Deliverability
Why do my emails land in the Gmail Promotions tab?
The Promotions tab is not the spam folder, but for cold outreach the practical effect is similar: far fewer people see the message. Gmail sorts on signals that mostly come down to whether an email looks like marketing.
What pushes mail into Promotions
Several things flag a message as bulk marketing rather than personal correspondence.
- Images, logos and heavy HTML formatting.
- Multiple links, especially tracked ones.
- Marketing language and obvious sales structure.
- Unsubscribe footers styled like a newsletter.
- Sending patterns that look like a mass campaign.
What keeps mail in Primary
Plain text, or something very close to it. Short messages. One link at most, and ideally none in the first message. Language that reads as though a person typed it to one recipient, because that is what Gmail is trying to detect.
Genuine engagement matters too. Replies are the strongest possible signal that a sender belongs in Primary.
What not to do about it
Asking recipients to drag your email into Primary rarely works. Most people ignore the request, and on mobile it is awkward or impossible. It also signals that you know you are being filtered.
How Leadhaus approaches it
Campaigns are built as plain, short, personally structured messages rather than templated marketing, which is the single biggest factor in Primary placement. Placement is then monitored, and where it degrades the approach is adjusted.
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