Why are Gmail click rates low despite high email deliverability?
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 17 Jul 2025
Updated 16 Aug 2025
9 min read
It can be incredibly frustrating to see high email deliverability rates, yet observe consistently low click rates, particularly with a major provider like Gmail. You've done the work to ensure your emails aren't bouncing and are reaching inboxes, but then the engagement drops off a cliff. This discrepancy often leads to confusion, making you wonder if there's a hidden deliverability issue or if this is just the new normal in email marketing.
The challenge lies in understanding that deliverability is not just about reaching the inbox, but about reaching the right inbox and resonating with the recipient. Gmail, alongside other mailbox providers, employs sophisticated algorithms that evaluate user engagement signals as a crucial factor in email placement and overall sender reputation. If users aren't clicking, even if the email arrives, it sends a negative signal.
In this article, we'll explore the various reasons why your Gmail click rates might be low despite appearing to have high deliverability. We'll dive into how Gmail interprets engagement, the potential pitfalls of relying solely on basic delivery metrics, and most importantly, what steps you can take to boost your actual engagement and, consequently, your click-through rates.
Gmail's engagement-based filtering
Gmail's filtering systems are highly advanced, going beyond basic authentication checks like SPF and DKIM. While these are essential for getting your emails accepted, Gmail deeply analyzes how users interact with your messages. A high deliverability rate, often reported by your Email Service Provider (ESP), only confirms that Gmail's servers accepted the email. It doesn't guarantee placement in the primary inbox or that users will engage with it.
Factors like open rates, click-through rates, replies, forwards, and even how quickly recipients delete your emails, all contribute to your sender reputation. A low click rate, even with good delivery, suggests to Gmail that your content might not be relevant or desired by the recipients, impacting future inbox placement. Remember, a high open rate, while good, doesn't always translate to high engagement if clicks are low. This might indicate that while subject lines are compelling, the email content itself fails to drive action. For more insights into this specific problem, read our article on why email clicks decline despite high open rates.
Gmail also pays close attention to spam rates. If recipients mark your emails as spam, even a few complaints can significantly damage your reputation, leading to future emails landing in the spam folder or being outright blocked. <logo url="google.com"/> Google recommends keeping your spam rate below 0.1% and never exceeding 0.3%. You can find more details in the Google Workspace Admin Help guidelines.
If you're noticing low click rates, it might be an indication that your emails are consistently landing in the Promotions or Social tabs, rather than the primary inbox. While technically delivered, emails in these tabs often receive less attention and, consequently, fewer clicks. This is especially true for transactional emails, which ideally should bypass these tabs for immediate recipient action. Our article on why open rates are lower when emails land in tabs explains this phenomenon in more detail.
The nuance of deliverability data
A common point of confusion arises from discrepancies between different deliverability tools and your ESP's reported delivery rates. Your ESP might report a 99.8% delivery rate, implying nearly all emails reached their destination. However, an inbox placement tool might show a significant portion of emails (e.g., 70-80%) are undelivered or land in spam folders. This difference can be perplexing, but it highlights a crucial distinction.
An ESP's delivery rate typically measures successful handover to the recipient's mail server. It doesn't necessarily mean the email landed in the primary inbox, or even an inbox at all. Gmail, for instance, does not simply drop mail. If it doesn't want the mail, it will either outright reject it with an SMTP bounce message, or place it in a less visible folder like spam. The disconnect between ESP reports and inbox testing tools can often stem from how each interprets delivery versus inbox placement.
Inbox placement tools provide a snapshot of where your test emails land. If these tools show a high percentage landing in spam or being undelivered, it suggests a problem that your ESP's metrics might not capture at a granular level. The underlying issue is often related to your domain and IP reputation with Gmail. Even a medium reputation can lead to emails being shunted to less prominent folders or being actively throttled by Gmail, even if they are eventually accepted. For more on this, consider reading our guide on why your email deliverability rate is wrong.
Relying on pre-send tests alone, and adjusting templates until they achieve 100% deliverability in a testing tool, can be a temporary workaround. These machine learning filters quickly adapt. The more effective strategy is to understand and address the root cause of why your audience might not be engaging, which often comes back to the quality of your recipient list and the content's relevance. To understand this better, we recommend using our email deliverability tester to get a more comprehensive view of where your emails are landing.
The critical role of list quality and engagement
The problem
When users receive a coupon or discount immediately after signing up, without needing to verify their email, it can lead to a significant number of unengaged or fake email addresses on your list. People might use disposable or secondary email addresses simply to get the offer, with no intention of engaging with future emails. This inflates your list size but dilutes your engagement metrics.
A low click rate, especially compared to a relatively high open rate, suggests that while your subject lines might grab attention, the content isn't compelling enough to drive action. For Gmail, this lack of action is a strong negative signal, even if the emails are delivered. <logo url="campaignmonitor.com"/> As Campaign Monitor notes, low open and click rates signal to ISPs that recipients are not engaged.
