The Gmail Promotions tab isn't spam. Here's how to stand out in it.

This is for Shopify founders on Klaviyo who are building their BFCM sends right now.

Is the Gmail Promotions tab the same as spam?

No. Spam is a folder people almost never open. Promotions is a tab inside the inbox that Gmail sorts for you, and it's where people go when they're in the mood to shop.

The thing founders most often get wrong about the Promotions tab: they think it's evil. It isn't. It's a reflection of how you've performed with your list. Gmail watches how your subscribers treat your email and sorts accordingly, so the tab is a mirror, not a punishment.

If your emails really are landing in spam, that's a different problem with different fixes: authentication, list hygiene, and sending to people who stopped engaging. I walk through that triage in how I'd find out why Klaviyo emails go to spam.

How to get out of the Promotions tab (and why I wouldn't try)

Every few months someone shares a hack for this. Strip the images. Write it like a note from a friend. Add a fake "Re:".

My problem with all of it: you're dressing up a promotion as something it isn't, and people notice the second they open it. Fake "Re:" and "Fwd:" lines are a hard no for me. They trade one open for a little trust, every time.

Plain text isn't the issue. In my tests, plain text and designed emails perform about the same. But picking a format to dodge a tab is the wrong reason to pick it.

The honest answer is that Gmail decides the tab, and Google says annotations don't change that. So stop fighting for Primary and start winning inside Promotions.

What should you check first if you think Gmail is burying your emails?

Two things, in order:

1. Compare opens against clicks. If opens look fine but clicks are dead, the tab isn't your problem; the email is.
2. Open Klaviyo's deliverability view by inbox provider. Look for a major dropoff at Gmail compared to your other inbox providers. It gives you a really good read on where people are actually interacting with your email content. If Gmail clicks sit far below everyone else's, dig into spam placement and engagement. If they're in line, the Promotions tab is doing its job and so are you.

What's new in the Gmail Promotions tab

Google calls it "the new Gmail promotions tab." Here's what its own pages say about how it works now:

• Gmail automatically groups and highlights emails in Promotions. Google says these "are not ads and happen automatically based on a number of factors."
• Emails can be grouped into bundles. Google says your email can land in a bundle even without an annotation.
• If you add an expiration date, the email gets two chances to show up at the top of a bundle: once when it's sent, and again within the three days before the offer ends.
• Gmail can generate a deal card, a visual summary of your offer built from the details you give it. Google says deal cards can show in the Promotions tab and inside the email itself.
• Only consumer Gmail accounts see the new tab. Google Workspace accounts don't.

That expiration date detail is the one I'd care about for BFCM. An offer ending Cyber Monday night gets a second shot at the top right when people make their last decisions.

What are Gmail annotations?

Annotations are markup you add to an email so Gmail can show more than a subject line and preview text in Promotions. Google lists four kinds:

• Deal annotation. A green badge next to your subject line, like "20% off" or "Free shipping." It needs at least a description, a discount code, or an end date.
• Single image preview. One product image at a 1.91:1 ratio. Every recipient gets the same image.
• Product carousel. Up to 10 image previews for one promotion, all unique and all the same ratio (4:5, 1:1 or 1.91:1).
• Deal card. Gmail builds it from your offer. It needs a description and at least one link, ideally the offer page.

The limits you should know before you build one

• Gmail mobile app only. Klaviyo's guide says annotations are only visible in the Gmail mobile app. Desktop Gmail users won't see them.
• You need approval. Per the same guide, Google requires senders to go through an approval process. It's free to apply, but nothing shows until you're eligible.
• Gmail decides who sees it. Google says quality filters and frequency limits affect whether annotations show, and that they "might not be visible to all users who receive the email."
• Not everyone has the tab. People who turned off Promotions, use another email provider, or have a Workspace address won't see any of it.

So treat annotations as a bonus on top of a good email. They won't save a weak offer.

How to add Gmail annotations in a Klaviyo email

Here's how I'd set it up:

1. Check how much of your list is on Gmail. Klaviyo's guide points to the Deliverability tab on a campaign, under "Email send volume by inbox provider." If Gmail is a small slice, this isn't your highest-value fix.
2. Apply for approval early. Do it this month, not the week of Black Friday.
3. Build the email in Klaviyo's HTML builder. The annotation code goes at the very top, in the email's head section. Klaviyo's guide uses microdata. Google also accepts JSON-LD.
4. Write the badge like a price tag. Google says keep it to four words or fewer and be specific: "25% off sitewide" beats "Big savings inside."
5. Only show a code that's in the email. Google's best practices say so, and the field always shows "Code" before your text.
6. Set a real end date with a time and time zone. Don't leave an expired date in the markup. Google treats it as an old offer.
7. Use real product or lifestyle photos. No text-only images, HTTPS image links, and a fresh image each send. Google says reused images can look like duplicates.
8. Preview, then test on your phone. Use Google's preview tool, send a test to your own Gmail account, and click every link before you hit send.

How do you know if annotations worked? Look at clicks

Klaviyo's guide suggests comparing your Gmail open rate against other inbox providers. I'd look at clicks instead.

Across 4 consumable brands I work with, click rate tracked revenue at 0.65. Open rate tracked it at 0.32. For one brand, higher opens actually went with lower revenue. Apple Mail auto-opens pushed some segments past an 85% open rate, which tells you how much noise is in that number. I break this down in open rate vs click rate.

So compare annotated sends against similar unannotated sends to the same segment, on click rate and revenue per recipient. Give it a few sends before you decide.

The author of Klaviyo's guide says she sees stronger opens and clicks with annotations set up right, but shares no numbers. Treat that as a reason to test, not a promise.

Where these numbers come from

The open and click numbers come from 2,897 campaigns across 4 consumable brands, about $17.7M in email revenue. That's a small sample, so read it as directional. More of it lives in my CPG email marketing benchmarks.

Where annotations fit in your BFCM plan

Annotations are the last coat of paint. The plan underneath matters more: who gets which sends, how hard you push, and what the offer is. I laid that out in BFCM email strategy for consumable brands.

Black Friday is Friday, Nov 27 and Cyber Monday is Nov 30. If you're approved in time, I'd put annotations on the sends with a real offer and a real deadline: early access, launch day and last chance.

FAQ

WRITTEN BY Jack White

Founder of Bardown Digital, a Chicago-based Klaviyo email and retention agency for Shopify brands. He's worked with brands doing $500K to $100M a year, with $100M+ in email-attributed revenue across them.

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