Why are my Klaviyo emails going to the Gmail promotions tab?
Gmail sorts mail with promotional content, heavy images and marketing headers into the Promotions tab automatically. That is normal for marketing email and is not the same as spam, so judge your results by engagement rather than tab placement.
Gmail uses signals such as bulk sending, tracking links, image-heavy layouts and sales language to classify mail. Marketing email from an ecommerce brand will usually land in Promotions, and that tab is still read by many shoppers.
Trying to force inbox placement with tricks tends to hurt more than it helps. Focus on sending to engaged subscribers, authenticating your domain and writing messages people want to open, because those habits protect sender reputation in every tab.
If real subscribers say they never see your mail, ask them to drag a message to Primary or reply once. Those actions are positive signals, but they should be a request, never a trick.
In practice.
A skincare brand notices its newsletters appear under Promotions for Gmail users. Instead of redesigning everything as plain text, it checks click and purchase rates for those readers, finds them healthy, and keeps the layout while asking new subscribers to move the welcome email to Primary.
Want this handled for your store? See our klaviyo email marketing service or book a free audit.
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