How valuable are seed lists for email marketing and what are their limitations?

Marketer from Email Geeks finds seed list testing helpful but notes that some tools/seed lists are more prone to "false negatives" while others lean towards "false positives." They suggest using at least two perspectives to find the "truth."

Email marketer from HubSpot explains that seed lists help identify major deliverability roadblocks like being blocked by certain ISPs. HubSpot also mentions seedlists not reflecting real engagement and should be combined with other strategies to improve deliverability.

Email marketer from EmailGeeks Forum mentions that seed lists can provide a starting point but often fail to replicate real campaign results because they lack actual user interaction. They advocate for prioritizing list hygiene, segmentation, and personalized content to improve deliverability.

Email marketer from GlockApps shares that seed lists offer insights into deliverability across various mailbox providers but notes their limitations. They don't account for recipient engagement, can be affected by honeypots, and may not accurately represent real-world campaign performance.

Email marketer from Reddit (r/emailmarketing) shares that seed lists are useful for initial deliverability checks, especially when launching new campaigns or IPs. The email marketer also says to not rely solely on seed lists and to focus on building a clean list and monitoring engagement metrics over time. Seed lists are just a snapshot in time.

Marketer from Email Geeks does not find seed lists useful because they are often far from reality when compared to actual email campaign performance. They suggest that seed tests should not be considered accurate for filtering results. They mention a strategy to send a pre-launch seed test and another seed test together with the actual email campaign to get more accurate results, but remains skeptical.

Email marketer from Litmus answers that seed lists are valuable as one data point among many for deliverability testing. They highlight that seed lists don't account for subscriber engagement and recommend complementing them with feedback loops and authentication to get a comprehensive view of deliverability.

Email marketer from StackExchange answers that seed lists can provide insight into basic delivery, but often differ significantly from real engagement metrics like open and click rates. This is because seed accounts don't engage like real subscribers. The email marketer then recommends focusing on engagement-based segmentation and sunset policies to improve deliverability.

Email marketer from Mailjet explains that seed lists help monitor inbox placement, identify potential deliverability issues before a campaign launch, and provide insights into spam filter triggers. However, they are not representative of the entire subscriber base and don't reflect real user engagement.

Email marketer from EmailToolTester explains that while seed lists can provide a quick overview of potential deliverability problems, their accuracy can be affected by factors like seed list hygiene, mailbox provider spam filter updates, and the absence of real user interaction. They suggest considering other deliverability metrics alongside seed list results.

Expert from Email Geeks shares that seed lists have limitations but are still valuable. They refer to their blog post from 2022 which still represents their feelings on the matter.

Expert from Spam Resource explains that seed list testing doesn't take the recipient into account and you should be watching your engagement metrics to understand deliverability. You also need to understand how the different mailbox providers work to get a good overall view.

Expert from Email Geeks agrees with the prior statement that seed lists provide a useful data point, especially when trying to pinpoint if a problem is recipient-specific or a global filtering issue. They highlight that it's not an absolute metric but a helpful data point.

Expert from Word to the Wise responds that seed lists are great for a few things. These include knowing where your emails are being filtered to in the inbox, getting a screenshot of the email rendering and if the email made it past authentication checks.

Documentation from Mailchimp shares that seed lists can trigger false positives (showing deliverability issues that don't exist) or false negatives (missing actual deliverability problems). The email marketer then recommends using seed lists in conjunction with other deliverability tools and best practices, such as authentication and list management.

Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools says it does not utilize seed lists, but instead relies on real time engagement metrics from real users to grade sender reputation. This is an industry standard practice

Documentation from SendGrid answers that seed lists help test the basic deliverability of emails across different ISPs and mailbox providers. The accuracy can be limited because they do not represent real user behaviour. They recommend using seed lists as part of a broader deliverability strategy.

Documentation from SparkPost answers that seed lists can be useful for identifying major deliverability problems before a send, but are not a replacement for monitoring actual user engagement. Their results can be skewed by factors that don't affect real users, such as honeypots and spam traps.