Should I avoid emailing Gmail users based on growth hack advice?

Summary

The overwhelming consensus from experts, marketers, and technical documentation is that avoiding emailing Gmail users based on 'growth hack' advice is a flawed and ineffective strategy. Instead, focusing on fundamental email deliverability best practices, such as email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), maintaining a clean and engaged email list, creating valuable and relevant content, segmenting your audience, building a positive sender reputation, and adhering to platform-specific guidelines (e.g., Gmail's sender guidelines) is crucial for email marketing success across all email providers. Such measures ensure improved deliverability, avoid spam filters, and foster stronger relationships with subscribers.

Key findings

  • Growth Hack Debunked: The 'growth hack' advice to avoid emailing Gmail users is widely discredited as a poor and unsustainable strategy.
  • Deliverability Paramount: Prioritizing deliverability best practices is essential for reaching your intended audience, including Gmail users.
  • Audience Engagement is Key: Relevant and engaging content drives better deliverability and improves the overall customer experience.
  • Authentication is Crucial: Implementing email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is vital for proving legitimacy and building trust with email providers.
  • Segmentation Drives Results: Audience segmentation and tailored messaging help improve subscriber engagement and overall deliverability.
  • Reputation Management: Building and maintaining a strong sender reputation is crucial for avoiding spam filters and ensuring emails reach the inbox.
  • Audience Size: Gmail represents a large percentage of the audience and should not be ignored.

Key considerations

  • Best Practices Adherence: Strictly adhere to email deliverability best practices to ensure your messages reach the inbox.
  • Continuous Monitoring: Continuously monitor and adapt your email practices to address the evolving standards and algorithms of email providers.
  • List Management: Maintain a clean and engaged email list by regularly removing inactive or unengaged subscribers.
  • Content Strategy: Develop a content strategy that provides value and relevance to your subscribers.
  • Staying Informed: Stay informed about industry best practices, platform-specific guidelines, and emerging threats.
  • Audience Demographics: You should be aware of audience demographics when sending emails.

What email marketers say
9Marketer opinions

The consensus among email marketing experts is that avoiding Gmail users based on 'growth hack' advice is not a sound strategy. Instead, focusing on deliverability best practices, building a clean email list, authenticating emails, creating engaging and valuable content, segmenting your audience, and maintaining a positive sender reputation are crucial for email marketing success across all email providers, including Gmail.

Key opinions

  • Deliverability Focus: Prioritize fundamental email deliverability best practices over platform-specific avoidance strategies.
  • Audience Engagement: Engaging content, tailored segmentation, and email list hygiene are more effective than avoiding Gmail users.
  • Sender Reputation: Maintaining a positive sender reputation is critical for reaching Gmail inboxes and improving overall deliverability.
  • Generational Factors: Consider generational and demographic factors. A large amount of the younger generation use Gmail, it is important to still email these users.

Key considerations

  • List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive or unengaged subscribers to improve sender reputation.
  • Email Authentication: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to authenticate your emails and establish trust with email providers.
  • Content Relevance: Create valuable, engaging, and personalized content that caters to the interests and needs of your subscribers.
  • Segmentation Strategy: Segment your audience based on demographics and interests so you can further engage your audience.
  • Growth Hacking Credibility: Be mindful of what sources you take your advice from. Growth hacking advice can often be misleading or even incorrect. Not all growth hacking advice should be taken seriously.
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that the advice might be saying that Gmail's algorithms are sensitive to mailers who send too much mail, so you should only send to Gmail when it makes sense. Assumes Gmail users are 'knowledge workers'.

May 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that avoid generalized "growth hack" advice. Instead, segment your email list and tailor your messages to specific groups of subscribers based on their interests and behavior. User42 mentions that relevant and personalized emails are more likely to be well-received, regardless of the email provider.

July 2024 - Email Marketing Forum
Marketer view

Email marketer from HubSpot Blog advises against avoiding sending emails to certain email addresses. It's mentioned that focusing on best practices that are used by deliverability experts is more important than avoiding certain email addresses. Building your sender reputation should be the key focus.

January 2024 - HubSpot Blog
Marketer view

Email marketer from G2 responds that instead of avoiding Gmail addresses, focus on creating content that subscribers find valuable and engaging. Focus on creating emails that people actually want to read. Focus on providing value in the form of tutorials, tips, and resources, rather than solely promotional messages.

October 2022 - G2
Marketer view

Email marketer from Neil Patel's Blog explains that focusing on deliverability best practices is essential regardless of whether the email recipient uses Gmail or another provider. Avoiding Gmail users is not a sustainable growth strategy. Prioritize building a clean email list, using authentication protocols, and creating engaging content.

August 2024 - Neil Patel's Blog
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks shares that most of his friends and colleagues use Gmail across various industries and that it is more of an under-40 demographic thing, refuting the idea that Gmail is solely for knowledge workers.

January 2022 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit responds that instead of avoiding Gmail users, focus on cleaning your email list regularly to remove inactive or unengaged subscribers. u/EmailExpert123 mentions that a high-quality list with engaged subscribers will improve your sender reputation and deliverability rates across all email providers.

April 2023 - Reddit
Marketer view

Email marketer from Litmus responds with importance of building and protecting your sender reputation. Consistently sending high-quality emails to engaged subscribers is more effective than attempting to game the system by avoiding certain email providers. Litmus continues with that focus on deliverability is vital for email marketing success.

