Struggling to get your HubSpot emails delivered? If you’re pulling your hair out wondering why those important notifications, carefully crafted marketing campaigns, or crucial one-to-one sales messages aren’t landing in inboxes, you’re definitely not alone. It’s frustrating when you hit ‘send’ and then… crickets. The good news is, most of the time, the fix is simpler than you think. This guide is all about helping you quickly figure out why your HubSpot emails are going astray and giving you actionable steps to get them back on track, whether it’s an email from HubSpot itself or one you’re sending through the platform. We’ll dive into everything from basic checks to deeper technical tweaks, making sure your messages actually reach their intended audience.

Table of Contents

Checking the Basics First: The Universal Troubleshooting Steps

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s cover some quick wins. These first few steps are like the universal “turn it off and on again” for email issues, and they often solve the problem right away, no matter what kind of HubSpot email you’re missing.

1. The Spam Folder is Your First Stop

I know, I know, it sounds super obvious, but seriously, check your spam or junk folder first! This is probably the number one reason people think they’re not getting emails. Email providers are constantly updating their spam filters, and sometimes, even legitimate emails from HubSpot or those sent through HubSpot can get caught. So, open that spam folder and have a good look. If you find any HubSpot emails there, be sure to mark them as “Not Spam” or “Not Junk.” This teaches your email client that these messages are safe, helping future emails land in your main inbox.

2. Verify Your Email Client Settings

Your personal email settings can sometimes be a little too helpful. For instance, if you’re using Microsoft Outlook, you might have a “Focused Inbox” or emails could be getting quarantined without you realizing it.

Release Quarantined Emails Outlook/Office 365: Some email systems automatically quarantine suspicious emails. If you’re an Outlook user, you might need to manually release HubSpot emails from a quarantine folder.
Check Focused Inbox Outlook: If you’ve got the Focused Inbox feature on, important emails can sometimes end up in the “Other” tab. Take a peek there.
Add to Safe Senders: A really good practice is to add HubSpot’s sending domains like [email protected] or hubspotemail.net to your email client’s “safe senders” list or address book. This tells your email provider to trust emails coming from these addresses.

3. Has HubSpot Been Allowlisted?

For those of you working in organizations with a dedicated IT team, this one is crucial. Corporate email systems often have stricter firewalls and spam filters. If you’re consistently not getting HubSpot emails, you might need to ask your IT team to allowlist HubSpot’s sending IP addresses and domains. This basically tells your company’s email server, “Hey, these emails are good, let them through!” HubSpot even provides a list of IP addresses for this purpose. If you’re using a free email provider like Gmail, you can usually find instructions for allowlisting in their help documentation.

Why Are My HubSpot Notifications Not Working? (And How to Fix Them!)

When HubSpot System & Notification Emails Go Missing

You’ve checked the basics, and you’re still not seeing those crucial alerts about form submissions, workflow actions, or new user sign-ups coming directly from HubSpot. Let’s figure out what’s going on inside your HubSpot account.

1. Dive into Your HubSpot Notification Settings

HubSpot is pretty customizable, and that includes what notifications you get and how you get them. It’s super easy to accidentally turn something off or just not have it configured right from the start.

Check User Notifications: Head into your HubSpot account settings. Look for “Notifications” under “Your Preferences.” Here, you’ll see different tabs for Email, Desktop, and Mobile. Make sure the main “Email” toggle is switched on. Then, scroll through the various tools CRM, Marketing, Sales, Service, etc. and ensure the specific email notifications you want to receive are also toggled on. For example, if you want email alerts for new form submissions, make sure that specific notification is enabled. I’ve definitely made the mistake of leaving some off only to realize later why I was missing updates!
Global Notifications: There’s usually an option to toggle on “Global Notifications” to receive all notifications, but it’s often better to selectively choose what you need to avoid notification overload.

2. Is Your Email Connected Properly?

Sometimes the issue isn’t about sending emails, but about HubSpot’s ability to communicate with your email client for notifications.

Verify Connected Inbox: In your HubSpot settings, under “General” and then “Email,” you should see your connected email inbox. If it’s disconnected or showing an error, that’s a red flag. You might need to reconnect your inbox to HubSpot. This ensures HubSpot knows where to send your internal alerts.

