What tools and tips can improve email deliverability for a B2C onboarding flow with many Gmail addresses?

Key findings

• Promotions tab: For commercial emails, the Gmail promotions tab is considered a valid inbox destination, not a spam folder. Attempting to consistently avoid it can be counterproductive, as Gmail's classification is often based on natural language processing of content.
• User interaction: Gmail's filtering is highly personalized, meaning how individual recipients interact with your emails directly influences future inbox placement for them. Engagement is key.
• Testing tool limitations: Most inbox testing tools primarily assess global filters, not the personalized filters that Gmail applies based on specific sender/recipient interactions. This means they may not provide a complete picture of deliverability to individual inboxes.
• Content analysis: Gmail uses sophisticated algorithms, including natural language processing, to determine if an email is promotional based on its overall content, making it challenging to consistently 'trick' the system into the primary tab if the email is commercial in nature.

Key considerations

• Embrace the promotions tab: For B2C onboarding flows, recognize that emails might land in the promotions tab. Focus on optimizing content to drive engagement there, rather than trying to force it elsewhere. Many users actively check this tab. This perspective is reinforced by the article Embrace the promotions tab.
• Focus on engagement: Prioritize positive engagement metrics like opens, clicks, and replies. This is a stronger signal to Gmail than attempting to bypass the promotions tab directly.
• List hygiene and consent: Ensure your email list is clean and that all subscribers have explicitly opted in. This reduces bounces and spam complaints, both of which negatively impact welcome series email deliverability and sender reputation.
• Monitor deliverability metrics: Regularly check your sending reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools. This provides insights into how Gmail views your sending practices. For general strategies to improve Gmail deliverability, see our guide on how to improve Gmail deliverability.

Key opinions

• Promotions tab acceptance: Many marketers advocate for embracing the promotions tab as a legitimate inbox destination, understanding that promotional content often belongs there.
• No magic bullet: There are no secret rules or simple tricks to consistently bypass Gmail's classification and force commercial emails into the primary tab.
• Engagement focus: Success is largely measured by how users interact with emails, regardless of the tab they land in. Positive interactions improve overall standing.
• Content is king: Gmail's content analysis (using NLP) is a significant factor in determining promotional classification, making content relevance and quality paramount.

Key considerations

• Align expectations: For B2C onboarding flows, it is realistic for emails to land in the promotions tab. The focus should be on making those emails valuable enough to be opened there.
• Deliver relevant content: Ensure your onboarding emails provide clear value, are personalized, and meet user expectations. This is a core best practice for email deliverability best practices.
• Cultivate user consent: Implement clear opt-in processes, like double opt-in, to build a high-quality, engaged list. This practice helps to improve overall email deliverability.
• Iterate and optimize: Continuously test different approaches in your onboarding flow and monitor results. This ongoing optimization is essential for success, as discussed in Why your emails fail.

Key opinions

• Complex filtering: Gmail's inbox placement for promotional content is not governed by simple, discoverable rules; it's a result of sophisticated algorithms and user-specific behavior.
• NLP for classification: Google utilizes natural language processing (NLP) to identify and classify emails as promotional based on their overall content, making consistent primary inbox placement for commercial mail difficult.
• Personalized filters: Beyond global filters, Gmail applies recipient-specific filters based on past interactions with a sender, which cannot be accurately replicated by standard inbox testing tools.
• Testing tool limitations: Inbox testing services primarily show results based on global filters, which are applied when Google lacks sufficient individual sender/recipient data.

Key considerations

• Adapt to gmail's intelligence: Accept that Gmail is highly intelligent in classifying promotional content. Efforts should be directed toward optimizing for engagement within the assigned tab, as discussed in Embrace the promotions tab.
• Prioritize long-term reputation: Building a strong sender reputation through consistent good sending practices and positive user engagement is more valuable than short-term fixes for tab placement. Tools like Google Postmaster Tools V2 are essential for this.
• Understand testing limitations: Recognize that external inbox testing tools offer a general snapshot, not a precise prediction of deliverability to every individual Gmail inbox, due to personalized filtering.
• Focus on content and relevance: For onboarding flows, ensure content is highly relevant and encourages interaction, as this is what Gmail values. This helps troubleshoot low Gmail deliverability.

Key findings

• Authentication standards: Implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is crucial for proving sender legitimacy and preventing spoofing, which directly impacts deliverability.
• List quality: Maintaining a clean, opted-in email list minimizes bounces and spam complaints, which are strong negative signals to mailbox providers.
• Engagement signals: Positive user interactions, such as opening emails, clicking links, and not marking as spam, are heavily weighted by Gmail and other providers in determining inbox placement.
• Content relevance: The content of the email, including its structure, links, and text, is analyzed by mailbox providers to determine its commercial nature and appropriate tab placement.

Key considerations

• Implement full authentication: Ensure your domain is fully authenticated with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. This foundational step builds trust and improves deliverability.
• Prioritize list cleanliness: Actively remove invalid or unengaged addresses to avoid high bounce rates and spam traps, which can significantly damage sender reputation.
• Optimize for engagement: Design onboarding emails to be highly engaging, prompting opens, clicks, and replies. This helps build a positive sending history with Gmail.
• Monitor sender reputation: Continuously track your domain and IP reputation using available postmaster tools from mailbox providers. For example, Infobip suggests having domains with an established email sending history.