May 2023 - Litmus
Marketer view

Email marketer from Sendinblue Blog responds that focusing on creating valuable and engaging content for your subscribers is more effective than avoiding Gmail users. Sendinblue mentions that segmenting your audience and tailoring your messages can improve engagement and sender reputation, regardless of the email provider.

June 2024 - Sendinblue Blog

What the experts say
4Expert opinions

Experts overwhelmingly advise against avoiding Gmail users based on so-called 'growth hack' advice. The prevailing opinion is that deliverability best practices and sender reputation are paramount for reaching Gmail users and that avoiding a large segment of your audience (Gmail users) is not a viable strategy. Moreover, some experts suggest such advice is disconnected from reality and potentially misleading.

Key opinions

  • Gmail Audience Size: Gmail often comprises a significant portion of an email list, making avoidance a detrimental approach to growth.
  • Sender Reputation Matters: A positive sender reputation is crucial for deliverability to Gmail users and should be prioritized.
  • Deliverability Best Practices: Adhering to deliverability best practices is essential for reaching Gmail users and ensuring your emails land in their inboxes.
  • Questionable Advice: Growth hack advice may lack a connection with reality or be driven by ulterior motives, warranting careful scrutiny.

Key considerations

  • Audience Location: Email where your audience is, and for many, this is primarily Gmail.
  • Sender Reputation Building: Focus on building and maintaining a positive sender reputation through consistent and ethical emailing practices.
  • Staying Updated: Be aware that Gmail's deliverability practices are constantly changing, so staying up-to-date on best practices is crucial.
  • Critical Evaluation: Critically evaluate 'growth hack' advice, considering its source and potential impact on your overall email strategy.
Expert view

Expert from Spamresource explains that deliverability best practices are key when emailing Gmail users, noting that these change regularly. Sticking to email best practices will help you reach your intended audience.

July 2021 - Spamresource
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks states the growth hacker is pulling stuff out of his, you should email where your audience is. Shares their top 10 domains (active audience, rolling six months) noting that Gmail makes up 58% of the audience and that mailing less to Gmail impacts growth.

February 2023 - Email Geeks
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that building and maintaining a positive sender reputation is crucial for reaching Gmail users. Avoidance isn't a strategy; focus on sending wanted mail to engaged recipients and following best practices. Ignoring your sender reputation will hurt deliverability regardless of the email provider.

January 2022 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks explains that the growth marketer is implying that only abnormal people use Gmail and that those in the 40-55 demographic use AOL. He also says growth marketers pitch snake oil to failing marketers, so connection with reality is optional.

December 2022 - Email Geeks

What the documentation says
5Technical articles

Technical documentation from Google, RFC, Mailchimp, Microsoft, and SparkPost underscores the importance of adhering to email authentication standards (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and following platform-specific sender guidelines to ensure positive user experiences and improved deliverability. Spam prevention and sender reputation are central themes, with the consistent message that following best practices is crucial for reaching inboxes and avoiding spam folders across various email providers, not just Gmail. Suppression lists and audience segmentation are also important.

Key findings

  • Email Authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are essential for email authentication and improving deliverability across platforms.
  • Sender Guidelines: Adhering to sender guidelines provided by email providers like Google and Microsoft is crucial for maintaining a good sender reputation.
  • Spam Prevention: Email authentication and platform guidelines primarily aim to prevent spam and abuse, protecting users from malicious content.
  • Multi-Faceted Approach: Improved email deliverability requires many approaches, and suppression lists and target audience segmentation are helpful.

Key considerations

  • DMARC Implementation: Implement DMARC to protect your domain from email spoofing and phishing attacks.
  • Staying Updated: Keep abreast of platform-specific sender guidelines and adapt your email practices accordingly.
  • Junk Reporting Programs: Utilize Junk Email Reporting Programs (JMRP) and Complaint Feedback Loops (CFL) offered by providers like Microsoft.
  • Suppression Lists: Actively use suppression lists to ensure emails are not sent to emails that are known to be invalid.
Technical article

Documentation from Google Support explains that Gmail has specific sender guidelines to ensure a positive user experience. Focus on adhering to Google's best practices, such as authenticating your emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and providing easy unsubscribe options, to maintain a good sender reputation with Gmail users.

December 2024 - Google Support
Technical article

Documentation from SparkPost states that improving email deliverability requires a multi-faceted approach. Using suppression lists, where emails that are known to not work are actively removed, is an effective solution. Authenticating emails and segmenting target audience are also helpful for improving deliverability.

February 2025 - SparkPost
Technical article

Documentation from RFC explains the technical specifications of DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance), an email authentication protocol. Implementing DMARC helps protect your domain from email spoofing and phishing attacks, improving deliverability to Gmail users and other email providers. DMARC builds on SPF and DKIM.

May 2021 - RFC
Technical article

Documentation from Mailchimp Knowledge Base explains the importance of email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) for improving email deliverability. Properly authenticating your emails helps establish trust with email providers like Gmail, reducing the likelihood of your messages being marked as spam or blocked.

February 2025 - Mailchimp Knowledge Base
Technical article

Documentation from Microsoft Support explains that Outlook has sender guidelines to prevent spam and abuse. Following Microsoft's recommendations, such as using the Junk Email Reporting Program (JMRP) and Complaint Feedback Loop (CFL), can help improve your deliverability to Outlook users.

October 2023 - Microsoft Support