Gmail Begins Testing Large, Expandable Shopping Ads via Promotions Tab: Report

Gmail could soon display large ecommerce ads on its mobile app for iOS and Android smartphones, according to a report. Google's email app already shows users ads on the Promotions tab, but a new visually enhanced ad format was recently spotted in testing. It lets advertisers place ecommerce ads for products along with their names and images. When users interact with these ads, they will expand to reveal additional details such as pricing, ratings, and even external links.

Gmail Might Be First of Google's Apps to Support Native Ecommerce Ads

Details of the new Gmail ad format were shared by Thomas Eccel, JvM Impact's head of Google Ads, via a post on LinkedIn. A screen recording shows an interactive ad on the Promotions tab in the Gmail app for smartphones. It is displayed after a couple of emails, and there's a rectangular border with rounded corners that indicates the presence of an ad in the list.

While it looks like a regular image advertisement delivered via a Google Ads Demand Gen (or PMax) campaign, Eccel says that users can interact with the ad to see a "shopping listing" that can show two or more products. This expanded view also shows more information such as prices, ratings, and discounts for each product.

Advertisers can also add a call to action (CTA) button that prompts users to make a purchase or browse for similar products on a different site or app, according to the screen recording shared by the user. The listing is also said to rely on product feeds, that could be sourced from the Google Merchant Center.

A sample video posted by the user on LinkedIn shows the new ecommerce-style ad for products, with two swimming pool cleaning devices. The ad initially shows the name of one product, an image, and pricing. Expanding it displays the link provided by the advertiser and two product listings, along with a button that links to the store.

Google has yet to update its documentation to include details of the new ads format, but it appears to already be in testing. If the company decides to bring the same ad feature to its other apps, we could see the same interactive ads with carousels on other apps like YouTube, Google Maps, and even the Google Discover feed.