Why emails get delivered to Gmail's Promotions tab

Learn why your emails go to Gmail’s Promotions tab and tips for landing in the Primary tab

Gmail introduced different inbox tabs, including the Promotions tab, to help improve deliverability and open rates, and reduce spam complaints from their users. Gmail delivers emails to these tabs based on algorithms that constantly change and factor in variables such as sender information, email content, and recipient engagement. There’s no need to fear, though! You can think of these tabs as additional inboxes. And not all Gmail users take advantage of the tabs — many disable them in favor of having a more traditional inbox where all emails are delivered to one place.

• Why is my email delivering to the Promotions tab?
• Benefits of the Promotions tab
• Getting emails delivered to the Primary tab

Tip: Check out our tips for keeping your emails out of the spam folder.

Why is my email delivering to the Promotions tab?

Gmail moves marketing and bulk emails, such as deals, offers, and other promotional messages, into the Promotions tab. Emails sent through Constant Contact typically end up here because we are an Email Service Provider (ESP).

Learn more: For help with Gmail and configuring your inbox on a desktop, Android, iPhone, or iPad, visit the Gmail Help Center.

Benefits of the Promotions tab

The good news is that people who use the Promotions tab in their email accounts frequently check it for emails from their favorite stores, online shops, and other businesses whose mailing lists they joined. So if your contacts are very engaged with your emails, they’ll know to check the Promotions tab to find your emails!

 

Getting emails delivered to the Primary tab

Gmail’s Primary tab includes all emails from people you know and any other messages that don’t appear in other tabs. Getting your email to land in a contact’s Primary tab is naturally hard to control — it’s all up to the recipient!
 

Moving an email to the Primary tab

Your contacts may decide to move you into their Primary tab by clicking and dragging one of your emails from the Promotions tab. By doing so, they'll have the option to have all future emails from you delivered to the Primary tab.

 

 

Disabling tabs

Contacts may also choose to disable these tabs altogether, allowing all emails to be delivered to the Primary inbox.

What you can do

Here are some things you can do to help your emails land in the Primary tab:

• Ask your subscribers, perhaps in your Welcome Email, to add your "From" email address to their contacts. In Gmail, this can be done by hovering over the sender's name in the top-left corner of the email and clicking the Add to contacts icon. Emails from a subscriber’s contacts always go to the Primary inbox. 
  
  
  
  
• Personalize your email and address your contacts by name.
  
  
  
  
• Write to your contacts as if they are your friends.
  
  
  
  
• Avoid using spam-like characteristics in your subject line.
• Don't have spelling or grammatical mistakes in your subject line or body of the email. Too many could land your email in the spam folder.

The bottom line: Send engaging emails and your contacts will open them no matter what tab they get delivered to!

 

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