If you've noticed a decrease in email opens or engagement since mid-2025, your ContactMonkey emails may be landing in Outlook's Other inbox instead of the Focused inbox, where recipients are more likely to see them.
What Is Outlook Focused Inbox?
Outlook's Focused inbox feature automatically sorts incoming emails into two tabs: Focused for important messages and Other for less urgent emails. Microsoft made functionality changes to this sorting algorithm on June 13, 2025, which may have affected where your internal communications land.
Emails in the Other inbox receive significantly less attention from recipients, which directly impacts your campaign open rates and overall engagement metrics.
Why Emails Move to the Other Inbox
Outlook uses machine learning and behavioral signals to decide inbox placement. Understanding these factors can help you improve email delivery:
Behavioral Signals
- Interaction History: Recipients who frequently open, reply to, or flag your emails are more likely to see future messages in their Focused inbox
- Ignore or Delete Patterns: Emails consistently deleted without reading may automatically route to Other
- Manual Moves: When recipients manually move emails from Focused to Other (or vice versa), Outlook learns from this action
Email Characteristics
- Subject Line and Content: Generic or promotional language like "Weekly Update," "Newsletter," or "Deals" can trigger placement in Other
- Frequency: Recurring emails with similar subject lines (such as weekly reports) are more likely to land in Other unless recipients regularly engage with them
How This Affects Your Campaign Metrics
When ContactMonkey emails land in the Other inbox:
- Open rates decrease because recipients check Other less frequently
- Click-through rates drop as fewer people see your content
- Time-to-open increases as emails sit unread longer
- Overall engagement suffers across your internal communications
Solutions for IT Administrators
IT administrators can implement organizational-level fixes to improve inbox placement:
- Configure Mail Flow Rules: Create Exchange mail flow rules that influence Focused inbox behavior based on sender address, subject line keywords, or message headers. Contact your Microsoft 365 administrator to set up rules specific to your ContactMonkey sender addresses.
- Disable Focused Inbox Organization-Wide: If your organization prefers a unified inbox experience, administrators can disable Focused inbox entirely through the Exchange admin center. This removes the sorting feature for all users, ensuring everyone sees all emails in a single inbox view.
Note: Disabling this feature affects all employees and cannot be reversed on a per-user basis.
Solutions for Individual Recipients
End users can manually adjust where ContactMonkey emails appear or disable the Focused Inbox feature entirely by following these steps.
Tip: Encourage recipients to move emails from Other inbox to Focused the first time they receive a communication from your team. One manual move trains Outlook to prioritize similar emails going forward.
Note: Disabling Focused inbox only affects the user's mailbox. Other recipients will still have their Focused Inbox active unless they disable it individually.
Best Practices to Improve Inbox Placement
Beyond technical fixes, adjust your email strategy to work with Outlook's algorithm:
- Vary Your Subject Lines: Avoid repetitive subject line patterns. Instead of "Weekly Update – January 20," try descriptive subjects that highlight the content: "New Benefits Enrollment Deadline" or "Q1 Town Hall Registration Now Open."
- Encourage Engagement: Include interactive elements like surveys, polls, or emoji reactions to boost recipient interaction. Higher engagement signals to Outlook that your emails are valuable.
- Optimize Content Quality: Write compelling, actionable content that recipients want to read. Avoid overly promotional language and focus on information that matters to your audience.
- Send Consistently: Establish a predictable sending schedule so recipients expect and look for your emails. Irregular sending patterns can confuse Outlook's algorithm.