Gmail Getting Stricter in 2025 - Still Hitting Inbox?

Yeah, Gmail’s definitely tightened filters this year. Even low-volume sends are hitting promos. Keeping domain reputation solid, using branded sending names, and mixing engagement-based follow-ups seems to help a bit - but inboxing’s tougher than ever.

I'm not sure if my limited experience as a newcomer holds much value, but I'd still like to share it. During our first email marketing campaign, we sent 50 emails to our registered user list (which included some internal company email addresses). The emails contained no visual design—just text (a brief product introduction) and a large image (featuring promotional content), along with an unsubscribe link at the bottom. Unsurprisingly, they ended up in Gmail's spam folder.

For the second attempt, we used a neutral, generic prefix like "info." The email contained plain text (briefly introducing the product and emphasizing technical support services) and utilized the platform's basic email design tool. A global unsubscribe button was placed at the bottom. This email landed in Gmail's Promotions tab.

Third attempt: We used an email address with the "contact" prefix, again with plain text content, this time solely emphasizing our desire for user feedback on the product. This email performed better, landing in Gmail's primary inbox.

Current lessons learned include: manually marking emails as "not spam" in our internal mailboxes after receipt, increasing replies and interactions; sending in small batches at a slow pace, continuously refining the approach. Of course, our marketing content may still be rejected by Gmail.

Beyond that, I should note that Outlook's mechanisms may be even stricter: after multiple attempts, our Outlook-targeted emails have yet to show any progress. (Feeling lost)

I've faced the same situation using saleshandy! now got the point that the issue was from gmail,

Right there with you. Gmail’s really rewarding genuine engagement now. Replies volume every time. Feels more like relationship-building than ‘email marketing’ these days.

Gmail is even tagging emails of Google's own products to spam.

Rebel Phantom said:

Hey Guys,

Not sure if it's just me, But gmail filters feel way stricter lately. Even my warmed up domains and clean lists are getting thrown into promotions or spam.
I've tried everything - Plain text emails, different send times, tweaking the copy- still hit or miss. Feels like Gmail's flagging almost everything now.

How are you guys keeping your emails in the inbox these days?
Are you changing setups, rotating domains, or just lowering daily sends?

Would love to hear what's working for you.

Click to expand...

To stay in the inbox focus on maintaining a clean engaged list warming up new domains slowly and sending highly relevant content while monitoring engagement metrics closely

gmail is tough now. it's like we're battling AI all the time.