Let’s say you have a small business – an Etsy store, maybe, or a local carpentry shop – and want to launch an email marketing campaign. You may well be using Gmail as your email service provider. In this case, you’re probably wondering whether you can use this to send bulk emails without running into any issues. Indeed, you can: let us show you what features you can make use of and which things to keep in mind.
In this article, we’ll look closely at Gmail’s bulk email-sending capabilities, to teach you how to use its services to reach your business goals. Specifically, we’ll look at:
Ready to dive in? Let’s go!
Google Workspace is a suite of products that allows you to do anything from scheduling online events to drafting various kinds of documents to, yes, do some email marketing. Most of these are free; if you have the budget and require additional functionality, paid versions are also available.
Google’s email platform is called Gmail; globally, it is the single most popular method to send and receive messages. Most people keep it open in a browser tab. Aside from being easy to use, some of its features include a powerful spam filter, search capability, and AI support.
It’s not, unfortunately, specifically designed for mass email engagement. For example, while it allows for scheduled sending, it lacks tools like a bulk email verification ability which other alternatives have. Depending on your goals, though, it can still work well for you, especially if you can work around its limitations.
A key issue for many digital marketers is how many cold emails they can send per day. In theory, you’d want to go for the maximum possible. However, targeting too many recipients at once can affect email deliverability, not to mention causing your messages to end up in the spam folder!
To prevent irresponsible use of this service, Gmail allows free users to send up to 500 emails per day, rising to 2,000 for paying Workspace customers. Note that these figures are based on a rolling 24-hour period, not a calendar day. They may also change at any time, and of course include other email tasks like sending your newsletter to subscribers. Certain additional limits are also in place:
Anyone planning an email campaign needs to keep these limits in mind, and perhaps schedule recipients in small batches so it adheres to Gmail's sending limits. Gmail allows for segmentation of contact lists to make this easier.
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The first thing you need to start reaching out to potential customers, of course, is a list of relevant email addresses, either one you’ve built yourself or gotten from a paid service. The second is the know-how to streamline the task so you don’t have to send each email by hand.
This is what this article will provide you with. As you gain more experience, you can also look for additional shortcuts. For example, Gmail, via Google’s Chrome browser, integrates with third-party extensions or tools like Gmass.
As we mentioned, every bulk email campaign starts with a list of addresses. Now, in a B2B environment, your contact list will ideally be categorized by industry, job title, and other variables. If you’re dealing primarily with non-company clients, though, you may want to target an existing online community through Google Groups. Alternatively, you can create your own and email everyone on it at the touch of a button.
Step 1: Sign in to Google Groups.
Step 2: Click the “Create Group” icon at the top left corner.
Step 3: Assign an email address to the group and check that all settings are correct.
Step 4: Enter the addresses of everyone you want in the group. You can also assign different permissions to each – a handy trick if you want to start a discussion between members.
Step 5: After waiting half an hour to ensure the group is up and running, send a “Welcome everyone!” message to let them know they’re now part of your team.
Naturally, people will leave the group if they’re bombarded by advertisements that aren’t useful to them. Use your common sense, be polite, and avoid spamming the group with bulk emails.
Aside from that, the steps to emailing the entire group should be familiar to you:
Let’s say you just bought an email list that dovetails perfectly with the characteristics of your group. The good news is there’s no size restriction on Google Groups; you can invite all of them using the following steps or this guide:
With so many websites where you can buy email leads around, there’s a temptation for digital marketing novices to simply jump in and start launching bulk email campaigns. This, however, would be a mistake.
Instead, you need to have a strategy that balances volume (the number of emails sent) with quality (the response/conversion rate). The very people you’re trying to connect with probably receive dozens if not hundreds of messages where they don’t recognize the signature at the bottom, so it’s hard to even get them to open yours.
Professional email marketing services generally abide by the following guidelines to avoid triggering spam filters:
This is the first hurdle mass emails have to overcome. Try to:
Few if any lead-generation tools can tell you whether a given recipient tends to check email on a desktop or their phone. So, make sure that either device maintains the original formatting of the message. You have several options to improve results in this respect:
Strange as it may seem, the time of day an email is received strongly correlates to its open rate. While different research studies provide different recommendations, it’s generally best to send them during normal office hours.
