科技前沿:Gmail新功能令零售商不安|云开·全站APPkaiyun

For some retailers that rely on emailed promotions, Google Inc. is adding insult to injury. 对一些倚赖电子邮件广告宣传的零售商来说，谷歌(Google Inc.)正在他们的伤口上撒盐。When the search giant overhauled its free email service three months ago, it set up algorithms to automatically siphon the flow of airfare offers and spa deals away from users main inboxes and into an easily bypassed Promotions folder. 三个月前这家搜索引擎巨头对其免费电子邮件服务进行改革时，该公司创建了一个功能，可以自动将获取优惠机票和水疗服务的邮件从用户主要缴件夹中挑出来，然后放在一个很更容易被忽视的“推展”文件夹中。But there is another wrinkle: For Gmail users that do visit those Promotions folders, the first items they see will often be ads sold by Google. 但还有另外的波折：那些会点进“推展”文件夹的用户看见的一般来说不会是由谷歌销售的广告。The ads are different from those that already appear inside users opened messages. Instead, they look like emails sitting in an inbox but are shaded yellow and feature informational i icons explaining their purpose. Marketers still complain that the ads threaten to draw attention away from the coupons and pitch emails they want their targets to read first. 这些广告不同于早已在用户关上的信息中经常出现的那些。

忽略，它们看起来看起来收件箱里的电子邮件，但以黄色阴影标示，并有“i”的小图标说明其用途。营销人员仍在责怪，这些广告有可能构成威胁，让用户仍然注目他们期望目标客户首先读者的优惠和促销邮件。People are not very amused by those, said Tom Monaghan, product manager for the email service at marketing service HubSpot Inc. 营销服务公司HubSpot Inc.的电子邮件服务产品经理莫内根(Tom Monaghan)说道，人们不过于讨厌这些东西。Google shows no more than two inbox ads per user, spokeswoman Andrea Freund said. Some users inboxes showed no ads after Google tightened its quality thresholds for targeting the messages. 谷歌发言人弗罗因德(Andrea Freund)说道，谷歌向每名用户展出的收件箱广告不多达两则。

在谷歌放宽信息定位的“质量门槛”之后，一些用户的收件箱没表明广告。Our goal was to put them someplace that was more relevant, and we thought that was the promotions tab, she said. When youre looking at promotions, youre looking for deals, she added. We do try to clearly label them as ads. 她说道：我们的目标是将这些广告放到更加涉及的地方，我们指出“推展”文件夹就是这样一个适合的地方。当你将目光放到推展上的时候，也就是在找寻交易。

我们显然企图确切地将它们标记为广告。If past software updates are any indication, Google will likely tread carefully as it introduces the new inbox ads, according to Ben Chestnut, chief executive of email marketing service MailChimp. Too many ads could alienate users, he said. 电子邮件营销服务MailChimp的首席执行长托斯特纳兹(Ben Chestnut)说道，参照以前的软件改版情况来看，谷歌发售新的收件箱广告时可能会小心行事。他说道，广告过于多有可能让用户不满。

The ads are compounding the concern over the changes to Gmail, which has more than 425 million active users and a significant chunk of the worlds free email accounts, according to market researcher comScore. Though Gmail users cant see the changes when accessing their messages on iPhones, Googles Web mail application is widely used on desktops. Ms. Freund said more than half of all users have the updated Gmail layout, which the company has been gradually rolling out since May. 这些广告激化了对于Gmail变化的忧虑。据市场研究机构comScore的数据，Gmail享有逾4.25亿活跃用户，在世界免费电子邮件账户中也占有了很大份额。虽然Gmail用户通过iPhone采访邮件时看到这些变化，但谷歌的网页版邮件应用于在台式电脑上应用于十分广泛。

弗罗因德说道，一半以上的用户升级了Gmail的版式，谷歌自5月以来仍然在逐步发售这种布局设计。Prolific emailers like Delta Air Lines Inc., Gap Inc., Gilt Groupe Inc. and Groupon Inc. have sent step-by-step instructions to their mailing lists on how to move messages out of the Promotions tab and back to Gmails Primary folder. 像达美航空公司(Delta Air Lines Inc.)、Gap Inc.、Gilt Groupe Inc.和Groupon Inc.等发送到较多电子邮件的企业向其寄送对象发送到了如何将信息从“推展”文件夹移回“主要”文件夹的详尽指导。Marketers fear the new system could spread and put an unwanted kink in a tried-and-true method of driving sales, not to mention business models that rely on emailed coupons. 市场营销人员担忧这个新的系统有可能对一个早已检验证明可信的营销方式产生和蔓延一种有利的影响，更加不用说依赖电子邮件优惠券的商业模式了。Google redesigned its service to help users manage email overload, Ms. Freund said. Users can reroute emails they want to land in their regular inbox with a simple drag-and-drop, or by going back to the old layout altogether. 弗罗因德说道，谷歌新的设计其电子邮件服务，目的协助用户管理过多的邮件。

用户只要通过非常简单的拖拽或者几乎返回原本的设计模式就可以让一些他们期望看见的邮件经常出现在他们常用的收件夹中。The shift appears to have made a noticeable but small impact on the rate at which recipients open marketers pitches. MailChimp last month found the percentage of emails that were opened by its 3 million customers fell by about 1 percentage point for Gmail, to between 12% and 13%. 这一转变或许对收件者关上营销人员发送到的电子邮件的比例产生了值得注意、但尚且较小的影响。MailChimp上个月找到，其300万个客户关上的Gmail邮件数量占到其发送到的Gmail邮件数量的比例上升了1个百分点，至12%-13%。Analysis from HubSpot showed the percentage of Gmail users who opened clients emails slid slightly over the summer, though activity spiked during the weekends. Open rates have declined at the same slow rate since April, suggesting user engagement is suffering from too many emails rather than Gmail. HubSpot的分析表明，夏季期间，关上其客户电子邮件的Gmail用户比例稍微上升，但周末期间则减少。

4月份以来这个比例仍然在以这样较慢的速度上升，解释这种情况是邮件过于多造成的，而不是Gmail调整造成的。Theres a little bit of Chicken Little happening right now over this, Mr. Monaghan said. 莫内根说道，目前再次发生的情况类似于电影《四眼天鸡》(Chicken Little)的情节，丢弃个果子就以为天要塌下来了。

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