Where's Simba? (And Where Are Your Emails?)

Something strange happened yesterday morning ...

I was rushing to get ready for an early appointment when my cat Simba seemingly vanished into thin air.

My heart raced as I remembered stepping outside moments earlier to take out the trash.

Did he sneak out behind me?

I scanned around the house peering through every window.

No sign of him.

Called his name repeatedly (which, if you have cats, you know is about as effective as teaching algebra to a goldfish).

Room by room, my panic grew...

Until I heard the faintest "meow" coming from my closet.

That sneaky little ninja had slipped in there when I grabbed my clothes!

Have you noticed lower than usual open rates?

Your emails might be pulling a "Simba" on you right now.

See, Google just made some changes ahead of Black Friday that are causing emails to mysteriously disappear from the primary inbox – sneaking them into the "Promotions" or "Updates" tabs instead.

(In fact, there's a good chance THIS email landed in your Promotions tab!)

But unlike my closet situation, these emails won't make a peep to let you know where they are.

Now, before you panic:

• Only about 20% of all Gmail users have tabs enabled

• 54.14% of folks use Apple Mail to check their mail

• This affects just 7-11% of most email lists

Still... you want your important emails front and center where subscribers can find them, right?

Here's what to do RIGHT NOW:

• Check your Promotions and Updates tabs

• Find any important emails that snuck in there

• Simply drag them back to your Primary tab

(If you're reading this in Promotions right now, I'd love for you to drag this email to Primary. I've got some key updates coming through December that you won't want to miss!)

And here's the most important part...

Make sure you're telling YOUR subscribers to do the same thing!

Add the instructions above to:

• Your welcome emails

• Thank you pages

• Regular email communications

Because just like my cat Simba... these emails aren't going to free themselves.

But unlike Simba, they won't even let you know they're trapped!