The Power of GMass and Why It Shouldn't Exist

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There are many email marketing tools out there in the world. Some of them are well crafted and have particular restrictions that ensure spamming doesn't happen. Others, like GMass, have very few rules and are a haven for grey-hat marketers who want to email a million people every second of the day.

So what exactly is GMass, and why is it such an issue? At its core, GMass allows a user to send a mass email campaign through a Gmail address. You can import Google Sheets with email addresses, which will populate the "send" bar and allow you to send your message. You can schedule posts, suppress certain groups, and add tracking options.

At its most basic concept, GMass isn't evil, but when gripped by the hands of a money-hungry marketer, it is pure spam. Unlike programs such as Autopilot, there are no restrictions on emails that you make. For example, you don't have to put an unsubscribe option, nor do you have to put any privacy information. You can mass-email people daily. While there are some limits (roughly 2000 a day), these limits will temporarily hold your campaigns until they are ready to go out again.

There is also the issue of running mass email campaigns through Gmail. Gmail is well known for being a private email area rather than a business-oriented place. If all of your emails are business emails, that is great. Still, many individuals are taking advantage of the situation by flooding personal emails with business-oriented offers, which is the definition of spam. Also, when you upload the spreadsheet of emails, there is absolutely nothing on the program asking about how these emails were acquired. Of course, if a marketer illegally obtained email addresses, a simple message doesn't stop them from doing it, but it feels like GMass understands its sketchy target audience and goes with it.

Why is GMass such an issue for society today? Users use the tool to contribute to the spam world we live in. Whether it is Gmail's fault, most emails sent through GMass are rarely blocked or bounced. They are going into inboxes and making people wonder how their email was given out.

As a company, marketers should first question their email lists and whether they were appropriately obtained and, second, whether mass emailing individuals through a company that doesn't care about privacy is a good look. Again, there are email marketing programs that at least question the shady marketer, so why not try one of those?

What do you think? Have you ever used GMass?