Sequences vs. Marketing Emails in HubSpot

What Most Teams Get Wrong (and How to Fix It)

If you’ve ever wondered why one type of HubSpot email shows deliverability metrics, bounce rates, and A/B tests… while the other feels like it lives off the grid, you’re not alone.  This is one of the most common points of confusion, and the root cause of many “Why didn’t my email send?” or “Why did this land in spam?” conversations.

Here’s what you need to know about sequences and marketing emails.

Marketing Emails = Bulk Send, Brand-Level Deliverability

Marketing emails are designed for one-to-many communication. They go to lists, nurture audiences, announcements, newsletters, campaigns — anything where you hit “send” and hundreds or thousands of contacts receive the same message.

Because these emails impact your entire sending reputation, HubSpot gives you:

• Deliverability reporting
• Open/click metrics tied to sender score
• Bounce rate and spam reporting
• A/B testing
• Send-time optimization
• View-in-browser versions
• CAN-SPAM compliance tools (unsubscribe, address footers, etc.)

Marketing emails go through the marketing sending infrastructure, which email providers like Gmail and Outlook treat very differently than normal one-to-one messages.

Use marketing emails when:

• You’re communicating with a list or segment
• You need deliverability reporting
• You need branded templates, headers, or footers
• You need A/B tests
• You want to optimize timing
• You need compliance features baked in
• You’re nurturing at scale

Avoid marketing emails when:

• You’re reaching out personally
• You want a direct reply
• You want the email to come from the rep’s inbox
• You’re doing one-on-one sales or follow-up communication

Sequences = One-to-One Sales Outreach (Not Marketing)

HubSpot sequences send from the user’s connected inbox — not HubSpot’s marketing infrastructure.
This means:

• They behave like normal emails
• They land in the recipient’s Primary Inbox more often
• They bypass marketing deliverability filters
• They don’t require an unsubscribe link
• They’re designed for sales, follow-up, and direct conversations

But — and this is the key — because they behave like normal emails, you will NOT see:

• Marketing-style deliverability metrics
• Bounce categories
• Spam reports
• A/B tests
• “Bulk” performance analytics

Most email clients (gmail, outlook etc) don’t consider one-to-one emails a deliverability threat unless something is blatantly wrong (bad domain, spammy content, broken authentication, etc.).

Use sequences when:

• A salesperson needs to follow up
• You want a personalized, natural conversation
• You want emails to come from the rep’s address
• You want direct replies
• You want automated follow-ups but not bulk nurturing

Avoid sequences when:

• You need reporting on performance
• You’re sending the same content to more than one or two people
• You need compliance features (unsubscribe, footers)
• You’re doing promotional or marketing communication
• You need deliverability insights or A/B tests

Why Deliverability Looks Different Between the Two

Marketing emails are evaluated as bulk sends. Sequence emails are evaluated as normal 1:1 emails.

This single difference explains why:

• Marketing emails can hit Promotions/Spam
• Sequences look like human-sent messages and often inbox better
• Marketing emails have bounce/spam metrics
• Sequences do not
• Marketing emails need strict compliance
• Sequences follow the rep’s inbox rules

One simple rule to follow:

If it feels like a conversation → Sequence
If it feels like an announcement → Marketing Email