Gmail for Business, Google Workspace, is the most fundamental tool in business communication.
Formerly known as G Suite, Google has now rebranded it as Gmail for Business in Google Workspace (Google Apps).
There are many email providers for business communication. One of the reasons that Google is a powerhouse in this area is that they’ve stayed hungry and innovative. Google continually updates and enhances G Suite feature set, which is great news for the businesses that rely on it to garner more email opens to their prospects’ inbox.
Gmail for Business: Why Google Workspace is a necessity for Email Marketing?
Email has been called the “holy grail” of marketing outreach tactics, since it’s quick, easy, affordable, and when done right, simply the most effective form of business acquisition. Given it’s low cost, one would argue it also lends the best ROI compared to all other means of acquiring business.
According to an Email Marketing & Marketing Automation Excellence Report about the benefits of email marketing, companies surveyed provided a long list of reasons this business communication tactic is important to them. Mentioned most frequently are:
- Generating more leads (23% of respondents)
- Increased sales (19%)
- Increased conversion rates (17%)
- Reduced marketing costs (13%)
- Higher-quality leads (12%)
These advantages result in a return on investment (ROI) that can be as high as 4,400%. Yes, you read that right! That’s $44 for every dollar spent on an email marketing campaign.
4 Simple Reasons to Switch to Third-Party Email Hosting
While very few companies now still manage their email on their own server, increasingly, organizations are relying on third party email providers like Google and Microsoft to host their email. There are many reasons for this trend, including these four:
1 Up time
Stability of Email Communication. Big providers like Google, Microsoft and have real-world financial incentives (from keeping their big corporate clients happy to ensuring their share price doesn’t take a nose dive) to keep you online.
2 Spam (Incoming)
Google Mail, or rather, Gmail or Gmail for Business, is famous for its spam filter. Coordinating spam reports from hundreds of thousands of users allows large email providers such as Google and Microsoft to provide more intelligent filtering.
3 Spam (Outgoing)
By placing your email server on a shared server you risk ending up on a spam blacklist. If another user on that server does something to get blacklisted, your email, which shares the same outgoing server information, might go straight into your clients spam folder. Free email accounts tend to get caught in spam folders. This is one of the main reasons to go with a paid subscription with an email service provider.
4 User Experience
Most web hosts such as Bluehost or GoDaddy may still use the same package of web email clients such as Horde, Squirrelmail or Roundcube. None of these free email clients offer a good user experience. SiteGround, a web hosting company endorsed by WordPress, used to offer free email accounts managed by web email clients such as Squirrelmail, however, recently, it is recommending a Gmail for Business account with Google Workspace.
In short, as technical experts like to say, a service like Gmail for business “just works.” You don’t have to do much of anything to have your email work properly. In addition, group email accounts such as “info@” or “support@” are free. Only individual accounts are charged per user per month.
Understanding GDPR and CCPA
If your company does email marketing, it’s important that you understand the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Passed by the European Union (EU) in 2018, the 88-page regulation is the toughest privacy and security law in the world. It imposes significant fines (tens of millions of euros) on companies that violate it.
This new standard has been adopted by all the leading companies that offer email services, and you may see reference to “GDPR-compliant” in their marketing materials. To comply with the regulation, companies need to do things like sending an email to someone who has signed up to receive emails in order to confirm that the request is legitimate, provide a way to unsubscribe from email lists, etc.
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a modified version of GDPR that is similarly designed to help protect consumer data. Enacted in 2018, it requires companies to allow consumers to opt-out of mailings, get details on the data that the organization has about them, have their data deleted, and so forth. A benefit of the Google Workspace Admin Console is that it provides an easy way to access, export, and/or delete user data as needed.
Tips for Improving Your Email Conversion Rate
Email is, in general, a very effective way to connect with customers and prospective customers. However, there are tactics you can use to improve the “conversion rate” in your emails—meaning that recipients take the desired action. These tactics include:
- Personalizing your Email using smart code such as addressing the prospect by first name
- Creating animations (in the form of animated gifs)
- Using form fields to craft targeted personalized custom emails
- Developing one or maximum of two, eye-catching graphics
The Power of Gmail for Business and Google Workspace
Engineered by Google, Google Workspace makes working together a whole lot easier! With shared calendars and automatic email invites, teams can now schedule meetings with individuals or groups more efficiently. Even turn your scheduled call or connection into a video conference with a simple click of a button. Video meetings work well with any device with a camera and an integrated audio device.
Some of the main benefits to Google Workspace are:
Collaboration in Real Time
- Easily edit and share work on documents, spreadsheets, and slides across your devices, with or without internet. Here at AZENCE, we love Google Slides!
- Work in a single document with teammates or people outside your company. See edits as others type, communicate through built-in chat, and ask questions in comments.
- Multiple people can work at the same time, and every change is saved automatically and tracked.
Store and Share to the Cloud
- Keep all your work in one place in the cloud with secure access from any device such as your desktop, tablet or cell.
- Quickly invite others to view, download, and collaborate on any file – no email attachment needed, just a link.
- File updates are automatically saved and stored in your Google Drive, so everyone can always have access to the latest version.
Secure Data and Devices
- 2-step verification: Protect your company’s data with security options like 2-step verification and single-sign-on, and use endpoint management to keep your data safe in the case of a lost device or employee turnover.
- Archive email messages and chats, and control how long they are retained.
- Configure security settings from a centralized admin console
Google Workspace also provides many other helpful apps, including Google Calendar, Google Keep (for creating and sharing notes), and Google Meet (video conferencing), to name just a few.
Leveraging GMail in Google Workspace to Power Your Business
Whether you capitalize on all the benefits to Gmail for Business in your email marketing right from the start, or implement a few core tools initially and expand from there, Google Workspace offers something for every business. And because Google has such a wide range of technology initiatives to pull from, you can expect that Gmail for Business will continue to evolve and grow to help your sales and marketing team be even more effective in email marketing efforts.
At AZENCE, at times, as part our service for designing new websites, or upgrading our client’s email services, we may go into Google Workspace and set up Gmail for Business email accounts for our clients. It is however, fairly easy to set up and we encourage clients to manage their Google Workspace accounts themselves as having us do it will require them to give us their Google Workspace admin console access.
