Why has my email click-through rate dropped in Gmail?
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 24 Jun 2025
Updated 19 Aug 2025
8 min read
Seeing a sudden drop in your email click-through rate (CTR) in Gmail can be a frustrating experience, especially when it happens unexpectedly, like a significant decline since March when February showed no such anomalies. It's easy to assume it's a deliverability issue, particularly if you use a warmed-up IP and a professional email service provider. However, a decline in clicks, even with good deliverability, often points to a complex interplay of factors beyond just getting into the inbox.
The primary goal of any email campaign is to drive action, and a low CTR indicates a disconnect between your message and your audience. While open rates tell you if your email landed in the inbox and caught initial attention, CTR reveals how effectively your content engages recipients and prompts them to take the next step. If your Gmail click rates are low despite emails reaching the inbox, it's time to dig deeper into several key areas.
Understanding the dip in engagement
Sometimes, the problem isn't with your email's ability to reach the inbox, but rather with what happens once it gets there. Gmail's filtering goes beyond just spam or inbox; it categorizes emails into tabs like Promotions, Social, and Primary. If your emails consistently land in the Promotions tab, even if opened, they might receive fewer clicks simply because users interact differently with emails in that category, often skimming or deleting them in bulk.
Sender reputation is key here. Even with a warmed-up IP, your domain's reputation in Gmail's eyes significantly influences where your emails land. A consistent drop in CTR could signal a decline in your domain's engagement metrics, leading Gmail to place your emails in less prominent tabs or even the spam folder. Regularly checking your domain reputation is crucial. If your email open rate has dropped suddenly, it's a strong indicator that your sender reputation may be suffering, which in turn affects your CTR.
Beyond deliverability, the content itself plays a massive role. If recipients are opening your emails but not clicking, it suggests the message isn't compelling enough to drive action. This could be due to several factors, including irrelevant content, weak calls-to-action (CTAs), or poor design. A low CTR is often a red flag that your combination of sender, subject line, preheader, and messaging isn't resonating with your audience.
Subject lines and preheaders: Are they engaging and accurately reflect the email's content? Misleading or generic lines might lead to opens but no clicks when the content disappoints.
Content relevance: Is the email personalized and valuable to the recipient? Irrelevant emails often lead to a high delete-without-click rate.
Call-to-action (CTA): Is it clear, prominent, and compelling? A confusing or hidden CTA will certainly reduce clicks.
Mobile optimization: A significant portion of emails are opened on mobile devices. If your email isn't responsive and easy to navigate on a small screen, clicks will suffer.
Technical factors and recent Gmail changes
Gmail, like other major mailbox providers, continuously updates its algorithms to combat spam and enhance user experience. These changes can subtly, but significantly, impact your email performance. The most recent Gmail and Yahoo sender requirements, rolled out in early 2024, are particularly relevant. These requirements emphasize strict email authentication, low spam rates, and easy unsubscribe options for bulk senders. Failure to comply can lead to emails being sent to spam or outright rejected, even if your IP is warmed up.
Email authentication, specifically DMARC, SPF, and DKIM, are more critical than ever. Gmail heavily relies on these protocols to verify sender identity and prevent phishing and spoofing. If your authentication isn't properly configured or fails alignment checks, your emails are likely to be flagged, even if they reach the inbox. This can hurt your sender reputation and indirectly lead to lower CTR as recipients may become wary of your emails.
Authentication issues that impact CTR
Missing or misconfigured DKIM records: Without a valid DKIM signature, Gmail may view your emails as suspicious.
SPF authentication failures: Ensure all your sending IPs are authorized in your SPF record. An invalid SPF can cause emails to go to spam.
DMARC policy: If you don't have a DMARC record set up, or if it's too relaxed (p=none), it offers less protection and less trust to Gmail.
Another technical aspect that can subtly affect CTR is your email template. Even a simple change in your email template can cause open rates to drop if there's an HTML error that disrupts layout or renders content poorly, making it difficult for users to find and click on links. This is especially true if parts of your message get clipped by Gmail due to excessive size, hiding your crucial CTAs.
