Gmail Categories Test: Where will your email appear? (2024)

The purpose of Gmail categories isn’t to be the big bad monster at the end of the inbox! The goal is actually very practical: Gmail categories are intended to make life easier by pre-sorting emails into a Primary, Social, Updates, Forums, or Promotions tab. By doing so, subscribers can keep a cleaner inbox and easily view just one category at a time by clicking through the tabs at the top of their inbox.

It’s like housecleaning, but automatic, and for your inbox. Simple, right?

1. Primary Category

First, and perhaps most importantly, is the Primary category. This is where emails from people you know live, whether that’s your boss, your grandma, or your neighbor who really wants to show you pictures of her turtle Georgia. 🐢 Any email that can’t be classified into one of the other categories also ends up here, so it’s the tab for all your most important communications, and the one for miscellaneous emails that Gmail can’t place somewhere else.

Many marketers think of this tab as the one to aim for—you’ve gotten out of the Promotions tab and into the first thing a subscriber sees when they open their inbox, after all. But that’s not always the best thing! While it can be attractive to land in the Primary tab, if your subscriber isn’t expecting to see your email about the ten best types of rubber boots to order this rainy season during their morning coffee… That could earn you an unsubscribe. Context matters! And sometimes it’s better to be in the Gmail Promotions tab.

2. Promotions Category

Ah, the Gmail Promotions tab. How we marketers have a love-hate relationship withthis Gmail category! This category holds promotions, offers, and other generally-termed marketing materials. While some folks make it their mission to get out of the Promotions category, we like to think of Promotions a little differently. Tricking Gmail into placing your promotional emails in the Primary tabcan feel deceptive to many people, and that hurts your brand reputation!

Instead, we recommend being honest with your subscribers about the kind of email you’re delivering. If it’s a marketing email that contains a promotion, it can go in the Promotions tab!

Once in the Promotions tab, however, there’s a lot you can do to stand out. We recommend usingGmail’s Promotions tab annotationsto create custom images that showcase your products and using the deal or coupon code badges! Now that you’re in the right place, there are so many tools you can use to set your emails apart from the rest.

3. Social Category

The Social category is pretty simple. This is where messages from social networks. media-sharing sites, and that endless stream of updates from your cousin’s dog’s Instagram wind up. This is one of those tabs we thank Gmail for regularly… No one needs that many updates in their email and on their social media feeds.

Thanks, Gmail!

4. Updates Category

The Updates category may seem vague, but it’s a pretty simple concept. The Updates tab is for the nitty-gritty details of life:Notifications, confirmations, receipts, bills and statements. Your marketing emails are unlikely to end up here—but your transactional emails may. (And it’s the best home for them.)

This tab is an unglamorous hard worker, and we’re grateful for it too. 🙏

5. Forums Category

The final Gmail category is Forums. This one houses messages from online groups, discussion boards, and mailing lists. If you’re a frequent user of Reddit, for example, you might be in this Gmail category quite frequently!

Once again, your marketing emails are unlikely to end up in this category, unless you’re doing something very creative with your marketing strategies.

Gmail’s categories canimpact email deliverability—but not always in a bad way. While showing up in the Promotions tab can lead to fewer opens, the users who do open your email may be more interested buyers. There are several different schools of thought here. Many feel that you want to avoid the Promotions tab, while others feel that making sure that your content appears in the place your subscribers expect it is a path to better deliverability over time.

If you want to keep your emails out of the Promotions tab because you feel it is impacting reads and opens with your audience, there are several things you can do. Here are a few options:

• Avoid use of fancy HTML
• Use real names and email addresses
• Avoid images
• Reduce links
• Make sure your security certifications are up to date (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

In general since the Primary tab is generally designed for communication between friends and family or coworkers, the more you can do to make your email look like a simple piece of interpersonal communication, the better. At least if you’re trying to avoid the Promotions tab!

Now, that said, we personally feel that the Promotions tab is actually a marketer’s friend. While your opens may suffer a little in the short term, the opens you do get will come with much more intent!

We’ve provided the Gmail categories testing tool above so that you can find out ahead of time where your email will appear (and make changes as needed).

Here’s how to use it:

1. Copy the custom email address

Just copy and paste the custom email address shown in the box below to get started. You’ll have one generated just for you in our tool, so make sure you use a unique email address for each test.

2. Enter that code into the “Send to” field

Now, take that custom email address and copy it into the “Send to” field in the email you want to test. If you’re working out of an ESP (which you probably are), just send a quick test email to that custom email address.

Here’s an example of what that would look like within Gmail:

Then, press that send button!

3. Get your result!

Once you’ve sent the email to this address, you’ll return to the Litmus tool and hit that button above that reads, “I’ve sent it”. Then, in just a few seconds, we’ll show you what tab your email will end up in, in a screen just like the one below.

And there you have it! Three simple steps for ensuring that your emails make it into the Gmail category you desire before hitting that big red send button.