Good news for email marketers! Gmail has changed its default setting to SHOW images as opposed to blocking them.

When I checked my Gmail account via the Web this morning, I was greeted with this little pop-notice:

Gmail Images Now Showing

With Gmail images now showing, you’ll likely register a few more opens than you would otherwise. (Not enough to tell your boss that you deserve a raise, though.) This is especially helpful to those email marketers who rely on a lot of graphics to get their message across.

It would be great if other Web-based email services followed suit. (Are you listening AOL, Hotmail, and Yahoo!?)

You can read the full announcement from Google here.