Gmail started using a “promotions” tab in 2013 to help users sort important emails from promotional emails and social media emails. Since then, there has been a huge reduction in users' spam complaints and a lower read rate of commercial, promotional emails. This is due to many users ignoring the two tabs and staying in their inbox.
The way Gmail delivers to these tabs is constantly changing based on variable data, sender information, email content, and recipient engagement. Not all Gmail users pay attention to these special tabs, and some have disabled them altogether. Many users stay in the primary inbox tab, but many users still check the promotions tab for important emails.
For help on how to configure your inbox on multiple devices, visit the Gmail Help Center.
Why is my email being delivered to the Gmail promotions tab?
Gmail delivers marketing and some bulk emails like special offers, deals, and other promotional messages to this tab. Emails typically sent through MailChimp, Constant Contact, and other email service providers end up in the promotions tab automatically.
How to get emails delivered to the primary tab in Gmail
The primary inbox tab in Gmail includes emails from people you know and any messages that don’t get sent to the other tabs. This process is hard to control as it’s really all up to each user or recipient.
How users deliver messages to the primary inbox tab
Users can either move messages from the promotions tab into the regular inbox to have them delivered there in the future, add your email address to their contact list, or they can disable the tabs altogether.
How to deliver promotional emails to the primary tab
- Ask your subscribers in a 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 email and clicking “add to contacts.”
- Personalize your email and address your contacts by name. Most email systems allow for using a “personalized token” such as the first name to be used in the subject and in your email content.
- Write to your contacts as if they are your friend. This is a good idea for inbound marketing techniques overall for higher engagement. For example, start your email with “Hi Chaz! We’d love to see you at our grand opening event on April 10. We’ll have free samples and a drawing for a free fishing tour.”
- Avoid using spam-like characteristics in your subject line.
- Spell it correctly! Just spell check and make sure everything is grammatically correct. Too many mistakes in your subject or body of the email, and you’ll be marked as spam. If you would like some recommendations check out our 5 apps to make you a better writer blog post..
View more tips on how to create an affordable and effective email newsletter.
