As someone who sends email newsletters for many projects, including to tens of thousands of UserVoice customers, I was as scared as anyone that the new Gmail tabs were going to hurt my open rates. I even sent a message to one of my lists encouraging them to set my newsletter to show up in their “Primary” tab.

As someone who enjoys innovation and largely appreciates Google’s work, I decided to give the tabs a try myself. As much as the email marketer in me hates to admit it, I like them. Instead of a huge pile of mail I see the important stuff first. If I’m feeling social I can scope out the social banter, and if I choose to I can scope out “Promotions”.

Here’s what I was surprised by: I’m actually checking “Promotions” pretty often.

Here’s why: these new tabs display an “x new” message when you get new messages.

This highly encourages you to scope out what’s going on in each tab. And because it’s not an aggregate (like the intimidating “15,000 Unread Emails” message), it never feels like a chore. Which means I’m scoping out “Promotions” regularly.

What I’m not doing is opening these promotions unless I think they’re worthwhile…which really isn’t any different than life before Gmail tabs.

Which, as many things do, brings me to community. If Gmail tabs aren’t really affecting my exposure to these promotional emails, then it boils down to the quality of these emails and my emotional connection to the sender. I usually open emails from concert promotion companies because I love live music and they provide a concise collection of shows for me. I will continue to open emails from Jason Calacanis and The LittleBigFund because they’ve established an emotional connection with me.

Once again and as always, community and emotional connection trump all. A slight speedbump isn’t going to get in the way of someone and the thing they love. But if they don’t love the thing you’re making, don’t be surprised if they disappear. And don’t blame it on Gmail.

Handshake photo courtesy of Aidan Jones.