Validity, an email deliverability company, says its benchmark data shows Gmail's average inbox placement fell from 90.97% in Q1 2026 to 81.57% in Q3. Google Workspace fell from 88.9% to 74.3%. That's Validity's data, not a statement from Google.
Validity puts it down to bulk sender rules now fully enforced, the relevance-sorted Promotions tab and AI summaries in the inbox. Its advice for Black Friday is to resist ramping up volume and send smaller, targeted emails instead.
Whatever the cause, the move is the same. Look after the people who open, and stop paying to email the ones who don't.