Boost Email Deliverability with Mail Testers: The Ultimate Guide of 2023

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Boost Email Deliverability with Mail Testers: The Ultimate Guide of 2023

09/02/2023 8:20 AM by Admin in Ai tools


Mail Tester: The Ultimate Guide to Testing and Improving Your Email Deliverability

 

mail tester


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.


What is a Mail Tester?

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:

  • Email deliverability: Primary check if the email reaches the recipient's inbox successfully or gets blocked/filtered as spam.
  • Spam score: Gives a score based on factors that could flag an email as spam. The lower the score, the less likely to be marked as spam.
  • Email authentication: Check if your domain has proper email authentication in place such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Lack of authentication can cause deliverability issues.
  • Inbox placement: Tests if the email lands in the primary inbox or is filtered to other tabs.
  • Email rendering: Check if your email is displayed properly across different email clients and devices. Identifies any display issues.
  • Link validation: Verifies that all links in the email are working correctly without any broken ones.
  • Mail server information: Provides details on the mail servers and IP addresses being used to send emails from your domain.


Why is Email Deliverability Important?

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:

  • Maximize reach: With good deliverability, your emails are more likely to reach customers and not get blocked or filtered as spam. This helps maximize your audience reach.
  • Improve open and click rates: Emails that reach the primary inbox have a higher chance of being opened and clicked compared to those that go to the spam or promotions tab.
  • Avoid blacklisting: Multiple spam complaints could cause your IP address or domain to be blacklisted. This severely impacts the ability to send emails.
  • Maintain sender reputation: Good inbox placement helps build sender reputation with ISPs and email providers over time.
  • Get better ROI: By improving email visibility and response rates, you can significantly boost conversions and ROI from email campaigns.
  • Comply with regulations: Certain industries have regulations prohibiting accidental filtering of transactional emails to spam. Deliverability helps maintain compliance.


Key Factors that Impact Email Deliverability

Many factors affect the deliverability of your emails. Here are some of the key ones you need to optimize:


1. Email Authentication

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.


2. Reputation of your IP Address

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.


3. Email Content

Spam triggers in your content like suspicious links, attachments, and overuse of images, or keywords will hamper deliverability. Content should be relevant and personalized.


4. Quality of Email List

Emailing purchased or outdated lists results in higher spam complaints and bounces. Focus on sending to engaged subscribers who want to hear from you.


5. Link Quality

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. 


6. Email Structure and Design

A properly structured email with readable content and good design renders well across different email clients and devices.


7. Engagement of Recipients

Higher open and click rates signal to email providers that subscribers find your emails useful. This improves future deliverability.


How to Test and Improve Your Email Deliverability

Here are proven tips and strategies to test and optimize your email deliverability using a mail test:


Choose a Reliable Mail Tester Tool


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.


Test Consistently From Different Locations

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.


Analyze Spam Score and Fix Detected Issues

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.


Check Inbox Placement

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.


Verify Link Integrity

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.


Analyze Email Client Rendering

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.


Review Sender Details and Server Information

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.


Check Authentication Records

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.


Monitor Engagement Analytics

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.


How Mail Testers Calculate Spam Score

Mail testers analyze a broad range of factors to generate a spam score for your test emails. The key parameters commonly checked are:

  • SPF/DKIM/DMARC - Lack of email authentication results in higher spam scores.
  • Sending Domain Reputation - Emails from domains with good reputations get better spam ratings.
  • IP Address Reputation - Emails from blacklisted IPs are more likely to be spammed.
  • Link Quality - Broken links, frowned upon link shorteners, etc. increase spam score.
  • Email Content - Spam triggers like suspicious links, text, attachments, etc. are red flags.
  • Design and Functionality - Badly formatted emails or non-renderable content results in poor scores.
  • Engagement Metrics - Low open and click rates signal a lack of interest leading to higher spam ratings.

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.


Mail Tester Benefits and Use Cases

Using a professional email tester offers many benefits for both occasional and regular email senders. Here are some of the top use cases:


For Businesses and Marketers

Test and optimize deliverability before sending marketing campaigns, promotional emails, newsletters, etc. Ensure maximum reach and engagement.


For Developers and Site Owners

Improve deliverability of transactional emails like order confirmations, shipping notices, password reset emails, etc. Avoid losing critical customer emails to spam.


