Effective Gmail Ad Specs to Promote Your Product or Service

You may have seen those mail ads at the top of your Gmail inbox tabs. Called Gmail Ads (or previously, Google Sponsored Promotions), some of these ads can be expanded into full-screen promotions that look like actual emails. A clicked Gmail Ad may expand into an email-sized ad with embedded images and videos. This format allows advertisers to achieve various objectives in Gmail.

How Gmail Ads Work

Gmail has over 1.2 billion active users per month, and Google’s ad targeting algorithm uses data collected on customers from YouTube, Chrome, and other services that the company provides.

This data then allows advertisers to find prospective customers by focusing on their behavior, interests, and intents or remarket to an existing or similar audience. Given the number of active Gmail users, the possibilities for advertisers with Gmail Ads are limitless.

Gmail Ad Specifications

When creating Gmail Ads, keep in mind the following specifications:

For Collapsed Ad logo(upload):

• Minimum size should be 144px x 144px, and maximum size: 150KB by having aspect ratio 1:1

For Expanded Ad logo(upload):

• Image size should be [300px to 650px] x [300px to 1000px]
• Image format should be JPEG, JPG, PNG and GIF should be non-animated.
• Image size should not exceed 1MB

          If you create new Gmail Ad:

• • Logo image size should Square: 1200×1200 (minimum size required: 144×144). Aspect ratio must be 1:1.
  • Logo maximum file size: 150KB (1MB for header image and marketing image)

          Marketing Image:

• • Landscape (1.91:1): 1200×628 (minimum size required: 600×314).
  • Square: 1200×1200 (minimum size required: 300×300).
  • Header Image (optional): 1200×400 (minimum size required: 600×200).

other sprcifications are:

• Business name of up to 20 characters, must be the recognized name of the advertiser
• For click-to-download Gmail Ads, the sender’s name must be the recognized name of the advertiser or the promoted downloadable app
• A headline limit of up to 25 characters
• Description of up to 90 characters and can include a summary or powerful call-to-action
• Display URL of up to 255 characters

The final or destination URL has no character limit, and it will be shown when the display URL or call-to-action button is clicked in the expanded ad. You can add a static click-tracking URL but not dynamic tracking URLs or impression tracking pixels.

5 Reasons Why You Should Use Gmail Ads

What makes advertising with Google a no-brainer among advertising professionals is the platform’s ability to pinpoint people with high purchase intent.

Typically, these are people using more specific, long-tail keywords on Google Search to hone in on precision solutions in the market. If you can provide on-spot deals to these types of users, you’re more likely to win conversions using Gmail Ads.

Pro tip: If your campaign’s goal is to direct traffic to your website and generate leads instead of creating brand awareness, consider using Gmail Ads.

1. Gmail’s Popularity, Especially on Mobile

Globally, there are over one billion Gmail users. This only means that your prospects, wherever they are in the world, are likely also active on Gmail.

Furthermore, mobile usage is steadily on the rise, and a study by Litmus Email Analytics shows that nearly half of emails are opened on smartphones and tablets.

2. High Viewability Levels

If appropriately implemented, the branding impact you can achieve from Gmail ads can be huge.

This is how Google Ads campaigns run on Gmail:

• Targeted users see the “collapsed ad” in their inbox.
• Once they click on it, the “expanded” version of the ad shows up. Users who find the message compelling may then click on the ad’s accompanying link and land on your website.

The ROAS (return on ad spending) on Gmail Ads is exceptionally high because only the most relevant users would click on collapsed ads to find out more.

3. Numerous Creative Options

Gmail Ads presents advertisers with several interesting creative options, not just standard single ad images. Depending on your goals and activities, you can use any of the following formats:

• Single promotion template
• Multi-product template
• Standard image
• Catalog template

Catalog templates work well for many different types of advertisers. If the existing formats and templates don’t serve you well, you can use custom HTML.

4. Good Return on Investment (ROI)

Email open rates generally hover around 5-10%. Research shows that some advertisers almost tripled their click-through rates when using email advertising alongside search network ads.

