How to Stop Emails From Going to Promotions in Gmail

You wouldn't want your subscribers to miss out on important communication because the email you sent them landed in the Promotions folder. The promotions column in Gmail is treated as email purgatory. Lots of communication gets forgotten on that side.

Why Are My Important Emails Going Into the Promotion Tab?

Gmail introduced different inbox tabs, including the Promotions tab, to help improve deliverability and open rates and to decrease spam complaints from their users. The idea is that when a business sends an email blast, Google scans the incoming mail. Depending on the information received, assign the email to the Primary Inbox, the Social Tab, or the Promotions Tab. The idea is to ensure that the Primary Inbox remains uncluttered, making it easier for users to find the emails that matter most to them.

Vey many marketers are guilty of this. They use email marketing software or a marketing automation platform that sends emails. These messages contain identifiable information scanned by the Google algorithm and flag them for promotional materials, sending them to the Gmail Promotions Tab.

According to Email deliverability expert Chris Lang, Gmail has between 450 and 550 different indicators of quality that will decide the fate of each email sent via Gmail.

How to stop emails from going to promotions in Gmail

1. Drag and drop emails to the primary tab

This is the simplest way to stop important emails from landing in your Promotions tab.

1. Open Gmail and find the email in your Promotions tab.

2. Drag and drop the email from Promotions to Primary. You'll see the Primary tab turn red when you've done this successfully.

After moving your email from Promotions to Primary, Gmail will send you a prompt asking whether you want Google to move future emails from this email address directly to your Primary tab instead of the Promotions tab. Select Yes.

2. Disabling multiple tabs

You can disable these tabs once and for all, allowing all emails to be delivered to the Primary inbox:

1. Click the Settings gear icon and select See all settings from the drop-down.

2. Click the "Inbox" tab. Then, please uncheck the box next to Promotions and any other unwanted tabs to remove them from the inbox. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the screen.

How can marketers stop emails from going to promotions in Gmail

Here are a few don'ts:

• Many images in your email: Anything with multiple photos looks like a promotion. Stick to emails that look like plain text, as if you sent them from an email software platform. Stick to the ordinary email template.

• More than one or two links in your email: One link per email. (Not including an Unsubscribe link.) Anything more than that is too much. It is now a promotion. The opinion is divided on whether repeating the same link more than once impacts your inbox placement. Tests prove both, so test your emails to see the result.

• If it’s “from” your brand rather than you: Always make the email from you, not your brand. And let your personality stand out. Personalization is crucial. People buy from people, not machines. Be sure your audience knows your story and what you stand for.

• Lots of fancy HTML code in your email: Clever email templates look great, and businesses love them, but fancy HTML-coded templates often languish in Promotions.

• Links to your social media profiles in your signature (or any other links for that matter): As mentioned, too many links will land you in Promotions, but, more importantly, you’ve worked hard to get someone to open and read your mail. Why send them to Facebook or Instagram when you want them to follow the call-to-action in your email?