be measured. This information is permanently lost due to caching on Google servers.
No image change possible
Another disadvantage is that downloading from Google means that the sender cannot subsequently replace images. If, for example, a product is out of stock, the advertising company can no longer respond.
Positive effects of automated image display
However, it is positive to note that the change could strengthen customer trust. Since the images are now loaded by Google as a whole instead of being suppressed as before, it can be assumed that
the net opening rate increases because recipients who previously did not upload any images when opening the email are now also included.
the advertising effect is higher because the presentation with images is more appealing.
The click rate also benefits because the recipient does not lose any information contained in images.