How accurate are seedlists in deliverability platforms like Everest and Glockapps?
Summary
What email marketers say14Marketer opinions
Email marketer from StackOverflow explains that while seed lists can give a general idea, they don't account for personalized filtering. Each user's inbox is unique, and seed lists can't capture that.
Email marketer from EmailVendorSelection Forum shares that seedlists can be a good starting point for testing, but you need to combine that data with your own sending data and engagement metrics to get a true picture of your deliverability.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that engagement imitation was somewhat useful for seeing trends when it was actual panel data from real recipients. But, now it's all "AI", e.g. if/then statements with rand() functions.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that when comparing client data against seedlist data, the seedlists may be more or less correct, and other times, total false negatives. Therefore, she uses these third-party tools as just a directional tool. Actual sending data is the real deal.
Email marketer from Email Geeks seconds the trending of data as one blip taken by itself can be misleading, but trended over time may be just an ISP blip that resolved itself the next day.
Email marketer from Litmus explains that pre-send testing helps ensure emails render correctly across different devices and clients. They also state that they can help uncover deliverability issues before they impact your customers.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that seed lists are good for initial testing and identifying major issues, but they are not a perfect representation of deliverability for all users. They recommend using them in conjunction with other deliverability monitoring methods.
Email marketer from EmailToolTester explains that deliverability testing tools such as GlockApps can be effective in finding whether emails are being delivered and where. They state that they deliver to seed email addresses, then tell you the folders your emails landed in, they also check for authentication issues and measure response times.
Email marketer from Mailtrap Blog explains that seed list testing, while valuable, doesn't perfectly mirror real-world inbox placement. Factors like user behavior, IP reputation, and content quality heavily influence deliverability, making seed lists just one piece of the puzzle.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that you need to create a base line so you know what a good week/month/year looks like first.
Email marketer from GMass Blog shares that seed lists provide a snapshot of inbox placement at major ISPs but don't account for personalized filtering or engagement metrics. They suggest combining seed list data with real-world campaign results for a more comprehensive view.
Email marketer from Validity Blog shares that deliverability is achieved when the emails sent reach the intended audience in their inboxes. They explain that there are multiple factors that impact deliverability including sending infrastructure and reputation, authentication, list quality, engagement, content, and complaints.
Email marketer from Quora suggests using a combination of seed list testing and monitoring your sender reputation to get a good understanding of your deliverability. Seed lists can give you a quick snapshot, but your reputation is what matters in the long run.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that simplest things a marketer can do is encourage engagement/feedback by letting people reply to the emails. Have it go into a ticketing system or something but it's gold if done right.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Spamresource.com explains that seed list testing offers a straightforward way to identify significant delivery issues, such as being blocked or routed to the spam folder by specific ISPs. However, these tests do not replicate real-world user engagement or individualized filtering, thus, results should be viewed as a basic diagnostic rather than a complete assessment of deliverability.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that seedlists are all mostly the same in terms of accuracy but consumer mailbox providers don’t filter mail in a way that makes seed lists as insightful as they used to be. Seedlist data should be put into context with the rest of your program as ISPs can tell what seedlist addresses are and don’t treat them the same as subscribers. The AI backed engagement is attempting to do good things, but how accurate the data can be is questionable.
Expert from Email Geeks recommends to always look at trends, rather than discrete data points. Look at the variations and compare it week by week.
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that seed list data is limited and you have to be careful. While seedlists can be useful for identifying basic delivery problems (blocks, filtering), they don't accurately reflect real-world user behavior or the impact of personalized filtering, and seedlists are limited to only a few mailboxes and they do not show you engagement.
What the documentation says3Technical articles
Documentation from SendGrid Documentation explains that deliverability tools using seed lists can provide helpful insight, but these lists can also be identified by mailbox providers, making it important to review deliverability data more holistically with internal data like open rates and click-through rates.
Documentation from Mailchimp Knowledge Base explains that delivery problems occur when an email doesn't reach the intended recipient's inbox. They state that the causes of these problems include issues with content, domain, sender reputation and authentication. They suggest troubleshooting common deliverability issues to fix it.
Documentation from SparkPost Documentation notes that seed lists provide a controlled environment for testing but might not reflect real-world user behavior or personalized filtering. They recommend supplementing seed list results with engagement metrics and feedback loops.