Sending emails is one of the most common digital communication methods today. However, with so many emails being sent every day, there is a risk that some may not reach their intended recipients. Email deliverability issues can occur for various reasons - from technical problems to landing in the spam folder. This is where a mail tester tool can help.
A mail tester allows you to test email deliverability by sending test emails and checking their delivery status. It provides detailed analytics to pinpoint any issues that could be impacting your email campaigns. In this comprehensive guide, we will cover everything you need to know about mail testers and how to use them to improve email deliverability.
A mail tester or email tester is an online tool that allows you to test if your emails are reaching their intended recipients and passing spam filters. It works by sending a test email to the address you provide and giving you a detailed report on its deliverability.
Here are some key things a reliable mail testing tool checks:
Deliverability refers to the ability of your emails to reach the recipient's inbox successfully. It is a critical factor for effective email marketing and communication.
Here are some key reasons why you should pay attention to your email deliverability:
Many factors affect the deliverability of your emails. Here are some of the key ones you need to optimize:
Email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC help validate that emails are legitimately coming from your domain. Lack of proper authentication is a major reason for emails getting flagged as spam.
The reputation of the IP address sending emails plays a big role in bypassing spam filters. Factors like low spam complaints and consistent email volumes over time improve IP reputation.
Spam triggers in your content like suspicious links, attachments, and overuse of images, or keywords will hamper deliverability. Content should be relevant and personalized.
Emailing purchased or outdated lists results in higher spam complaints and bounces. Focus on sending to engaged subscribers who want to hear from you.
Broken links, redirected links, or links to spammy-looking sites can negatively impact deliverability. Have a good quality link-building strategy. Monitoring your backlink could give you an idea of quality links.
A properly structured email with readable content and good design renders well across different email clients and devices.
Higher open and click rates signal to email providers that subscribers find your emails useful. This improves future deliverability.
Here are proven tips and strategies to test and optimize your email deliverability using a mail test:
The first step is to find a trusted mail testing tool. Mail-Tester is one of the top email testing services recommended by leading email experts and marketers. It provides comprehensive analytics and suggestions to pinpoint deliverability issues with your emails.
The detailed spam score checklist also helps identify specific factors hurting your email reputation.
One-time testing is not enough. Set a reminder to test your transactional and marketing emails on a consistent basis. Also, check deliverability from different geographic locations using VPNs as results may vary based on region.
Pay close attention to the spam rating and checklist provided in the mail tester report. A score below 3/10 generally indicates major deliverability issues.
Work on improving your score by fixing the specific problem areas revealed like - lack of authentication, broken links, spam triggers, etc.
Ideally, your emails should land in the primary inbox. If the tester shows your emails going to the 'Promotions' or 'Spam' tabs, it's a warning sign to improve relevant factors like engagement, authentication, etc.
Broken links are a common problem that impacts deliverability. The mail tester will reveal any non-working links in your email. Replace them with correct working links to improve reputation.
Send test emails to check how your email looks across major email clients like Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, etc. If images, links, or content don't render well, it increases the chance of spamming.
The mail tester provides insights into the sending domain, IP address reputation, and mail servers being used. Review this information to check if blacklisting or other issues related to your infrastructure is impacting delivery.
Proper email authentication setup is vital for deliverability. Confirm that SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are correctly published when you test emails. Fix any errors that come up.
Review subscriber engagement metrics provided in the test report. Low opens and clicks indicate a lack of interest. Prune such inactive subscribers from your lists to maintain a good reputation.
Mail testers analyze a broad range of factors to generate a spam score for your test emails. The key parameters commonly checked are:
The cumulative impact of these factors is used to calculate and display the overall spam score on a scale of 10. Emails with a score above 3 are considered low risk for spam filtering while a score below 3 indicates serious deliverability issues.
Using a professional email tester offers many benefits for both occasional and regular email senders. Here are some of the top use cases:
Test and optimize deliverability before sending marketing campaigns, promotional emails, newsletters, etc. Ensure maximum reach and engagement.
Improve deliverability of transactional emails like order confirmations, shipping notices, password reset emails, etc. Avoid losing critical customer emails to spam.
Audit deliverability health for clients. Provide recommendations and fixes to identify and resolve any roadblocks hampering email performance.
Increase visibility and readership by testing and improving inbox placement before publishing and distributing online magazines, newsletters, etc.
Maximize commissions by optimizing emails for affiliates. Increased inboxing rate leads to more clicks and conversions from referred traffic.
Boost customer response by checking the deliverability of small business emails like invoices, appointment reminders, etc.
Test personal mail accounts or your own domains to analyze factors impacting spam score and inbox placement for emails sent from them.
Here are some of the best mail testing tools available:
Mail-Tester is one of the leading email testing tools recommended by email experts. It offers comprehensive spam checks and analytics to identify issues hurting email deliverability.
MailboxValidator tests not just deliverability but also in-depth email validation. Good for identifying issues before large email campaigns.
EmailOnAcid provides email render testing across 35+ clients. Ideal for ensuring your emails look great on all devices.
Sendcheck is a full-fledged deliverability platform with real-time report generation and historical data.
MXToolbox offers a suite of email diagnostic tools for marketers including spam analysis and blacklisting checks.
MailTester is a deliverability test platform with global checks, real-time alerting, and location-based reports.
Proofy is designed for specifically testing transactional email deliverability and avoiding business-critical email loss.
Mail-Tester Pro is the advanced delivery API service for developers to programmatically test bulk emails before sending.
Kickbox API allows developers to build deliverability testing into the email-sending workflow with event-based verification.
MailDrop provides a short-term disposable email address to confidentially test emails intended for personal accounts.
Here are some additional tips to help improve your overall email deliverability based on the test reports:
As per industry reports and experts, here are some key statistics and trends related to professional email deliverability services:
Email deliverability continues to remain a challenge with evolving spam filters, authentication requirements, and subscriber engagement dynamics. Adopting a dedicated mail tester is essential for marketers, businesses, and even personal mail users to optimize inbox placement.
Mail-Tester makes it easy to accurately test and improve your email reputation. Just enter the target email address and Mail-Tester will assess all critical factors impacting spam rating and deliverability in real-time.
The detailed spam report highlights specific problem areas and provides actionable suggestions to fix them. This allows building an effective email deliverability strategy for maximizing subscriber reach and engagement.
Try out Mail-Tester now and ensure your important emails reach the inbox reliably!
A: Lack of proper authentication, low engagement metrics, flagged content, broken links, issues with sender reputation, or blocked IPs are top reasons for spam filtering.
A: Ideally test every email campaign before launch and then regularly monitor your ongoing transactional and promotional emails every few weeks.
A: Yes, you may see different deliverability and spam scores based on recipient location. Use mail testers that allow checking region-wise results.
A: Yes, most mail testers including Mail-Tester allow you to test personal email accounts including Gmail.
A: Reputable mail testers never permanently store or misuse your test email content. However, avoid including real customer data during testing.
Email deliverability is a crucial but often overlooked factor that impacts the success of digital communication. With proper testing and optimization using reliable mail tester tools, you can identify and resolve potential issues that may be blocking your emails.
DA checker will assist you with your domain score. How good is your domain score and how quality backlinks you are getting? With email checking you must keep an eye on DA.
Follow the tips outlined in this guide and make email testing an integral part of your overall strategy to maximize deliverability rates and engagement for all your email campaigns and communication.