Is it always better for marketing emails to land in the inbox instead of the promotions tab?
Matthew Whittaker
Co-founder & CTO, Suped
Published 27 Jun 2025
Updated 19 Aug 2025
9 min read
It's a question I hear all the time from marketers and clients: Is it always better for marketing emails to land in the inbox instead of the promotions tab? The simple answer is, it's not as straightforward as many believe. For years, the Promotions tab in Gmail has been a source of anxiety for email marketers, with many trying every trick in the book to avoid it. But the truth is, this tab isn't necessarily a bad place for your marketing messages.
In fact, for many types of email, the Promotions tab can be the ideal destination. It's designed specifically for commercial emails, and users who navigate there are often actively looking for deals, offers, and updates. This changes the dynamic entirely, moving from an interruption to a welcomed discovery.
My goal here is to help clarify this often-misunderstood aspect of email deliverability. We'll explore why the Promotions tab exists, its impact on engagement, and whether chasing the primary inbox for promotional content is always the best strategy for your email marketing efforts.
Understanding the Gmail promotions tab
When Gmail introduced inbox tabs back in 2013, it was a game-changer. The idea was to help users better organize their inboxes, moving marketing messages, social updates, and forum notifications out of the primary view. The Promotions tab was specifically created to house commercial emails and promotional offers.
For users, this was a welcome change, reducing clutter and making it easier to find important personal emails. For marketers, it sparked a major debate: Was this a blow to email marketing, or an opportunity? The initial panic led many to believe that emails landing here would be unseen and unclicked, leading to a relentless pursuit of the primary inbox.
However, over time, a more nuanced understanding emerged. It became clear that the Promotions tab isn't a spam folder or a blacklist (or blocklist, if you prefer). Emails in this tab are still part of the inbox and are actively seen by users who choose to browse that section. For more insights on this, you might find an older Mailchimp blog post from when it rolled out quite insightful.
The algorithms that categorize emails are constantly evolving, analyzing various signals such as sender reputation, content, formatting, and recipient engagement. Understanding what causes emails to land in the Promotions tab is crucial, and it's not always about avoiding a blacklist (or blocklist).
The case for the promotions tab
Many email marketers have come to realize that the Promotions tab isn't a penalty box, but rather a dedicated shopping aisle for their subscribers. Think about it from a user's perspective: when they go to the Promotions tab, they are generally in a buying or browsing mindset. This pre-qualified intent can lead to surprising benefits.
Some studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that engagement within the Promotions tab can actually be higher in terms of click-through rates and conversions, even if open rates might appear slightly lower compared to the primary inbox. Why? Because the audience there is self-selecting. They’ve chosen to open that tab to see offers.
Consider the alternative: if a marketing email, which is inherently promotional, bypasses the Promotions tab and lands in the primary inbox, it might be perceived as an intrusion. Users who prefer a clean primary inbox might quickly archive, delete, or even mark it as spam, negatively impacting your sender reputation. In this scenario, being in the Promotions tab can act as a natural filter, ensuring your emails reach a more receptive audience. An interesting perspective on this can be found in a discussion from ISIPP.
Ultimately, the Promotions tab serves a purpose for both users and senders. It helps manage email volume and categorizes content where users expect it to be. Instead of fighting it, many successful marketers embrace it.
If you are concerned about your marketing emails landing in the promotions tab, consider it a part of the inbox ecosystem, not a separate spam folder.
When aiming for primary might matter
Despite the arguments for embracing the Promotions tab, some marketers still feel that landing in the primary inbox is the ultimate goal. For certain types of emails, like transactional messages, personal communications, or high-value content that truly isn't promotional, this desire is understandable.
However, attempting to consistently bypass the Promotions tab for overtly marketing emails is often an uphill battle. Gmail's algorithms are sophisticated, looking at a multitude of factors beyond just keywords. They analyze sender behavior, recipient engagement, email structure, image-to-text ratio, and even the presence of unsubscribe links and social media icons to determine an email's nature.
Trying to trick these filters often leads to a worse outcome, such as landing in the spam folder or on a blocklist (or blacklist). The effort invested in trying to 'game' the system could be better spent on creating truly engaging content. Remember, the goal is to get emails seen and acted upon, not just to land in a specific tab.
For specific examples on how emails get classified, consider factors like the number of links, image heavy content, and the use of promotional language. These elements often signal to email service providers that a message belongs in the Promotions tab. The primary inbox is generally reserved for more personal and direct communications.