3. Check for Account-Wide Issues

In rare cases, there might be a broader issue impacting your entire HubSpot portal’s ability to send system emails, or a specific type of notification might be set up incorrectly for your team.

Team Notification Rules: If you’re part of a larger team, someone else might have adjusted settings that affect who receives certain notifications e.g., unassigned email alerts. You can customize these to reduce notification overload if they’re not relevant to you.
HubSpot Status Page: As a last resort, if you’ve checked all your personal and team settings and still nothing, it’s worth checking HubSpot’s official status page. While rare, they do sometimes have service disruptions that could affect email delivery.

Mastering Customer Loyalty with the HubSpot NPS Calculator

Why Your Marketing & Sales Emails Aren’t Reaching Contacts

This is often where the real headache begins for businesses. You’ve sent out a beautiful newsletter or a personalized sales email, and your contacts are telling you they never got it. This usually boils down to something called “email deliverability,” which is a fancy way of saying whether your email actually makes it to the recipient’s inbox, or if it gets lost, blocked, or sent to spam. On average, nearly 20% of marketing emails never reach the inbox.

1. Your Sender Reputation Matters A Lot!

Think of your sender reputation like a credit score for your email. Email providers like Gmail, Outlook, etc. look at your reputation to decide if they should let your emails into their users’ inboxes. A bad reputation is one of the biggest reasons your emails get sent straight to spam.

a. Authenticate Your Domain: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC

This is non-negotiable, especially with the new email rules from major providers like Gmail and Yahoo in 2024. If you’re sending more than 5,000 emails a day to these providers, proper authentication is now mandatory, but frankly, everyone should do it.

What are they?
- SPF Sender Policy Framework: This tells receiving email servers which IP addresses are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain. Without it, emails look suspicious.
- DKIM DomainKeys Identified Mail: This adds a digital signature to your outgoing emails, verifying that the message hasn’t been altered in transit and truly came from your domain.
- DMARC Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance: This builds on SPF and DKIM, telling receiving servers what to do with emails that fail authentication e.g., quarantine them, reject them.
How to fix it: You need to work with your IT team or whoever manages your domain’s DNS records like GoDaddy, Cloudflare, etc. to add these records. HubSpot makes this process easier by providing the necessary values and even offers tools to check your connection status. Seriously, if you haven’t done this, prioritize it. It’s a fundamental step for good deliverability.

b. Warm Up Your Domain, Especially New Ones

If you’ve just set up a new domain or moved to a new email service provider, don’t blast out thousands of emails on day one. Email providers see this sudden high volume from an unknown sender as a huge red flag and might just block you.

The process: You need to “warm up” your domain by starting with a low volume of emails and gradually increasing it over 30 to 60 days. This builds trust with email providers, showing them you’re a legitimate sender. An automated email warm-up service can even get your HubSpot inbox placement up to 98%.

c. Keep an Eye on Your Spam Rate

Your spam rate is the percentage of recipients who mark your emails as spam. A high spam rate is a giant red siren to email providers that you’re sending unwanted messages. Taming Your Inbox: How to Turn Off HubSpot Email Notifications (and All Those Other Pings!)

What’s a good rate? Ideally, you want to keep your spam rate below 0.1%, and it should never, ever exceed 0.3%. Anything above that can get you blacklisted by email service providers ESPs.
Monitor it: HubSpot tracks some of this, but it’s really helpful to use tools like Google Postmaster Tools if a lot of your contacts use Gmail. This free tool gives you insights into your email performance and spam reports directly from Google users, helping you identify issues early.

2. Are Your Contacts Truly Engaged?

Sending emails to people who don’t want them or don’t open them hurts your sender reputation. It’s like shouting into an empty room – eventually, you’ll stop being heard. Low engagement rates are a big red flag for spam filters.

a. Clean Up Your Email Lists

Sending to old, inactive, or invalid email addresses leads to “bounces,” which hurt your deliverability.