The core issue is often the quality of your email list and how you obtain consent. If you're collecting email addresses primarily for a one-time incentive like a coupon, and the coupon is provided immediately without email verification, you risk accumulating a large number of unengaged subscribers or even spam trap addresses. These subscribers might open the initial email for the coupon, but then ignore subsequent communications, leading to low click rates and potentially high spam complaints over time. Our article on why your emails are going to spam delves deeper into these issues.
While tools like Zerobounce help validate if an email address is deliverable, they don't confirm the recipient's genuine interest or active engagement. Many people use fake or disposable Gmail addresses because they are easy to create. If these addresses are still active and deliverable, they won't bounce, but their owners will likely never open or click your emails, driving down your overall engagement metrics. This behavior signals to Gmail that your emails are not valuable, impacting your sender reputation.
To address this, consider implementing a double opt-in process. This requires subscribers to click a confirmation link in an email to verify their subscription. While it might slightly reduce your immediate sign-up conversion rate, it ensures a much higher quality, engaged list, which ultimately leads to better long-term deliverability and higher click rates. You can also improve your email click-through rate by optimizing your content and calls to action.
Prioritizing engagement over mere delivery
Single opt-in (coupon immediate)
Collection: Email collected, coupon provided instantly on site.
List quality: Prone to fake, mistyped, or disengaged addresses for one-time benefit.
Engagement impact: Lower click rates and higher spam complaints over time, damaging sender reputation.
Deliverability: Initial high delivery rates but subsequent poor inbox placement due to low engagement.
Double opt-in (coupon via email)
Collection: Email collected, coupon sent after clicking confirmation link.
List quality: Higher quality, engaged subscribers with verified interest.
Engagement impact: Higher open and click rates, fewer spam complaints, improved sender reputation.
Deliverability: Consistent inbox placement and better performance over time.
Ultimately, if your emails are reaching the inbox but not getting clicks, the problem shifts from technical deliverability to content relevance and audience engagement. Gmail's systems are designed to prioritize emails that users truly want to interact with. A high delivery rate is merely the first step, not the final indicator of success.
Focusing on building a genuinely engaged list through clear consent, maintaining content relevance, and consistently providing value will naturally lead to higher click rates and a stronger, more resilient sender reputation with Gmail and other mailbox providers. This proactive approach will yield far better results than continually tweaking templates to bypass filters. If you are struggling with low open rates, consider reading our article on how to improve low Gmail email open rates.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Implement double opt-in for all new subscribers to ensure genuine interest and higher quality list segments.
Segment your audience based on engagement, sending more frequently to active subscribers and less to inactive ones.
Continuously test your email content, subject lines, and calls to action to optimize for clicks and conversions.
Monitor Gmail Postmaster Tools regularly for detailed insights into your reputation and spam rates.
Ensure your email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is correctly configured for optimal deliverability.
Common pitfalls
Relying solely on ESP reported delivery rates without validating actual inbox placement with external tools.
Offering immediate incentives without requiring email verification, leading to low-quality, unengaged lists.
Over-optimizing templates to bypass filters instead of addressing the root cause of low engagement.
Ignoring low click rates, mistakenly believing high open rates are sufficient for good deliverability.
Sending to an old or unsegmented list, which can lead to high spam complaints and blocklist issues.
Expert tips
Use inbox placement tools in parallel with live sends, not just pre-send tests, for accurate data.
Focus on content relevance and value for your audience to naturally increase clicks and positive engagement.
Understand that Gmail's algorithms prioritize user interaction, making engagement metrics paramount.
If your emails consistently land in tabs like Promotions, consider adjusting content strategy or list segmentation.
Actively clean your list by removing inactive or unengaged subscribers to improve overall sender reputation.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says that if your inbox testing tools show 70-80% undelivered mail, but your ESP reports 99.8% successful deliveries, there's a data discrepancy. Google does not simply drop mail; it either blocks it with an SMTP bounce or sends it to spam. The ESP's delivery rate might not reflect true inbox placement.
2023-02-12 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says that a common cause for low engagement, despite apparent deliverability, is a list full of addresses that did not genuinely sign up. This often happens when incentives are given without proper email verification, leading to fake or disposable email addresses.
2023-02-12 - Email Geeks
The path forward
Achieving high deliverability is a significant accomplishment in email marketing, but it's only half the battle. When your Gmail click rates remain stubbornly low despite emails reaching the inbox, it's a clear signal that your strategy needs to evolve beyond just technical delivery. Gmail's sophisticated algorithms prioritize user engagement, meaning that even perfectly delivered emails can suffer if recipients aren't interacting with them.
The key takeaway is to focus on building and maintaining a genuinely engaged subscriber list. This involves rigorous list hygiene, leveraging double opt-in processes, and consistently delivering valuable, relevant content that encourages clicks. By prioritizing the recipient's experience and providing true value, you'll not only see your Gmail click rates improve but also cultivate a stronger, more positive sender reputation that benefits your entire email program.
