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MailMonk Help

My emails went to Promotions or Spam — what it means & what to do

If your campaign landed in Promotions or Spam, don’t panic — in almost every case this is a reputation/content question, not a broken setup.

Promotions ≠ Spam

Section titled “Promotions ≠ Spam”

Gmail’s Promotions tab is the correct, intended destination for opt-in marketing email. Recipients still see it; it’s simply filed under the tab Gmail created for exactly this kind of mail. Landing in Promotions is success, not a problem to fix.

Spam is different — that’s where you want to avoid. The most common cause on a new domain is simply that the domain hasn’t built reputation yet. See Why new sending domains warm up.

Why this happens

Section titled “Why this happens”

On a new sending domain, mailbox providers don’t yet trust your mail. Combined with the fact that marketing content naturally trips more filters than a 1:1 personal email, early campaigns commonly land in Promotions or Spam until reputation builds.

It is not caused by:

  • A MailMonk misconfiguration
  • A broken SPF/DKIM/DMARC setup (these are verified — see Authentication)
  • A problem with the underlying sending service

What to do about it

Section titled “What to do about it”
  1. Confirm it’s actually Spam, not Promotions. Promotions is fine — no action needed.
  2. Send to engaged people first. Opens, clicks, and replies from real recipients teach Gmail your mail is wanted and pull future sends toward the inbox.
  3. Ask a few recipients to mark it “Not spam” / drag it to Primary. A handful of these signals early on helps significantly.
  4. Tighten your content. Avoid heavy image-only emails, trigger-word stacking, and ALL-CAPS. See Content best practices.
  5. Keep the list clean. Bounces and complaints hurt placement fastest. See List hygiene.
  6. Give it time. Placement improves over the first few weeks as reputation builds. This is the expected curve, not a stall.