Not only that. They also saw a dramatic increase in conversions.

Gmail Ads are a tested and straightforward way to get your emails in front of your target audience. While the service is not free, if done right, advertising on Gmail can be reasonably cost-effective.

5. Impressive Lead Generation Rates

As a pay-per-click (PPC) strategy, Gmail Ads can generate high-quality leads for your website. While your ads can only be shown to potential customers within the Gmail network, clicks coming from Gmail Ads are highly likely to convert. This lowers your ad spend because irrelevant clicks on ads are filtered.

How to Set Up Gmail Ads in the Google Ads Interface

Here’s how to get started with Gmail Ads:

1. Launch your Google Ads dashboard.
2. On the left-hand panel, click “Campaigns.”
3. Create a new campaign by clicking the “+” button.
4. Choose a goal: sales, leads, or website traffic.
5. When done, click “Display.”
6. For the campaign subtype, choose “Gmail Campaign.”
7. You’re now all set to create your Gmail Ads campaign.

How Targeting Works

With Gmail Ads, you’re free to use the display targeting options you’re already familiar with—like audience keywords, in-market audiences, affinity audiences, and demographics.

Here are the different ways you can reach specific audiences with Gmail Ads:

• Affinity audiences: Choose from these audiences to expose your brand’s value and messaging to potential customers. For instance, a sports apparel retailer can select relevant topics such as “sporting goods” and “fitness” or reach people in the “Health & Fitness Enthusiasts” or “Running Buffs” affinity audiences.
• Audience keywords: Enter the keywords or phrases that best describe your products or services, so your ads are shown to Gmail users who are most interested in them.
• Automated targeting: Automatic targeting allows you to reach your intended audience at a relatively lower cost.
• Target by intent: What differentiates Google from other ad platforms is its ability to foresee how likely a person is to purchase a product or service. With Gmail Ads, you’re far more likely to reach your target customers.
• Customer match: With customer match, you can show ads to customers based on the data about those customers that you share with Google.
• Demographics: Through the Display Network, you can reach people who belong to specific demographic categories, e.g. age range, gender, or household income.
• In-market audiences: Use these audiences to find customers who are researching and actively considering purchasing a product or service similar to what you offer.
• Life events: Gmail Ads’ powerful targeting lets you reach customers during the critical moments of their lives, such as marriage, college graduation, or cultural occasions.
• Remarketing: Re-engage people who have already interacted with your company’s products and services. These people will include previous site visitors, mobile app users, those who’ve seen your videos, or even those in your lists. If you already have a customer list, Google can help you reach audiences similar to your list. This strategy is commonly called “similar audiences,” which is a particularly useful lead generation technique for businesses with a high-converting customer base.

5 Tips for Optimizing Gmail Ads

1. There are three Gmail metrics in Google Ads: Gmail Forwards, Gmail Saves, and Gmail Clicks to Website. Make sure to run your ad copies for about three months, so you have enough data to analyze. If this is not possible because you can’t wait that long, select the “optimize” ad rotation method and Google will do it for you.
2. The best way to measure ad performance is through the ‘Gmail Clicks to Website’ It counts each click, meaning each time a Gmail ad opens, including those ads the user didn’t click through to your website.
3. For the best results, instead of just one, use multiple videos or images and test how they perform against each other to target different customers to your ads.
4. A Gmail Ads Quality Score exists, but it won’t be displayed. Take note though that your email click-through rates indicate your ads’ Quality Score.
5. Don’t become too reliant on bidding options and automated targeting to check and keep track of the performance of your ads.

Use Gmail Ads to Your Advantage and Exponentially Expand Your Reach

Gmail Ads are not for everyone, but if you set them up correctly, they have the potential to boost your business ROAS in a big way. Compared with other ad forms and placements, they’re less competitive and provide a solid way to build awareness for your brand within a potential customer’s personal space—the inbox.

When paired with other ad campaigns, such as Search Ads, Gmail Ads are an effective way to improve lead generation and increase customer engagement with your products or services.