Evidently, Google has been testing new Gmail ad formats for a year. But yesterday was the first time I’d tested it. It’s a very different experience, one that could be appealing for financial advertisers.

How it works
Yesterday, Lifelock served me a display ad within Gmail. Once you click on it, the ad  morphs into an email (see first screenshot below). It is not only a quick way to evaluate the offering (saving the trip to a web-based landing page), but also allows users to treat the ad like an email by saving it to the inbox, forwarding it, or dismissing the ad forever (the action items run above the message).

If you choose “Save to Inbox” the message shows up in the Everything Else category as a message from yourself (see second screenshot). At that point it’s just like any other message and can be flagged, archived, forwarded or deleted.

Bottom line: The ad format could make offers more sticky. It’s a promising model for financial products, which are usually not quick, spur-of-the- moment purchases. It’s worth testing anyway, if you have a big enough customer base using Gmail.

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Lifelock display ad in Gmail opens up into an embedded email (16 Oct 2012)

Once saved in the inbox, the ad shows up under “Everything Else” as a message from yourself

Lifelock landing page (after clicking on Join Lifelock Now) in email ad