A drop in email engagement is often caused by a combination of inbox placement and recipient behavior.

Email providers like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo use automated filtering systems to decide where a message should appear, such as the Primary inbox, Promotions, or Spam. If an email is displayed in a less visible place, open and click rates often decline.

What can influence inbox placement?

Providers evaluate many signals, including:

• The email’s content and structure
• Design and formatting (how “promotional” it looks)
• Past recipient behavior (opens, clicks, replies, deletes, spam reports)
• Sender reputation signals (varies by provider)

Common reasons marketing emails get placed in Promotions

Emails are more likely to look promotional when they include:

• Image-heavy layouts
• Many links or repeated call-to-action sections
• Highly designed templates or newsletter-style formatting
• Promotional subject lines
• Longer, newsletter-style content
• Lower engagement from the audience over time

What you can do next

While no one can guarantee where an email will land, these steps often help improve visibility and engagement:

• Simplify the layout and reduce the “newsletter” feel
• Use fewer images and links
• Write more conversational, personal copy
• Keep emails shorter, or link to a webpage for longer content
• Use natural subject lines
• Send more often to your most engaged audience segments

If you need further assistance, contact support with a recent example (subject line + email body) and the audience segment used and we can suggest specific changes to test in your next send.