Hard Bounces: These are permanent failures e.g., fake email address, domain doesn’t exist. HubSpot automatically flags these, and you should remove them from your CRM. Continuing to send to hard-bounced addresses signals to ISPs that you have poor list hygiene.
Soft Bounces: These are temporary issues e.g., inbox full, server down. While some soft bounces are normal, consistent ones for the same contact suggest they’re not engaging, and you might consider removing them if they repeatedly bounce.
Avoid Purchased Lists: Never, ever buy email lists. These contacts haven’t opted in to hear from you, so they’re far more likely to mark your emails as spam, leading to high bounce and complaint rates, and HubSpot can even block accounts that use them.

b. Leverage HubSpot’s “Don’t Send to Unengaged Contacts”

HubSpot has a built-in feature that can help you maintain a healthy sender reputation. It identifies contacts who haven’t opened your last 11 emails as “unengaged.”

How to use it: When sending a marketing email, you can choose to not send to unengaged contacts. This helps protect your sender score by preventing emails from going to people who clearly aren’t interested. If deliverability is a key performance indicator for you, using this feature is a no-brainer.

c. Double Opt-In: A Deliverability Hero

If you’re dealing with a lot of spam complaints or low engagement, enabling double opt-in can be a must.

How it works: When someone signs up for your emails e.g., through a form, they receive an email asking them to confirm their subscription by clicking a link. Only after they click do they get added to your list.
Why it helps: This ensures that only genuinely interested people are on your list, dramatically reducing spam complaints and improving engagement, which in turn boosts your deliverability rate. Yes, it might slightly reduce the number of new contacts, but the quality will be much higher, leading to better long-term results. You can enable this in HubSpot under Settings > Marketing > Email > Subscriptions.

3. Content That Triggers Spam Filters

Even with perfect authentication and a squeaky-clean list, your email content itself can trigger spam filters. These filters are looking for patterns and keywords commonly used by spammers. Mastering the HubSpot NPS Form: Your Ultimate Guide to Customer Loyalty

a. Subject Lines and “From” Information

Avoid Spammy Words: Certain words or phrases are notorious for triggering spam filters e.g., “free,” “discount,” “guarantee,” excessive capitalization or exclamation points. Keep your subject lines clear, concise, and relevant.
Clear “From” Name and Address: Make sure your “From” name is recognizable and trustworthy e.g., “Sarah from ” instead of a generic “Sales Team”. Using a free email domain like Gmail or Yahoo or one that doesn’t match your website can look suspicious. Connect a verified email sending domain to HubSpot.

b. Attachments and Links

Large Attachments: Emails with large attachments over 2MB can take longer to download, clog up servers, and are often flagged by spam filters. If you need to share a file, it’s always better to upload it to cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox and share a link in the email instead.
Suspicious Links: Ensure all links in your email are legitimate and point to trusted domains. Spam filters can flag emails with broken links, too many links, or links to suspicious websites.

c. Personalization and Relevance

Spam filters, and more importantly, your recipients, love relevant content.

Personalize: Using personalization tokens like a contact’s first name can significantly increase engagement. 78% of marketers believe personalized emails generate better engagement and ROI.
Relevant Content: Send emails that are genuinely valuable to your audience. If your content is consistently ignored or deleted, email providers will notice and downgrade your sender reputation.

4. Contact-Specific Hurdles in HubSpot

Sometimes, the issue isn’t deliverability to an email server, but rather how the contact is set up in HubSpot.

a. Marketing Contact Status

For marketing emails, contacts need to be designated as “marketing contacts” in HubSpot. If they’re not, HubSpot won’t send them your marketing campaigns.

Check and Update: Go to CRM > Contacts in HubSpot. If you’re trying to send to a list and HubSpot tells you “X contacts will not receive this email” because they’re not marketing contacts, you can usually select them and update their status under the “More” dropdown.

b. Subscription Types

HubSpot allows you to manage different email subscription types e.g., newsletter, product updates, service announcements. If a contact hasn’t opted into the specific subscription type associated with your email, they won’t receive it.