List hygiene and hidden factors
A decline in CTR can also be a symptom of a larger issue with your email list itself. If your list hasn't been regularly cleaned, it might contain inactive or unengaged subscribers. Sending to these contacts dilutes your engagement metrics, signaling to Gmail that your emails are not valuable, even if a portion of your active subscribers are still clicking.
Spam traps are a critical concern here. These are email addresses designed to catch spammers. Sending to a spam trap, even unintentionally, can severely damage your sender reputation and lead to your emails being placed on a blacklist (or blocklist). Once on a blacklist (or blocklist), your emails are much more likely to end up in the spam folder, drastically reducing your open and click rates. Understanding how blacklists work is crucial for preventing this outcome.
The problem
Your email list contains a high percentage of inactive or unengaged subscribers, pulling down your overall CTR metrics and signaling low engagement to mailbox providers like Gmail.
This can lead to your emails being categorized into less visible tabs, or even the spam folder, despite a seemingly healthy sender reputation.
A sudden shift in audience behavior, such as a change in preferences or increased email fatigue, may result in fewer clicks on your content.
A factor that's often overlooked, as identified in one troubleshooting scenario, is the impact of third-party scripts or elements on your website, like a cookie consent manager. If such a script interferes with your website's functionality or link tracking when users click through from an email, it could artificially depress your CTR, even if user intent to click is high. This is a subtle yet significant issue that requires a holistic view of your email marketing ecosystem.
Ultimately, if your email open rates have dropped and your email deliverability rates are wrong, you need to understand the hidden factors that most marketers miss. This is because it is directly related to your click-through rate. If your open rates have decreased recently, it's a good idea to perform an email deliverability test.
Diagnosing and improving your CTR
To accurately diagnose a drop in CTR, you need to leverage the right tools and strategies. Google Postmaster Tools (GPT) is an invaluable resource for senders to Gmail users. It provides insights into your domain's reputation, spam rate, feedback loop data, and authentication success rates (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). A low DKIM success rate or a rising spam rate in GPT would be a clear indicator of deliverability issues affecting your inbox placement and subsequently, your CTR.
Beyond technical diagnostics, A/B testing is essential for improving content engagement. Test different subject lines, preheader texts, email layouts, CTA button colors and copy, and even sending times. Small tweaks can yield significant improvements in CTR. Regularly analyzing your campaign performance data can help you identify trends and adjust your strategy proactively to increase email click-through rate.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Maintain a clean and engaged email list by regularly removing inactive subscribers and using a double opt-in process for new sign-ups.
Consistently monitor your sender reputation and authentication status using tools like Google Postmaster Tools for Gmail.
Segment your audience and personalize your email content to ensure relevance, increasing the likelihood of clicks.
Routinely A/B test different elements of your emails, including subject lines, CTAs, and content layout, to optimize for engagement.
Common pitfalls
Ignoring DMARC reports or failing to implement a strong DMARC policy can lead to authentication failures and lower deliverability.
Neglecting to optimize emails for mobile devices, which can severely hinder user experience and reduce clicks.
Using generic or misleading subject lines that lead to opens but don't deliver on content, causing recipient disengagement.
Overlooking website-side issues, such as cookie consent pop-ups or broken tracking, that interfere with actual click recording.
Expert tips
Before launching a new campaign, always run a comprehensive email deliverability test to identify any potential issues.
If your open rates are fine but CTR is low, focus on refining your content, CTAs, and overall email design for clearer value proposition.
For any sudden drops, immediately check for changes in third-party scripts on your landing pages, as they can silently disrupt tracking.
Actively encourage subscribers to move your emails to their primary inbox by educating them on how to do so within Gmail.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says they identified a problem with lower CTR and click-through rate, with 95% of the issue being in Gmail, noting a significant drop in clicks since March compared to February.
2024-03-12 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says that the absence of DKIM could be a contributing factor to the observed decline in email performance.
2024-03-12 - Email Geeks
Summary
A drop in Gmail click-through rates often signals a need for a multi-faceted investigation. It's rarely a single issue, but rather a combination of technical configurations, content relevance, list quality, and compliance with evolving mailbox provider requirements. By taking a proactive approach to monitoring your deliverability metrics, optimizing your content for engagement, and ensuring your technical setup is flawless, you can effectively diagnose and reverse a declining CTR, ultimately improving your email marketing performance.
Gmail.
