Gmail Users Get Real-Time Updates in their Email Messages
Gmail user Dan McGee writes that he's found a new feature in his Gmail that places small favicons next to certain email messages in the inbox view. The icons have appeared next to emails sent from commercial services like Netflix and make those messages stand out when users quickly scan a crowded inbox.
This new feature is not just a simple productivity enhancement or advertisement. The icons are there to indicate which messages include "enhanced content" - real-time updates within the body of the email messages, from companies sending the emails.
Google Explains "Enhanced Email"
Apparently this feature has been in the works for some time, at least according to the timestamp on the Google Help explanation about "enhanced content," which shows its last update was in July of this year. The explanation reads:
If you're subscribed to receive email from certain senders, the messages you receive from them will be enhanced with an interactive gadget that has up-to-date content from their website (you'll also see an icon in your inbox identifying these messages).
For example, if you receive a Pregnancy Bulletin newsletter from Babycenter, you'll be able to view up-to-date content, including the baby name of the day, and browse though the current top 100 baby names within the message. Aside from the convenience of being able to interact with certain websites from inside Gmail, the branded content will help identify that your messages are legitimate and not spoofed (we'll only show branded content when the sender authenticates their mail). We're currently testing this with a small number of senders and will decide whether to make it widely available based on user and partner feedback.
A Marketer's Dream
Real-time content updates within Gmail messages sound like a great idea as long as it doesn't slow down the loading of the message, replying, forwarding and the like. Just imagine the possibilities! In the enhanced Netflix emails, for example, you not only view your recent recommendations - you can actually add them to your queue right from within the message itself.
This sort of interactivity is sure to be an email marketer's dream as it allows for whole new levels of user engagement with the brand. Instead of simply dismissing the email with a click of the "delete" button, recipients might find themselves actually taking the time to read through what were once thought of as "throwaway" messages. In this information-overloaded era where out-of-control inboxes have many email users declaring email bankruptcy, doing mass deletes, and filtering all non-personal email to other folders, any extra incentive to not delete or ignore an email is a feature which marketers are sure to take notice of.
But a little in-email interactivity may only be scratching the surface of what this enhanced content makes possible. What could come next? Perhaps you'll soon be able to make purchases without ever leaving the confines of your inbox? As McGee writes in his post - wait until Amazon gets on board with that idea - our wallets are sure to take a beating!
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Interesting prospect but is it only selected email marketers at this stage who are able to use this feature? And is it code that is specific to google mail or will it be adoptable by other email clients? Quite powerful though!
Now this is interesting! I'm not so bothered about real-time email updates from companies but I'd love to have email that can be updated after the initial message is sent. Rather than having multiple messages about the same topic it would be much nicer to have a realtime flowing thread of conversation. Wave could help push this forwards, it would be great if it ended up with conversational email!
@Charlie: Yes, according to Google: "We're currently testing this with a small number of senders and will decide whether to make it widely available based on user and partner feedback." And as far as I can tell, this is Gmail specific code.
Based on this description alone, I'm thinking a live web page within my email would make me *more* (not less) likely to delete it. If I wanted to see their web page, I would *go to their web page*. Hoping I'm not opted-in by default, but I'm sure I will be if the feature goes live.
How does this work when you access your email through IMAP, or on a mobile device? Seems ripe for failure.
@Brian: you are, but you can turn it off like so:
"If you'd like to stop receiving enhanced messages from a particular sender, just open a message and click the down-arrow in the upper-right corner of the message and select Do not customize mail from [sender]. Any messages you receive from that sender in the future won't have images displayed by default, or any interactive content within the messages."
I think the feature is a good one in the current trend of social networks
I'd call it "super spam" and it needs to be opt-in.
Also,
If the "certain senders" are willing to participate in something this sophisticated, they should just use Google Wave exclusively.
Wow proprietary email functionality?
Gmail to become a proprietary messaging platform?
As with other GOOG changes, I'd suggest this should've been an explicit opt-in rather than an opt-out (and, is the opt-out clearly offered/documented?)
Now this is interesting! I'm not so bothered about real-time email updates from companies but I'd love to have email that can be updated after the initial message is sent.
Neat idea. As a relatively new convert to Gmail, I welcome the improvements -- http://tpgblog.com/2009/10/05/gmail-android-google-2/
But it would be even cooler if Gmail, enhanced all email it touched. For example, if you use POP/IMAP to access your email, these widgets would still be operational within whatever email client you use to access the information.
Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy
http://tpgblog.com
At my college we use a different tool for working on our projects online.
Its free and needs no installation since its online, go to http://www.showdocument.com
pretty useful for me since i usually do my projects on the laptop. -chrisman
Nice of you to lift the image straight off my blog without attribution. Most people would consider it a common courtesy to ask first via email or create your own image, but apparently you don't have a great sense of journalistic integrity.
yes thats a great feature you need not to refresh your page again n again