Why Your Brevo Emails Go to Spam (And How to Fix It)

Short answer. In our reading, a Brevo email most often lands in spam for one of five reasons: incomplete DNS authentication (missing or misaligned SPF, DKIM, or DMARC on the sending domain), degraded shared-IP reputation, a poorly maintained list sending disengagement signals to mailbox providers, content that trips filters, or a misconfigured Brevo-specific setting. Diagnose in that order, which is our checking method.

A campaign goes out, the open rate collapses, and customer reports confirm what you feared: the email is in Spam, not Primary. In our reading, tweaking the next subject line will rarely fix that: the problem sits at the deliverability level, and it gets resolved by working through a set order of checks.

This guide follows a diagnostic tree: five checks, to follow in order. Each section says what to check and where to check it inside Brevo.

1. The diagnostic tree at a glance

Before digging into each cause, find your symptom in this table. It points you straight to the step to work on first.

If you don't know where to start, start with authentication. It is the foundation: in our view, the other checks make little sense on a poorly authenticated sending domain.

2. Step 1: authentication, dedicated domain or shared Brevo domain

In our view, a sending domain that is poorly authenticated, or not authenticated at all, is the first thing to rule out, ahead of reputation and content.

The root domain. Brevo says the sending domain can be a root domain or a subdomain. In our reading, sending from contact@yourdomain.com without a dedicated subdomain exposes your primary domain to any drop in email reputation, including for transactional email. The fix we recommend is a subdomain dedicated to marketing sends (mail.yourdomain.com or news.yourdomain.com), which you authenticate. The full step-by-step setup is covered in SPF, DKIM, and DMARC setup.

Check authentication in Brevo. Go to Settings > Senders, Domains, IPs > Domains. Brevo's authentication guide lists three records to authenticate a domain, and Brevo's requirements guide says the Senders page should show a green checkmark for the DKIM signature and DMARC policy, an orange warning meaning the domain is not authenticated correctly:

• Brevo code. A TXT record that verifies you own and control the sending domain.
• DKIM. One TXT record or two CNAME records generated by Brevo, published in your DNS. They sign emails so they cannot be altered after sending.
• DMARC. A TXT record. In our reading, start at p=none to observe reports, then move progressively to p=quarantine and p=reject once legitimate senders are identified: a premature p=reject can block your own transactional email.

Brevo states that SPF and MX records are not required to authenticate a domain and are supplied only with a dedicated IP. If your domain carries an SPF record for other sending tools, Brevo notes that a domain can have only one SPF record, so merge the mechanisms into that same record.

Quick diagnostic. If you are not sure your domain is properly authenticated, send a test email to a personal Gmail address and inspect the full message header. DKIM and DMARC should show "pass". In our reading, a failure on either can explain a spam placement.

3. Step 2: shared IP reputation vs a dedicated IP

If authentication is clean and the problem persists, IP reputation is the next suspect.

Brevo sends from shared IPs by default. That IP is used by several organizations. According to Brevo's shared versus dedicated IP guide, if one organization's emails receive complaints, the IP's reputation can suffer, and Brevo says it closely monitors campaigns sent through its shared IPs. The same page states that each organization's domain reputation remains separate: if your own domain sends without discipline (erratic volume, an unmaintained list), your domain reputation, which is distinct from the IP, degrades.

Ramping volume. Brevo recommends increasing volume gradually, especially after a pause, and Google advises avoiding sudden volume spikes when you have no history of sending large volumes. In our reading, a new domain, or a resumed send after a long pause, should therefore ramp volume gradually whatever the shared IP's reputation.

Dedicated IP: only if volume justifies it. According to Brevo, a dedicated IP can be purchased as an add-on on the Professional and Enterprise plans (one is included in Enterprise), and Brevo recommends one when you send at least three campaigns a week to 3,000 or more contacts, or over 100,000 emails a month. With a dedicated IP, your reputation depends solely on your own sending. A new dedicated IP starts with a neutral reputation and also needs warming: on the Professional plan, Brevo's automatic warm-up raises the dedicated IP volume by 20% each sending day. In our reading, it fixes nothing if the problem sits in authentication or the list.

4. Step 3: list hygiene and engagement signals

If authentication and the IP are clean, Brevo's best practices state that the quality of your contact list is the primary factor in whether emails reach the inbox.

Engagement. Brevo explains that sending to unengaged contacts damages sender reputation, and that strong open and click rates signal to mailbox providers that your emails are wanted. In our reading, a list that accumulates inactive contacts drags this ratio down, even when your content is relevant to the active portion of the base.

The thresholds to know. In its sender guidelines, Google asks senders to keep the spam rate reported in Postmaster Tools below 0.3%, recommends staying below 0.10% and avoiding 0.30% or higher, and says a high spam rate leads to increased spam classification. Brevo states that a hard bounce rate above 2%, an unsubscribe rate above 1%, or a spam complaint rate above 0.2% can lead to suspension of your account or email campaigns.

Fix in this order:

1. Exclude hard-bounced addresses (Brevo blocklists them automatically, but verify no manual re-import brings them back).
2. In our reading, review generic addresses (info@, contact@, admin@) before including them: they are often shared.
3. Brevo recommends excluding contacts with no engagement in the last three to six months from your main campaigns and handling them in a re-engagement flow. In our reading, a sunset flow (for example at 180 days of inactivity) keeps them from dragging down overall engagement.
4. If your list has gone a long time without active management, we would run a reconfirmation campaign targeting inactive contacts before resuming volume sends.

