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It may come as a surprise to realize this, but Gmail’s interface overhaul is almost a full year old; of course, the platform has been rolling out its features slowly, and not all at once, so it seems to be more recent than it is. In the latest case, Google has brought the new “confidential mode” not just to personal users, but to all G suite accounts--which is interesting and valuable news for email marketing professionals. Site Impact always makes a point of staying on top of what email providers are doing at a given time, so today we wanted to take a look at what confidential mode is, and what it means for marketers.
First of all, a refresher on what confidential mode is, and what it does: one of the updated features of the email service, it allows senders to set expiration dates on emails, require verification on the receiver’s end before being able to open a message, and restrict the ability to forward or print the content. While this has obvious practical usages for people using gmail on a personal or professional level, the marketing applications of this function are also intriguing, if you dig a little deeper into what these features allow and make possible. At the present time, the function is only available as a beta for G suite users, and an admin has to opt-in to make the features available, but there is every possibility that Google will roll it out more broadly in coming weeks and months, once kinks are worked out--as has been their MO for just about everything.
Of course the question comes down to what good does it do for brands and marketers? And for this feature, there are a lot of intriguing possibilities to look into: after all, setting an expiry date on your emails has a very good application for limited-time offers, and that’s just the beginning. Setting an expiration date also triggers gmail to remind the recipient of the upcoming deletion of the email, which brings your offer right to the front of your recipients’ minds once more, as well as creating a sense of urgency that you can’t as readily get just from subject lines. Restricting the ability to print, forward, or otherwise share a message is another tool that can come in handy for brands that want to target specific customers for certain offers, and keep them as contained as possible. Really, the function will provide a lot of benefits and fun tactics to keep making email interesting and impactful.
The beta is definitely something that brands should look into, and the tools provided by the confidentiality mode controls give a lot of possibilities for innovative campaigns. While the beta nature of the roll-out means that there are bugs and kinks that must be worked out, the eventual full functionality that Google will likely roll out will bring with it a new trend in what email marketers can do to drive greater engagement and get metrics under control. Contact Site Impact to learn how we are always looking to the future of email marketing.