For Agencies and Consultants

Audit deliverability health for clients. Provide recommendations and fixes to identify and resolve any roadblocks hampering email performance.


For Newsletters and Online Publications

Increase visibility and readership by testing and improving inbox placement before publishing and distributing online magazines, newsletters, etc.


For Affiliate Marketers

Maximize commissions by optimizing emails for affiliates. Increased inboxing rate leads to more clicks and conversions from referred traffic.


For Small Business Owners

Boost customer response by checking the deliverability of small business emails like invoices, appointment reminders, etc.


For Personal Use

Test personal mail accounts or your own domains to analyze factors impacting spam score and inbox placement for emails sent from them.


Top Mail Tester Tools

Here are some of the best mail testing tools available:


1. Mail-Tester

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.


2. MailboxValidator

MailboxValidator tests not just deliverability but also in-depth email validation. Good for identifying issues before large email campaigns.


3. EmailOnAcid

EmailOnAcid provides email render testing across 35+ clients. Ideal for ensuring your emails look great on all devices.


4. Sendcheck by MailUp

Sendcheck is a full-fledged deliverability platform with real-time report generation and historical data.


5. MXToolbox

MXToolbox offers a suite of email diagnostic tools for marketers including spam analysis and blacklisting checks.


6. MailTester

MailTester is a deliverability test platform with global checks, real-time alerting, and location-based reports.


7. Proofy

Proofy is designed for specifically testing transactional email deliverability and avoiding business-critical email loss.


8. Mail-Tester Pro

Mail-Tester Pro is the advanced delivery API service for developers to programmatically test bulk emails before sending.


9. Kickbox

Kickbox API allows developers to build deliverability testing into the email-sending workflow with event-based verification.


10. MailDrop

MailDrop provides a short-term disposable email address to confidentially test emails intended for personal accounts.


Tips for Improving Your Email Deliverability


Here are some additional tips to help improve your overall email deliverability based on the test reports:

  • Set up proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for your domain
  • Monitor and maintain good engagement metrics with regular email sends
  • Remove inactive or unsubscribed users from your lists
  • Ensure subject lines are relevant and not misleading
  • Avoid flagged spam words like "Free", and "Act Now" in content
  • Use a professional email design with good mobile adaptability
  • Host emails on reputable IP addresses and mail servers
  • Fix broken links and redirect chains in your emails
  • Comply with unsubscribe requests promptly
  • Add address verification steps before sending bulk emails
  • Obtain user consent before sending marketing emails
  • Ensure subscription confirmation and provide granular opt-out choices


Email Deliverability Trends and Statistics

As per industry reports and experts, here are some key statistics and trends related to professional email deliverability services:

  • Almost 25% of emails sent globally end up in spam folders costing businesses potential revenue.
  • Incorrect sender domain reputation is the biggest cause impacting deliverability for 58% of emails.
  • Emails sent from new domains without history take up to 6 months to build a good reputation for inbox placement.
  • 78% of marketers use dedicated email testing and deliverability platforms. Of these, 63% test every single campaign before sending.
  • The retail industry sees the biggest loss in revenues due to poor deliverability, averaging around $200 billion a year as per Juniper Research.
  • Email authentication adoption saw major growth, with DKIM usage increasing from 42% to 74% over the past 5 years.
  • DMARC policies are mandated for all government departments and public sectors in the US, UK, and EU to improve security.
  • The trend is for more granular and customized email deliverability testing based on audience segmentation across geographies.


Ensure Your Emails Reach Inbox with Mail Testers

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!


FAQs on Mail Testers

Q: What are some common reasons for emails going to spam?

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.


Q: How often should I test my email deliverability?

A: Ideally test every email campaign before launch and then regularly monitor your ongoing transactional and promotional emails every few weeks.


Q: Does the location of email recipients matter when testing?

A: Yes, you may see different deliverability and spam scores based on recipient location. Use mail testers that allow checking region-wise results.


Q: Can I test email deliverability on my Gmail account?

A: Yes, most mail testers including Mail-Tester allow you to test personal email accounts including Gmail.


Q: Is it safe to test business emails on public mail testers?

A: Reputable mail testers never permanently store or misuse your test email content. However, avoid including real customer data during testing.


Conclusion

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.

 

 

 


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