In partnership with

Hi, {{first_name|friend}}. 👋

Welcome to Issue #223 of All About Email!

Last week, we discussed Google’s latest AI announcement for Gmail, the integration of Gemini, and where Gmail is going in 2026.

This week, it’s another announcement from Google and Gmail, this time, the ability to change email addresses.

Let’s go! 👇

Help us make better ads

Did you recently see an ad for beehiiv in a newsletter? We’re running a short brand lift survey to understand what’s actually breaking through (and what’s not).

It takes about 20 seconds, the questions are super easy, and your feedback directly helps us improve how we show up in the newsletters you read and love.

If you’ve got a few moments, we’d really appreciate your insight.

Take the survey.

Quick Note!

In last week’s newsletter, I included some expert thoughts from the email community on the changes Gemini is bringing to the Gmail inbox.

Since then, Natalia Zacholska-Majer has added her thoughts, along with a change in Google Postmaster Tools, both of which are well worth a read.

Google Allows You to change your Gmail address.

Rumours surfaced before the New Year that Google would allow users to change their email addresses, and 9to5Google published this article.

We’ve now had confirmation from both Google’s help docs (including instructions on how to do it) and a new 9to5Google article that this rumour is true.

🚨 Some things to note:

  • Once you change your address, you cannot create another new Gmail[dot]com address for that same account for 12 months.

  • You are prohibited from deleting the new email address during this initial 12-month period.

  • You can perform this action up to 3 times per account.

  • Your old address is converted into an alias, meaning it remains tied to your account. This prevents anyone else from claiming your old username (email address), and you will continue to receive emails sent to the old address in your new inbox.

💡 You might also have to update third-party services and reauthenticate some Google Services.

The change is gradual and slowly rolling out to all users, so you might not have this ability yet.

Al Iverson shared his initial thoughts on Spam Resource before Google confirmed the change, and it’s worth a read. I’m going to add my thoughts below, too. 👇

What could this change mean for Email Marketing?

There are a few things to consider here, and of course, time will tell, as the rollout continues, what adoption rate might be, which will also determine the level of potential impact:

  • There is no risk of bounces due to an address change, as the original email address remains an alias and continues to receive email.

  • “Potential” duplication (sending the same email to the same user) and impact on segmentation and personalisation if the subscriber signs up again with their new email address instead of updating their email address or removing the original (before signing up again).

  • You “could” experience some false churn.

  • Subscribers can “potentially” look inactive due to the original alias address still receiving email (the real inbox activity may happen under a different address you don’t know about).

What can I do when sending email Campaigns/Newsletters?

🎉 If you’re following email marketing best practices, in some ways, nothing changes, but you might need to adjust the frequency of some list hygiene practices.

Not quite sure what I’m talking about? These are just some things to consider:

  • Send preference update emails (once every six months should be OK).

  • Use a re-engagement/sunset flow (if you’re sending emails weekly, consider a 90-day window).

  • Create specific segments in your ESP that monitor engagement interactions for Gmail[dot]com addresses.

  • Re-evaluate list hygiene and segmentation, and make sure it’s based on engagement metrics (don’t blindly remove subscribers).

  • Once Google completes the rollout, you might want to send a specific email to Gmail [dot]com subscribers.

🚨 These are just some tips; if you think I missed one, let me know, and I’ll include it in next week’s newsletter.

That’s it for this week, {{first_name|friend}}! 👋

Curiosity Corner

Welcome to Curiosity Corner! Each week, I throw one question your way…not always about email marketing, but always worth a reply.

Last week, I asked, “How are you feeling about the AI Inbox from Gmail?”

“Let's see how it goes...” leading with 7 out of 14 votes (50.00%) 👇

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ It will all be fine. (4) 🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ I'm a little worried. (3) ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ The world is ending! (0) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Let's see how it goes... (7) 14 Votes

This week’s question is:

Will you be turning on Google's "Personal Intelligence"?

More information in the News & Tip section below if you don't know what this is.

Login or Subscribe to participate

All About Email - Playlist 🎧

Every week, as I write this newsletter, I'll share the track of the moment to create an unbelievably eclectic playlist just for your inbox.

AI-native CRM

“When I first opened Attio, I instantly got the feeling this was the next generation of CRM.”
— Margaret Shen, Head of GTM at Modal

Attio is the AI-native CRM for modern teams. With automatic enrichment, call intelligence, AI agents, flexible workflows and more, Attio works for any business and only takes minutes to set up.

Join industry leaders like Granola, Taskrabbit, Flatfile and more.

👉Start for free today

Sponsorship Opportunities

🚨 If you’re interested in sponsoring the “All About Email” newsletter, you can find all the details in this Google Doc.

Classifieds

EmailTooltester helps small and medium businesses pick the right email marketing tools with honest reviews and guides. Compare tools now.

Email Marketing News & Tips

This week's excellent and insightful email news & tips:

If you have any questions about this email or email marketing, please reply, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

I hope you have a great week! 👋

Keep Reading

No posts found

© 2026 All About Email.

Report abuse

Privacy policy

Terms of use

Powered by beehiiv