In recent years, Gmail’s popularity has started declining. In 2021, Google dominated the Email Client Market Share with over 35.2% market share, but in 2022, they had a market share of 27.9%. Google’s 7.3% market share may seem like something other than something that Google should worry about at first glance. But when you consider that there are over 4.26 billion email users worldwide, this means that Google either lost 306 million Gmail users or that new users making their emails are choosing other email clients over Google. Initially, Gmail was one of the best email clients, and it still is one of the best email clients for regular users, whereas email clients like Yahoo and Hotmail could be better for users during the initial days.
Gmail’s market share has been declining in recent years, and some of this is due to the competition from other email clients like Outlook, Yahoo Mail, Apple Mail, and other clients that offer a variety of features that Gmail doesn’t. Also, the rise of mobile devices means that more people are using mobile, which means Gmail’s mobile app isn’t as good as some of the competition, such as the Outlook app. Additionally, the changing nature of emails means that email isn’t the primary way for people to communicate, as they often prefer social media, instant messaging, and other communication forums. Google might already be working on this to address these issues, and they have added functionality like Tracking Delivery and are also working on improving their app.
Why GMail is so popular Google Emai
The email client was first launched on April Fool’s Day in 2004. It offered 1GB of storage, a lot compared to Yahoo and Hotmail’s 2MB and 5MB, respectively. This made Google more appealing to users. In April 2005, Google doubled the storage from 1GB to 2GB, and again in October 2007, Gmail increased the storage from 2GB to 4 GB. Google was a pioneer in many ways when it was first launched, as it offered a lot of storage, a great filter, and powerful search. It was also one of the first email clients to provide a web-based interface, which made it easier for anyone to use from any computer.
This is why Gmail became one of the most popular email clients in the first place. Email archives only take 2 to 5MB, while other email clients are mostly used for storing files and photos that are usable with Google services. Not only that, but Google also designed the best spam filter, best UI, convenient grouping, and the ability to search email. Other email clients didn’t support functionality like search at that time. Google made Gmail publicly available for everyone in 2007; before that, it was invite-only. Gmail’s market share continued to grow after that. Google also started onboarding schools and institutions, where they started offering custom domain names, zero scheduled downtime, 30GB or unlimited storage options, customer support, and more.
Google Ecosystem
Since Google started merging all their platforms where it requires a Google account, some Google services work without a Google account, but they work better with one. In recent years, Google has been merging increasingly into Google services, making it easier for users to use them with a Google account. For example, you can use Google Maps without a Google account, but you won’t be able to save locations or create custom maps.
The reason why Users switch to other Email Clients
Google has become one of the most dominant email clients in the world, but now people are starting to switch to other clients. Initially, storage was the main reason why people chose Gmail over others, but now other email clients have not only caught up, but they are also starting to overtake Google. For example, Outlook offers 15GB of free email space and 5GB of storage for OneDrive. Check New Outlook with Support for Gmail account, here.
It is worth mentioning that Google has never been an ideal choice for professionals or students. You can leverage Microsoft Office less than it is superior. Especially after they offer free MS Office Online with much better offerings than Google. Meanwhile, businesses already have the Microsoft 365 subscription, and people have been choosing Outlook over Gmail for their use-case scenario. This is another reason why users switch their email clients, but there is still time to say whether Google will lose its dominance in the email market.
You may find that universities may praise Google, but most companies/businesses never did. In fact, 195,801 companies use Microsoft Outlook, whereas 4,369 companies use Gmail. Also, the mail privacy protection recently introduced by iPhones makes it hard for email marketers to track your activity. For companies that rely on data, it’s unsurprising that people also want to protect themselves from these, for which Outlook is a better option. Also, people use their pre-installed email app, like Apple Mail, to use their email service. This can even be seen as Apple has over 60% compared to 2021; they only have a 50% market share. In the same time frame, they gained over 9% growth.
Gmail is going to be around for a while, as you still require a Google account to use Google services since Android smartphones have been a dominant player. But people are starting to use other email services for emails more frequently. Some of the services have caught up in terms of features and have better integration with Microsoft Office. It’s also worth mentioning that people are now more aware of data privacy. Google collects a lot of data just from email.
