How do I improve email deliverability so that my emails land in the primary inbox

[durentboi]

Please help me someone. I am new to email marketing and I've been sending test emails to my other gmail accounts but these emails keep ending up in the promotions tab. How do I make my emails land in inbox tab.

I am using sender.net as my ESP

PS: I already have SPF, DKIM, and DMARC set up.

[SurbhiSharma]

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Hey, I am trying to list down these things for you. I hope this works. 

1. Make Your Emails Look More “Human” 

Gmail sorts emails into the Promotions tab when they look like a mass marketing campaign. Here’s how to avoid that:

✅ Use a Personal Sender Name & Email

• Instead of “marketing@yourdomain.com,” try "John from YourBrand" (john@yourdomain.com)

• This makes your email feel more like a personal message than a campaign.

✅ Avoid Too Many Links & Images

• Gmail flags emails with lots of buttons, images, and links as promotional.

• Try keeping it plain-text style (like a normal email you'd send a friend).

✅ No Salesy Words 🚫

• Words like “Free,” “Discount,” “Limited Time Offer” trigger Gmail’s promo filter.

• Keep it casual—write like you're talking to a real person.

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2. Personalization is Key 📝

Gmail loves emails that feel personal. Try:

• Using the recipient’s first name in the subject & body.

• Sending emails based on behavior (like a follow-up instead of a mass send).

• Writing short & natural subject lines (e.g., "Quick question for you, [Name]?" instead of "Exclusive Deal – 50% Off Now!").

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3. Warm Up Your Email Sending Reputation 🔥

If you’re using Sender.net and just started email marketing, Gmail is still “learning” if your emails are good or spammy. Here’s what helps:

✅ Start slow – Don’t blast emails to hundreds of people at once.
✅ Engage first with active users – Send test emails to real people who will open, reply, and mark as important.
✅ Ask recipients to move your email to Primary – If you have subscribers, ask them to drag your email from Promotions to Primary and click “Yes” when Gmail asks if they want future emails in Primary.

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4. Test & Improve 🚀

✅ Send yourself a test email (from Sender.net to your Gmail).
✅ Check with tools like Mail-Tester (https://www.mail-tester.com) to see if your email is getting flagged for spam.
✅ Try different email formats – Remove images, reduce links, and tweak wording.

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Final Thoughts

Since you already have SPF, DKIM, and DMARC set up (huge win! 🎉), the next best things are:

✔️ Keep emails simple & natural
✔️ Use a real sender name & personal tone
✔️ Send to engaged users first
✔️ Ask users to move emails to Primary

Try these and let me know if you see an improvement! Hope this helps 😊

Best,
Surbhi

[danmoyle · Accepted solution]

Hi @durentboi and welcome to the Community. I want to share a few resources with you. I recently went through a pretty good certification course on email marketing from GURU Media and found a ton of value and current information. 

First, here's an email delivery and deliverability checklist that will give you some background. 

As for deliverability and getting into the inbox versus the promotions tab, I first want to say, just like old school SEO, there's no guarantee. Email filters are all different, and there's no magic answer. 

However, here are some best practices for email deliverability I try to follow from my experience and current information:

• Authenticate your domains: Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols (you did).
• Use a dedicated IP address or subdomain: This can help build a strong sender reputation (this takes extra steps and time, and the shared IP sender you have with HubSpot is powerful, but it's another step you can take).
• Have a clear and prominent unsubscribe link: Make it easy for recipients to opt out.
• Offer a preference center: Allow subscribers to control what they want to receive.
• Regularly clean your email list: Remove hard bounces and inactive subscribers.
• Focus on valuable and relevant content: Avoid generic, "batch and blast" emails.
• Prioritize deliverability in your strategy: Make it a key focus of your email marketing efforts.
• Avoid spammy subject lines and language: Be clear and concise.
• Maintain consistent sending patterns: Avoid sudden spikes or changes in volume.
• Educate your team on email best practices: Ensure everyone understands the importance of deliverability.
• Monitor and manage bounces: Have a process for handling hard and soft bounces.
• Avoid buying email lists: Build your list organically.
• Test and monitor your deliverability: Use tools to check where your emails are landing.
• Say no to practices that harm deliverability: Be confident in pushing back against requests to send out mass emails without proper segmentation or strategy.

I hope that helps! 

[boostmyemail]

If you're only worried about the test emails going to your specific email address, create a filter that forces the messages to the inbox. If this is a more general concern of getting all your emails into the inbox, that requires good history, time, and of course sending mail that people want to open in the first place. 

[BérangèreL]

Hi @boostmyemail, thanks for your contribution!

Could you give a bit more detail please on how to create the filter to force the messages to the inbox and where to do that to help @durentboi?

Thanks so much!

Best,
Bérangère

[BérangèreL]

Hi @durentboi, I hope that you are well!

Just checking in, do you still need help?

Thanks and have a great day!

Warmly,
Bérangère

[durentboi]

Hello Berangere, yes I still need help. This issue is persistent and is totally frustrating. Do you have any recommended solutions for me?

[BérangèreL]

Hi @durentboi, thanks for your reply!

I totally understand how this can be frustrating, I am sorry to hear this.

Have you looked at & tried the options from the resources I shared in my first reply?

Also, I'd love to ask some of our Top Experts: Hi @danmoyle, @MarianKaha and @Crystal_Hopper do you have other tips for @durentboi, please?
 

Have a lovely weekend and thanks so much in advance for your valuable contributions! ❤️

Warmly,
Bérangère

[danmoyle]

Thanks @BérangèreL 😊 

[BérangèreL]

Hi @durentboi and welcome, we are so glad to have you here! 🎉

Thanks for asking the HubSpot Community!
 

I have checked for you and regarding the emails going to the promotions tab, I can see in this article "Email appearing in Gmail Promotions tab" that HubSpot cannot influence how Gmail categorizes your email, so you can't directly control whether the email appears in the Promotions tab of your contacts' inboxes.

Regarding the deliverability of your email, I'd like to share the solution from @karstenkoehler and @boostmyemail on this post "Need Suggestions to Improve Email Deliverability" that might help you!

And here you'll find resources that might be of interest:

- Improve email deliverability
- Overview of email deliverability
- Improve your email sending reputation with a repair plan
- Clean up your contact lists to improve email deliverability

I hope this helps!

Have a lovely day! 🌞

Best,
Bérangère