Instead of obsessing over which tab your email lands in, I recommend focusing on foundational email deliverability practices. These practices are universally beneficial, ensuring your emails reach the inbox effectively, regardless of the tab.
Strong authentication methods like DMARC, SPF, and DKIM are non-negotiable. These verify your sender identity, building trust with inbox providers. Without them, your emails are more likely to be flagged as suspicious and land in spam, regardless of which tab they were destined for.
Focus on list hygiene. Regularly clean your email lists to remove inactive or invalid addresses. Sending to engaged subscribers improves your overall sending reputation, which is a far more impactful factor than tab placement. This also helps avoid spam traps, which can get you on a serious blocklist (or blacklist).
Content quality is paramount. Deliver valuable, relevant content that your subscribers genuinely want to receive. Personalization, clear calls to action, and mobile-friendly design contribute to higher engagement, which in turn signals to inbox providers that your emails are desired.
Monitoring deliverability metrics, such as open rates, click-through rates, and complaint rates, is essential. These metrics provide a true picture of how your emails are performing, regardless of tab placement. A good engagement rate in the Promotions tab is often more valuable than a low engagement rate in the primary inbox.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Maintain a clean email list by regularly removing inactive or invalid addresses.
Always include a clear and easy-to-find unsubscribe link in every marketing email.
Segment your audience and personalize content to increase relevance and engagement.
Test your email campaigns before sending to identify any potential deliverability issues.
Focus on providing valuable content that your subscribers genuinely want to receive.
Monitor your engagement metrics, not just open rates, to understand true impact.
Educate clients that the Promotions tab is a valid inbox destination for marketing.
Embrace email authentication protocols: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for better deliverability.
Common pitfalls
Sending to unengaged or old email lists, which can harm your sender reputation.
Using misleading subject lines or excessive capitalization and exclamation points.
Ignoring email authentication, leading to messages being flagged as spam.
Attempting to 'trick' filters to bypass the Promotions tab, which can backfire.
Having a high image-to-text ratio, making emails look overly promotional.
Failing to monitor feedback loops and user complaints, which indicate dissatisfaction.
Not providing clear value in marketing emails, leading to low engagement.
Over-sending to your audience, resulting in fatigue and unsubscribes.
Expert tips
Focus on building strong relationships with your subscribers, ensuring they anticipate your emails.
The Promotions tab often has higher conversion rates because users are actively seeking deals.
If users want promotional emails in their primary inbox, they will move them there.
Prioritize creating compelling and wanted messages over tab placement efforts.
Analyze whether filter evasion efforts for the Promotions tab yield long-term revenue.
A healthy sender reputation and engaging content outweigh the tab placement debate.
Transactional emails should aim for the primary inbox, marketing emails for Promotions.
Understand that the Promotions tab is part of the inbox, not a spam folder.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says that if you are sending a marketing or commercial email, it is appropriate and often desired for it to land in the Promotions tab.
July 15, 2024 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says that the Promotions tab is part of the inbox, and should be viewed as such.
July 16, 2024 - Email Geeks
Embracing strategic placement
The long-standing debate about whether marketing emails should land in the primary inbox or the Promotions tab often misses the point. For true marketing emails, the Promotions tab is not a problem, but rather an intentional categorization designed by email service providers like Yahoo and Outlook to improve user experience.
Subscribers who check the Promotions tab are often looking for deals and content of that nature, leading to potentially higher engagement metrics (like conversions) even if open rates differ. Trying to force promotional content into the primary inbox can annoy users and may even lead to negative sender reputation signals.
My advice is to embrace the Promotions tab for what it is: a dedicated space for your marketing communications. Instead of fighting its existence, focus your energy on creating valuable content, maintaining a healthy sender reputation, and ensuring your email authentication is impeccable. When you do that, your emails will thrive, regardless of which tab they land in.
Gmail has been a source of anxiety for email marketers, with many trying every trick in the book to avoid it. But the truth is, this tab isn't necessarily a bad place for your marketing messages.
Gmail introduced inbox tabs back in 2013, it was a game-changer. The idea was to help users better organize their inboxes, moving marketing messages, social updates, and forum notifications out of the primary view. The Promotions tab was specifically created to house commercial emails and promotional offers.
Yahoo and 
Outlook to improve user experience.