The full method, including the segments to build and a recommended cleaning cadence, is covered in Email list hygiene.

5. Step 4: content and structure

In our reading, content is rarely the primary cause of a recurring spam placement, but it can make an existing problem worse, or explain why one specific campaign lands in spam when others don't.

What matters, according to Brevo's best practices and our practice:

• Clean HTML and relevant content. Brevo states that poor code quality can trigger spam filters. In our reading, an email built almost entirely from a single image is also a negative signal.
• Visible unsubscribe link. Brevo says every marketing email must include a visible and working unsubscribe link, and that it automatically adds one when a campaign lacks it, but in our reading you should not rely on that fallback: design a clear unsubscribe path from the start.
• Consistent sender name. In our reading, a recipient who doesn't recognize the sender is more likely to click "Report spam" than "Unsubscribe."
• Physical address and required footer information. In our reading, missing it is a compliance signal to avoid.
• Consistent link destinations. Brevo states that URL shorteners such as bit.ly or goo.gl are flagged by spam filters. Avoid them, and links to domains unrelated to your brand.

None of these fix broken authentication or a poorly maintained list. Address them after steps 1 through 3, not instead of them.

6. Step 5: Brevo-specific settings to check

Once authentication, IP reputation, list hygiene, and content are all checked, review the Brevo-specific settings that directly influence placement.

• Authenticated domain under Settings > Senders, Domains, IPs > Domains. According to Brevo's requirements guide, if you send from a free email address or without an authenticated domain, Brevo temporarily replaces your sender address with a compliant one, and recipients may not recognize it and mark your emails as spam.
• Deliverability score. Brevo's Deliverability center shows a score calculated from open, click, bounce, unsubscribe and complaint rates and your sender configuration.
• Complaint and bounce tracking in campaign statistics. Brevo says you can follow complaint rates from Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook addresses in campaign statistics. Review them after every send, not only once a problem has already surfaced.
• Ramped volume on any new domain or new dedicated IP. Confirm volume is ramping gradually rather than launching at full load.

The full set of seven checks to validate before a first send, including warmup protocols and the thresholds to watch, is covered in Brevo email deliverability: 7 checks before you send.

7. If you're already blocklisted

If an external blocklist scanner (Brevo's blocklist FAQ mentions MXToolbox) or the soft bounce messages in your campaign reports confirm your IP or domain sits on a list, identify and fix the underlying cause before requesting removal: Brevo states there is no universal removal process, that only the owner of the IP or domain can request removal, and that removal is not guaranteed. That Brevo page is written for dedicated IP users; on a shared IP, Brevo asks you to contact its support. The full procedure, list by list, is detailed in Email blocklist removal: diagnose and get delisted.

What Deliver checks first on a Brevo audit

In our view, the initial problem often sits in the first two steps of this tree: incomplete authentication or reputation degraded by a volume ramp that was too abrupt. Content and fine-grained settings only come after that. Our Brevo agency audits DNS, list quality, and settings to identify the exact cause instead of guessing.

If the diagnostic tree above did not resolve the issue, a free 30-minute Brevo audit puts an expert directly on your account to pinpoint the exact cause.

FAQ

How long does it take for Brevo emails to go back to the primary inbox?

It depends on the cause. Brevo states that DNS propagation for a corrected authentication can take up to 48 hours. Google says improvements in spam rate can take time to be reflected in classification. In our reading, reputation damaged by poor engagement calls for reduced volume, an audience narrowed to the most engaged contacts, then gradual expansion, with no timeline we can guarantee.

My emails land in Gmail Promotions, is that the same as spam?

No. Brevo states that the Promotions tab is not a spam folder: your contacts can still engage with the email. The red flag is an email landing in the Spam folder or getting rejected outright. Brevo also says it has no control over where an email is placed in Gmail (source). Don't conflate the two diagnostics: they call for different fixes.

Do I need a dedicated Brevo IP to get out of spam?

In our reading, not in most cases. Brevo recommends a dedicated IP when you send at least three campaigns a week to 3,000 or more contacts, or over 100,000 emails a month, and says shared IPs suit users who send a few hundred or thousand emails once or twice a month. A dedicated IP fixes neither an authentication problem nor a poorly maintained list.

Can Brevo limit my sending if my complaint rate is too high?

Yes. Brevo states that a spam complaint rate above 0.2% can lead to suspension of your account or email campaigns, and Google says a high spam rate leads to increased spam classification. In our reading, the best prevention is to avoid sending to a cold, unengaged list.

Should I switch ESPs if my Brevo emails go to spam?

In our reading, rarely. Switching tools does not fix broken authentication or a poorly maintained list; the same problem shows up again elsewhere. Diagnose the five steps in this tree first. A migration only makes sense once you've identified a structural limit specific to Brevo, not as a reaction to a single incident.

→ Book a Brevo deliverability diagnostic

Further reading

• SPF, DKIM, and DMARC setup
• Brevo email deliverability: 7 checks before you send
• Email list hygiene
• Email blocklist removal: diagnose and get delisted
• Email deliverability guide

Charlotte Rodrigues, CRM Lead at Deliver.