Increase Your Brand Reach Using Gmail Sponsored Promotions

Statistics show that over 99% of email users check their messages every day and 50% do so more than ten times in a day. If you don’t have an extensive list of contacts, sponsored ads might do the trick. Read on to find out everything you need to know, including benefits, and how to set them up.  

Gmail Sponsored Promotions: What Are They And Why Are They So Powerful? 

Debuted in 2015, Gmail Sponsored Promotions (GSPs) are a paid ad network available in the email service from Google Ads. It typically shows up in the top portion of the promotions tap. 

Here’s an example from the inbox: 

The ad expands as shown below when users click on it:

URL: https://instapage.com/blog/gmail-ads 

Gmail Ads are powerful due to the fact that they don’t even look like advertisements. Instead, they look like normal emails. This is especially useful to remove ‘banner blindness’ so that the readers consider you legitimate instead of spam. 

On top of that, you get to appear straight in the inbox of users. According to consultant Nathan Zeldes, most people spend over 20 hours a week handling email. Therefore, the target customers might actually see your content.

What Kind Of Offers Should You Promote With Gmail Sponsored Ads? 

All that being said, you can fail with Gmail Ads if you don’t have anything substantial or relevant to offer the readers. The perfect GSP is made by studying more about your target audience so that you better understand what they want. 

For starters, GSPs are sent to people who are at the top of the sales funnel. These are ‘cold targets’ who haven’t heard about your business. That’s why unless you have a crazy deal for them, they won’t click or expand your ad. 

Take the following example of a free scholarship advertisement in Gmail. 

This is what you see when you expand the ad:

URL: https://instapage.com/blog/gmail-ads  

As the Gmail Sponsored Ads work from within the display network, you can use it for retargeting. You can aim it at people who’ve visited your site in the past but haven’t purchased yet.

How To Set Up Gmail Sponsored Promotions?

After settling on a goal for GSP, you need to decide how to actually get your content to the relevant audience. 

Take a look at the three main options available with this platform. 

URL: https://www.disruptiveadvertising.com/google-ads/gmail-sponsored-promotions/ 

• Keyword targeting: This is the best way to approach cold audiences. These ads are typically displayed to visitors with a history related to your niche. You can check how people see your messages through ‘search terms’ in Google Ads under the’ keyword’ tab. Use clicks, conversions, and impressions to find highly profitable search queries
• Audience targeting: This is a way to remarket to users with some history of interaction with your business but those who haven’t converted yet. It offers the best chance of direct conversions since targeted users are already aware of your products. When combined with the right offers, you can convert interested persons easily
• Demographic targeting: With this option, you can target users based on their age, location, gender, income, industry, job title, and so on. To target specific customers, first head over to Google Analytics. Click on ‘overview’ under ‘audience’. Switch to ‘converters’. You can then set the age and gender of the ideal demographic 

Tips To Design Sponsored Promotions That Generate Results 

There are four templates of Gmail sponsored promotions. Google recommends testing each one to see which works seamlessly for you. 

Google Images is a huge banner that takes users out to a landing page while Google Single Promotion template lets you add an image with a CTA button. The multi-product template is for displaying several products and HTML upload lets you embed videos, HTML forms, etcetera. 

URL: https://neilpatel.com/blog/the-beginners-guide-to-gmail-ads/ 

Here are the best practices to generate maximum results from GSPs: 

• The copy is where you explain the unique selling proposition of the product. It should match with the preview of the ad 
• Embedded videos are best when short. For instance, include video case studies, explainer videos, and customer testimonials
• CTA or call-to-action is directly responsible for clicks and conversions. Keep it clear and concise. In addition, include a bold button 
• Competitors conquesting strategy is a way of targeting users who are already committed to your competitors. This attracts a highly relevant audience that quickly converts

The Bottom Line 

GSPs open a new door to access relevant customers without ‘banner blindness’. It’s best for promoting high-commitment offers.

Moreover, you can set it up via keyword, audience, or demographic targeting.

Once you focus on the copy and CTA, it’s easy to drive open rates, CTRs, and conversions from these types of ads.