How to Stop Emails from Going to Promotions in Gmail & Tips

Q: Why Are Emails Labelled as Promotions?

Because if emails contain some kind of promotion or promotional expressions, the emails are automatically sent to the Promotions tab. Therefore, whether you want it or not, you should pay attention to the content of your emails based on your intent.

Preventing emails from going into the Promotions tab in Gmail has different ways to achieve.

To improve the management of your email’s category is the perfect idea to keep track of your scheduling.

Through useful research and investigation of what to do to stop emails from going to Promotions in Gmail, we will focus on two sides: the receiver and the sender.

Based on your aim, you can scan the points that we have prepared and pick among them. Feel free to jump to the section you want.

the cover of the blog how to stop emails from going to promotions in gmail on a yellow background

What is the “Promotions” Tab in Gmail?

Promotions tab is a tab where you can find emails related to promotional offers, sales, product announcements, deals, and other marketing content in your Gmail account.

The Promotions tab is for distinguishing promotional emails from social and primary ones.

The emails that are aimed to exist in the Promotions tab are prepared by brands on purpose.

However, emails that do not have any promotional content can sometimes go into the Promotions as well.

With the right management of the inbox, this situation can be fixed for the sender and the receiver.

How to Stop Emails from Going to Promotions in Gmail for the Receiver

If you are the receiver of the emails and you want to manage emails in your Promotions tab, there are various ways to do that.

We can touch upon them one by one. You can simply try one of these to make them work.

A. Drag and Drop Emails from Promotions to Primary

The most straightforward method for preventing emails from going to the Primary tab in Gmail is dragging and dropping the emails.

However, in the long term, it might take too much time.

While the last decision is up to you, you need to select the emails and pay attention to the practicality of the system.

Step 1- Go to your Gmail account, open your Promotions tab, and drag the target Promotions email to drop the Primary tab.

dragging dropping email from Promotions to Primary

Step 2- To keep taking these emails to your Primary box, you should choose “Yes” on the modal at the bottom.

email carrying to Promotions

That’s all! You can decide what to apply for your emails.

B. Creating Filter for Promotions Tab,

This method is valid for a specific conversation as well.

However, once you try it, you don’t see these kinds of emails in your Promotions tab since you explicitly arrange the settings of them.

Step 1- Go to your Gmail account and choose one of the emails in your Promotions tab. Then, click the three-dot on the email to find “Filter messages like this”.

filter messages like this Gmail account

Step 2- Click “Create filter” on the modal that appears while checking the accuracy of the sender email.

create filter for a specific email

Step 3- Now, choose “Never send it to Spam” and then select “Primary” for ‘Categorize as:’. Lastly, click the “Create filter” button.

advanced filtering to create filter

Though creating filter might sound complicated to you, here are all the steps that you need to take for stopping emails from going to Promotions in Gmail.

C. Use the “Not Promotions” Option at the Top

This process can be applied to specific emails and you should do it one by one.

It is highly recommended if you focus on one person.

To complete the process, you need to apply these two following steps.

Step 1- Go to your Gmail account and choose your Promotions tab.

Promotions tabs in a Gmail account

Step 2- Then, click ‘Not “Promotions”’ by choosing one of the emails that you want to determine as not promotions.

not promotions option of anemail

If you have a specific contact that you want to see their email at first hand without wasting much time on looking at Promotions email, you can try this method.

D. Inactivate the “Promotions” Tab

Inactivating the Promotions tab will automatically help you get any emails to your Promotions tab.

Therefore, you will use your Primary and Social tabs more often instead of Promotions.

To disable the Promotions tab, you should follow this process.

Step 1- Go to your Gmail account and click the Settings icon on the right side of the page.

settings icon in gmail account

Step 2- Then, click on the “See all settings” at the top of the options.

see all settings Gmail account

Step 3- Choose “Inbox” from the tabs and untick the ‘Promotions’.

ticking the promotions of inbox

Step 4- Lastly, you need to scroll down and click “Save Changes”.

After completing these steps, you will not get any emails or notifications to your Promotions tab.

E. Add the Sender to Your Contacts

It is one of the easiest ways to prevent emails from going to Promotions in Gmail.

It will take you seconds since it is extremely applicable.

To add the sender to your contacts, you should…

Step 1- Once you log into your Gmail account, move to the “Promotions” tab.

promotions tabs in a Gmail account

Step 2- Choose one of the emails that you want to add as a contact and click on it.

choosing an email from Promotions tab

Step 3- Hold your cursor on the sender name and click the icon of adding contact on the modal that appears.

add to contacts on gmail

To add the sender to your contacts will prevent your emails from going to Promotions and you will be able to see them on your Primary box.

Tips to Prevent Emails from Going to Promotions in Gmail

If you are the sender of the emails and don’t want to send your emails to Promotions, you should take these tips into consideration.

Arrange the Content of Your Email

Your emails should be informative and sound less promotional. Grammatically, you need to pay attention to language, exclamation marks, keyword stuffing, and length of the email.

Personalize Your Emails

If your emails are too general and don’t have any target to specify, they are more likely to seem sales-oriented. Therefore, you should use smart tags to determine.

Keep Track of Timing

The important thing here is the consistency of your emails. So, when you decide to send your emails, consider the time that you send them.

Don’t Use Large Images or Attachments

Large images trigger the Promotions tab, so you shouldn’t use very large image in your emails. As for the attachments, they can be replaced with links rather than files.

Use Plain Text in Emails

Complicated texts and content can be sophisticated. Therefore, consider using HTML to be categorized as “Primary”.

Engage with Your Subscribers

Sometimes, you need to inform your subscribers to change the tab of your emails. If they are not aware of the fact that your emails are in the Promotions tab, this means your engagement is not active enough. Also, it might be a good step for email list building.

Craft Your Own Reputation

As the sender, you need to create your own reputation. Interacting with your recipients can improve your reputation.

Wrapping Up

To sum up, stopping your emails from going to Promotions in Gmail is valuable for the enhancement of your business.

By choosing your side and the best option to apply, you will easily succeed the processes and manage your emails.

Frequently Asked Questions

We have decided to mention the important points of how to stop emails from going to Promotions in Gmail once more with a clear way of answering.

Why Are Emails Labelled as Promotions?

Because if emails contain some kind of promotion, sales promotion examples, promotional expressions, the emails are automatically sent to the Promotions tab. Therefore, whether you want it or not, you should pay attention to the content of your emails based on your intent.

Can I Automatically Forward Emails from the "Promotions" Tab to Another Email Address?

Yes, you can set up email forwarding rules in Gmail to automatically forward emails from the "Promotions" tab to another email address if desired.

How Can I Reduce the Number of Promotional Emails I Receive in the First Place?

To reduce the number of promotional emails, be cautious about sharing your email address, only subscribe to newsletters and services you genuinely want, and regularly unsubscribe from unwanted emails.