Gmail maintains a history of sent emails and provides delivery reports or analytics that indicate when exactly your bulk email campaigns bear the most fruit, allowing you to refine your approach over time. If your B2B lead database covers several time zones, you can use an Excel spreadsheet, CSV file, or Google Drive document to track these and segment recipients by region. Simply add an extra column for their time zone.
If you follow best practices such as those outlined in this article, your problems should be few. However, should something go wrong and a few snags pop up, here’s what to do:
Large, free email lists may seem like a windfall to the aspiring digital marketer. Chances are, though, that some contact information may be outdated or just plain wrong. If so, sending to that address will result in a “hard” bounce – the address doesn’t exist and should be removed from your database.
A “soft” bounce indicates that some messages can reach the recipient, but the process is failing right now (i.e. their inbox is full). Alternatively, the receiving mail server may have rejected your message for some reason. If so, reducing the size of the email by removing attachments may make it go through.
A high bounce rate is not only frustrating and time-consuming to senders, it actively harms your current and future email marketing campaigns. This is one reason to use a reliable lead generation service like BookYourData, which boasts a guaranteed 97%+ accuracy rate.
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While Gmail can be useful for email campaigns and, for instance, supports personalized email templates, it’s not really intended to be used as a mass mailing tool. To combat spam coming from their addresses, Gmail may warn you if you’re sending a suspicious amount of emails or getting a large number of them reported as spam.
If Gmail complains about suspicious activity associated with your account (sometimes for reasons best known to themselves), you’ll have to verify your identity and that your account hasn’t been hacked. Afterward, you should ensure that you’re sticking to the advice presented in this article, particularly that about sending limits and avoiding spam filters.
Any business has a responsibility to treat their customers’ personal information appropriately. This also applies to ensuring recipient list confidentiality. Specifically, you don’t want to give everyone who subscribes to your newsletters access to the email addresses of every other member.
Fortunately, the solution is straightforward. A smart email marketer simply utilizes the BCC field for privacy.
BCC stands for “Blind Carbon Copy”; though any recipient entered in this box receives the email normally, they cannot see other recipients’ details. You’ll find the BCC box underneath the “To:” field when you compose a message in Gmail. Simply enter a group or individual’s address here instead of elsewhere.
There is one main concern with this method in Gmail as opposed to dedicated mass mailing platforms, though: messages directed at a large number of BCC recipients are more likely to be flagged as spam. To avoid this, stick to our guidelines like not using spam-like words in the subject line, using external links instead of attachments, and so on.
The biggest plus of using Gmail as a tool to reach your mailing list is undoubtedly that it doesn’t cost you a cent. It also has a very intuitive email builder. Unfortunately, at any kind of scale or for larger companies, it becomes somewhat cumbersome to use.
Google Workspace accounts’ sending limits present an obvious burden, as does dealing with Gmail’s suspicious activity detectors. A dedicated email marketing tool facilitates follow-up reminders, prepares more actionable analytics reports, and, when composing an email, ensures responsive design for mobile viewing. Moreover, it works well with third-party lead generation services, automating the business of entering new contacts rather than having to punch them into Google Groups.
Especially if you already have the information of a large number of sales leads in your Google contacts, sending bulk emails enables you to reach many people and make more sales at once with limited effort.
You can reduce the chance of your messages landing in spam folders if you stick to Gmail’s sending limits, don’t include unnecessary attachments or large images, and make sure to comply with spam legislation in your recipients’ countries.
Simply place the recipients’ addresses in the BCC field instead of the “To:” or CC boxes. All of these can be found below the subject line.
Smaller businesses can dip a toe into the world of email marketing using Gmail. As long as you follow certain guidelines, you can reach thousands of potential customers this way.
However, as a mass mailing platform, Gmail does have some shortcomings. Better audience segmentation, seamless mail merge, intuitive reporting, and easier management of contact lists become possible with specialized software.
Although Gmail is a great, affordable option for sending mass emails, it does have its limitations. B2B prospecting tools, for instance, Bookyourdata, are an excellent alternative as a B2B contact list-builder, for those who want to ensure data accuracy(with a 97% guarantee) and improve their conversion rates and quick ROI.
If you’re ready to level up your B2B prospecting for mass emailing, you can sign up for BookYourData with 10 free credits to achieve your business goals.
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