Verify Subscriptions: Ensure your email is set to the correct subscription type, and that your contacts have opted into that type. You can see and manage a contact’s subscriptions on their individual contact record.

c. Hard Bounces and Unsubscribes

As mentioned before, hard-bounced contacts won’t receive emails. Similarly, if a contact has unsubscribed from your emails or a specific subscription type, HubSpot will prevent you from sending to them, which is a good thing for compliance and reputation. Mastering NPS with HubSpot: Your Ultimate Guide

Respect Unsubscribes: Always make it easy for people to unsubscribe a clear one-click unsubscribe link is now a requirement from major providers. Trying to send to unsubscribed contacts can lead to legal issues and severe damage to your sender reputation.

Troubleshooting HubSpot Test Emails

It’s particularly frustrating when you’re trying to perfect an email, hit “Send test email,” and it never arrives. While many of the above reasons can apply, there are a couple of specific things to check for test emails.

1. Double-Check the Basics Again!

Recipient Address: Seriously, re-type the test email address. A simple typo can be the culprit.
Spam/Junk: Yes, even test emails can get snagged by spam filters. Check your spam folder.
Allowlisting: Ensure your personal email address is allowlisted, especially if you’re testing to a corporate email.

2. Is HubSpot Having a Moment?

Occasionally, there might be temporary issues with HubSpot’s email sending service. This can happen to test emails just like regular ones.

HubSpot Status Page: If you’ve tried everything else, check HubSpot’s status page. There have been documented instances where test emails were delayed for all customers due to ongoing investigations. If it’s a known issue, all you can do is wait for HubSpot to resolve it.

3. Content Can Still Be the Culprit

Even for test emails, overly promotional content or suspicious links can trigger spam filters, preventing the email from reaching your test inbox. Try sending a very simple, plain-text test email to see if that goes through. If it does, you know the issue is likely with the content of your more complex email.

Can You Send Emails to Non-Marketing Contacts in HubSpot? Absolutely, you can definitely send emails to non-marketing contacts in HubSpot, but here’s the kicker: it’s not quite the same as sending out your usual marketing blast. You’ll need to approach it differently, primarily using one-to-one communication or specific transactional emails, and there are some crucial distinctions to get your head around, especially when it comes to legal compliance. Think of it like this: HubSpot wants to help you manage all your contacts efficiently without forcing you to pay for every single person in your database if you’re not actively marketing to them. So, understanding the difference between marketing and non-marketing contacts isn’t just a technical detail; it’s key to staying compliant and keeping your costs in check. Let’s break down how this all works so you can communicate effectively and ethically with every contact in your HubSpot portal.

When Emails Are Sent But Not Logging or Tracking in HubSpot

You’re sure the email went out, and the recipient got it, but when you look in HubSpot, there’s no record of it, or the open/click tracking data is missing. This often points to an issue with your HubSpot integration or settings.

1. Your HubSpot Sales Extension/Add-in

For one-to-one emails sent from your connected inbox like Gmail or Outlook to a contact in HubSpot, the HubSpot Sales Chrome extension or Outlook add-in is key.

Installation and Activation: Make sure the extension/add-in is properly installed and active in your email client. If it’s not, the tracking pixel won’t be inserted, and emails won’t be logged. I’ve seen countless times where simply reinstalling the Chrome extension fixed logging issues for users.
Logged In: Confirm you’re logged into your HubSpot account through the extension/add-in. Look for the HubSpot logo with a green dot in your Gmail or Outlook interface, which indicates it’s active.
Default Settings: Check the default “Log” and “Track” settings in your extension/add-in. You can usually configure it to automatically log and track emails by default.

2. Check “Never Log” Settings

HubSpot has features to prevent certain emails from ever being logged in the CRM. This is great for privacy e.g., emails to your accountant or family but can accidentally block important communications.

User Preferences: You can set “never log” rules for specific email addresses or entire domains within your personal HubSpot settings under General > Email > Never Log. Make sure the emails you want to log aren’t on this list.
Organization-Wide Settings: Your HubSpot administrator can also set up organization-wide “never log” rules under Settings > Objects > Activities > Email Logging. If your email or the recipient’s domain is on this list, it won’t be logged for anyone in your company.

3. Email Format and Tracking Pixels

HubSpot uses an invisible tracking pixel to monitor email opens. If this pixel isn’t included or can’t load, tracking data won’t be captured.

