Why Are HubSpot Emails Going to Spam?

HubSpot emails usually go to spam for one of three reasons: you haven't connected and authenticated your email sending domain, so your mail doesn't pass DMARC; your list includes contacts who never opted in or stopped engaging long ago; or your marketing email and your sales email are being treated as two different problems when they're not. HubSpot handles the sending infrastructure for marketing email, but the domain setup and the list are yours.

Start by figuring out which kind of HubSpot email is landing in spam, because they don't travel the same road.

Two kinds of HubSpot email

• Marketing email (newsletters, campaigns, workflows) goes out through HubSpot's own servers. Unless you've bought the Dedicated IP or Transactional Email add-on, that means HubSpot's shared IPs.
• One-to-one sales and service email sent from the CRM, sequences and the inbox goes out through your connected mailbox. HubSpot hands the message to your email provider (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or another), and that provider's servers deliver it.

If your one-to-one emails are in spam, HubSpot's IP reputation isn't the issue. Your own domain and mailbox are; see Why are my business emails going to spam?. The rest of this page is about marketing email.

How HubSpot sends marketing email

A few defaults shape everything:

• Shared IPs. Your reputation on a shared IP is partly other HubSpot customers' reputation. HubSpot polices this pool with its own thresholds (more on that below).
• A HubSpot return path. On the shared network, the return path (the envelope sender domain that SPF checks) belongs to HubSpot and can't be customized. That means SPF won't align with your From domain, and DMARC has to pass on DKIM.
• DKIM requires a connected sending domain. HubSpot sets up DKIM (two CNAME records) and DMARC for the domain in your From address when you connect it. Without it, HubSpot may rewrite your From address with a placeholder domain, which HubSpot itself says can look suspicious to mailbox providers.

The common causes, most likely first

1. Your sending domain isn't connected or authenticated

This is the most common one. If DKIM isn't verified, your mail has no aligned authentication at all, and Gmail and Yahoo require it for bulk senders. HubSpot shows each domain as Not authenticated, Partially authenticated or Authenticated in its domain settings. Anything short of Authenticated needs fixing. See the Gmail and Yahoo bulk sender requirements.

2. Unengaged contacts

HubSpot portals tend to collect contacts from everywhere: imports, form fills, event lists, sales prospecting. Sending marketing email to all of them is the fastest way to raise spam complaints and hit spam traps. HubSpot has a "Don't send to unengaged contacts" setting, on by default, which skips contacts who have never engaged and ignored your last 11 sends, or who once engaged but ignored your last 16. Turning it off to "reach more people" usually backfires.

3. Contacts who never opted in

Imported prospect lists, purchased lists and contacts migrated from another tool without proof of consent generate complaints. HubSpot's deliverability team watches for this, and the spam folder is the mild version of the consequence.

4. Sending from a domain that also carries your corporate mail

Marketing and one-to-one mail sharing example.com means a campaign that annoys people can drag down the domain your sales team relies on. HubSpot recommends a dedicated subdomain for shared-IP senders, such as news.example.com.

5. Content and links

Image-heavy templates, link shorteners and links to domains with a poor reputation hurt placement on HubSpot just as anywhere else.

HubSpot's own limits

HubSpot suspends marketing email when an account goes over its monthly limits. Its suspension article lists a hard bounce rate of 5%, a spam report rate of 0.1% (one per 1,000 emails sent) and an unsubscribe rate of 3%. Getting reinstated means going through the appeal in Marketing > Email > Health and removing contacts who don't have permission to receive marketing email; HubSpot says removing already-suppressed contacts isn't enough. Accounts on HubSpot's free tools can't have suspensions lifted.

These limits are a backstop, not a target. HubSpot's spam report rate only reflects complaints that mailbox providers report back, and Gmail measures your spam rate separately in Postmaster Tools, so a number that looks fine in HubSpot can still be trouble at Gmail. See Gmail spam rate threshold.

How to fix it, step by step

1. Check a message that landed in spam. Open the original and run the headers through the header analyzer. You want dkim=pass for your domain and dmarc=pass.
2. Connect your email sending domain in HubSpot's domain settings and publish the DKIM CNAMEs, the SPF include (include:shared.hubspot.com) and a DMARC record until the status reads Authenticated. Use the email authentication checker to confirm from outside HubSpot, and the SPF analyzer to make sure the new include didn't push you over the 10-lookup limit.
3. Consider a marketing subdomain if you're sending from your main domain.
4. Leave unengaged-contact suppression on, and build a list that excludes contacts with no opens or clicks in the last several months. Re-permission or retire them rather than mailing them forever.
5. Remove contacts without consent. If you can't say how a contact opted in, don't send them marketing email.
6. Check the Health tab for bounce, spam report and unsubscribe trends, and HubSpot's repair plan if it offers one.
7. Ramp back up gradually after a cleanup: engaged contacts first, then widen the audience over a few weeks.

How to confirm it's fixed

Send a test to seed accounts at Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo and check placement and headers. Watch Google Postmaster Tools for spam rate and domain reputation, and HubSpot's Health tab for bounces and spam reports, over the following two to four weeks. Recovery is gradual.

How to keep it from coming back

• Keep the sending domain authenticated whenever you add a new brand or From domain.
• Make unengaged suppression and a regular list review part of how you run email, not a rescue project.
• Use confirmed opt-in or CAPTCHA on forms so bots and typos don't become contacts.
• Keep sales prospecting lists out of marketing sends.

If placement dropped suddenly, start with Why are my emails suddenly going to spam? For other platforms, see Amazon SES, Mailchimp and Klaviyo.

When to get help

If your domain shows Authenticated, your list is clean and you're still in spam, or HubSpot has suspended your sending and you're not sure what to remove, it's worth an outside review. Get in touch.

FAQ

Does HubSpot's free plan let me authenticate my domain?

No. Connecting an email sending domain requires a Starter, Professional or Enterprise subscription.

Do I need a dedicated IP in HubSpot?

Usually not. Dedicated IPs require Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise plus an add-on, and they suit high, steady volume. Most deliverability problems on HubSpot come from authentication and list quality, which a dedicated IP doesn't fix.

Why do my HubSpot sales emails go to spam when marketing email doesn't?

Sales emails go through your own mailbox provider, not HubSpot's servers. Check your domain's authentication and your mailbox's sending volume and patterns instead.

Why did HubSpot suspend my marketing email?

Usually because hard bounces, spam reports or unsubscribes went over HubSpot's monthly limits, or because of signs of unconsented or fraudulent sending. Fix the list, then appeal through the Health tab.