Gmail Promotions tab
Gmail's algorithmic inbox category for promotional and marketing email — not spam, but not the primary inbox.
The Gmail Promotions tab is one of Gmail's algorithmic inbox categories (alongside Primary, Social, Updates, and Forums) that routes marketing and promotional email out of the primary inbox. Messages in Promotions are still delivered and openable; they just sit in a separate tab the user must click into.
Landing in Promotions is not failure — it's correct routing for most marketing email. The Promotions tab has its own visual treatment (image grids, deal badges) that some marketers use intentionally. However, for time-sensitive or relationship-driven email (welcome series, sales follow-ups, important account updates), Promotions placement is suboptimal.
The signals that route to Promotions vs Primary are not published but include: explicit unsubscribe headers, promotional language ("limited time", "% off"), image-heavy layout, and bulk-send patterns. Personal-style email (low image use, no promo language, written like a 1:1 reply) lands in Primary more often. Our score panel flags promo-language risk for users who care about Primary placement.