“Track email opens” Option: When sending an email through HubSpot, ensure the “Track email opens” option is selected before you hit send.
HTML vs. Plain Text: HubSpot tracking requires emails to be sent in HTML Hypertext Markup Language mode. If you’re sending in plain text, the tracking pixel can’t be embedded, and tracking won’t work.
Recipient’s Email Client: Many email clients block images by default for privacy or to reduce spam, which can prevent the tracking pixel from loading. If the pixel doesn’t load, HubSpot can’t record an open. Similarly, if your email lands in a spam or promotions folder, images often don’t load automatically.

Mastering Customer Feedback: Your Guide to the HubSpot NPS Tool

Advanced Tips for Long-Term Email Deliverability

To truly master email deliverability and avoid future headaches, it’s not just about fixing problems, but also adopting best practices for the long haul.

1. Monitor Your Email Health Regularly

Don’t just set it and forget it! Keep an eye on your email performance metrics within HubSpot. Look at your open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and spam complaints. HubSpot’s Email Health tool can give you insights into your deliverability performance. If you see dips, it’s a sign to investigate.

2. Segment and Personalize Like a Pro

The more relevant your emails are, the more likely people are to open and engage with them. This boosts your sender reputation.

Segmentation: Divide your contacts into smaller, targeted groups based on their interests, demographics, or past interactions. Sending highly relevant content to these segments will improve engagement.
Personalization: Beyond just using a first name, personalize content based on contact properties and their journey with your brand. Personalized emails consistently show higher engagement and ROI. Automated email campaigns, which often leverage personalization and segmentation, can drive a staggering 760% increase in revenue.

3. Stay Updated with Email Provider Rules

Email deliverability isn’t static. Major email providers like Google and Yahoo frequently update their rules and algorithms to combat spam. Staying informed about these changes like the 2024 authentication requirements will help you proactively adjust your strategy and maintain high deliverability. Make sure your team is aware of these guidelines.

By systematically working through these checks and adopting these best practices, you’ll be well on your way to ensuring your HubSpot emails land where they belong: in your recipients’ inboxes, helping you connect and build stronger relationships. N8n HubSpot Connection: Your Ultimate Guide to Seamless Automation

Frequently Asked Questions

What are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and why are they important for HubSpot emails?

SPF Sender Policy Framework, DKIM DomainKeys Identified Mail, and DMARC Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance are email authentication protocols that verify your sending domain and prevent spoofing. They’re critical because email providers use them to confirm your emails are legitimate and haven’t been tampered with, significantly reducing the chances of your HubSpot emails landing in spam or being rejected entirely.

Why are my HubSpot marketing emails going to spam even though they’re marked as “delivered”?

If HubSpot shows an email as “delivered” but it’s in the spam folder, it means the recipient’s mail server accepted it, but then their email client’s internal filters or their IT security filters flagged it as spam. Common reasons include a low sender reputation due to poor engagement or unauthenticated domain, spammy content in the email, or the recipient’s personal email settings. Improving your sender reputation, authenticating your domain, and optimizing content are key steps.

How can I improve my HubSpot email deliverability rate?

To improve your deliverability, focus on three main areas: sender reputation, list hygiene, and content quality. Authenticate your sending domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Regularly clean your email lists by removing bounced or unengaged contacts, and consider using double opt-in. Craft relevant, personalized content with clear subject lines and avoid spam trigger words or large attachments. Monitoring your email health within HubSpot and tools like Google Postmaster is also crucial. Why HubSpot for Newsletters?

What should I do if I’m not receiving HubSpot system or notification emails?

First, check your email’s spam or junk folder. Then, go into your HubSpot account settings, navigate to “Notifications,” and ensure that email notifications are toggled on for the specific alerts you want to receive. Also, verify that your email client settings aren’t filtering HubSpot messages, and consider asking your IT team to allowlist HubSpot’s sending domains and IP addresses.

Why is my HubSpot email tracking not working, or why are emails not logging in the CRM?

This often happens if your HubSpot Sales Chrome extension or Outlook add-in isn’t properly installed, active, or configured. Ensure you’re logged into the extension/add-in, that “track email opens” is selected, and that you’re sending emails in HTML format. Also, check your HubSpot “Never Log” settings both personal and organization-wide to make sure the emails you want to track or log aren’t accidentally being excluded.

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