Stop obsessing over Gmail’s Primary tab

You’ve seen the Slack message, “Our emails are going to the Promotions tab. Can we fix that?”

I’ve had that conversation too. 

And every time, I say the same thing. The Promotions tab is not your problem. It might be doing you a favor. 

Need proof? Gmail handed it to you in January.

The glitch that proved the point
In late January, Gmail’s tab sorting broke for about five hours. 

Promotional emails, social notifications, and newsletters — all of them flooded into Primary with no filtering. 

Gmail also stopped scanning some messages for spam, slapping warning banners on legitimate emails.

Users called it “email armageddon.” Reddit was filled with reports of people waking up to hundreds of unread messages. Google acknowledged the issue and resolved it the same day.

That glitch showed every Gmail user what “all emails in Primary” actually looks like. It was chaos. 

Love it or hate it, the Promotions tab keeps inboxes functional enough that people can find your emails when they want to.

Gmail is now rewarding the right senders
As I covered last fall, Gmail now sorts the Promotions tab by “most relevant” instead of “most recent.” 

The algorithm tracks how often people open, click, and interact with your emails. Strong engagement rises to the top. Everyone else sinks.

The key shift: delivery no longer equals visibility.

Two supporters can open Gmail at the same time and see completely different stacks, depending on how they’ve interacted with your emails. 

Earning consistent engagement puts you in the front row. Background noise gets buried.

And with Gmail’s AI Inbox now rolling out, layering Gemini-powered filtering on top of all this, engagement signals matter even more. 

The noise you’ve been competing with is about to get filtered out, which could actually work in your favor.

Where to focus your energy
Build interaction into every send. A donation link, a survey, a petition — every message needs a clear reason to click. Gmail is watching.

Keep time-sensitive asks obvious and genuine. Nudges in the new Promotions tab reward urgency, so make deadlines and matches unmistakable. Manufactured urgency will backfire.

Clean your list and expect faster churn. Gmail is making it easier to unsubscribe, and AI filtering will surface disengagement faster. 

Suppress inactive contacts before they drag down your reputation.

Write subject lines for clarity, not cleverness. If AI is summarizing your emails before anyone reads them, mission-first framing beats gimmicks.

Give supporters the choice. In your welcome series or onboarding, let subscribers know they can drag your emails from Promotions to Primary on desktop (Gmail will ask “Do this for future messages?”) or tap the three-dot menu on mobile. 

Frame it as their choice.

The bottom line
The Primary tab obsession is a distraction.

The senders who should worry are those landing in Promotions without an engagement strategy to back them up.

If you’re running a smart playbook, the Promotions tab is working for you, not against you.

Check our events list for more or reply to this email to submit one for consideration.

‘Til next time!
Sara