What are the best tools and methods to measure email deliverability outside of campaign metrics, like GlockApps?
Summary
What email marketers say13Marketer opinions
Expert from Email Geeks recommends that senders develop their own seeds in addition to using tools like Glock. They have observed Glock and similar services reporting inaccurate issues, and advise against relying solely on third-party apps.
Email marketer from Quora shares the importance of inbox placement tests with tools like GlockApps, Litmus, or Email on Acid, which allows you to see where emails land (inbox, spam, or missing) across different providers.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that while GlockApps is good for the price, seed tests are less useful than campaign metrics, especially with Gmail. Monitoring Gmail Postmaster Tools and engagement rates is preferable. Seed tests are valuable for identifying issues with hosted providers and Proofpoint/Cloudmark.
Email marketer from EmailToolTester suggests using a combination of tools for comprehensive deliverability monitoring, including seed list testing, blocklist monitoring, and feedback loops.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that MultiRBL can be used to check IP addresses and domains against multiple RBLs (Real-time Blackhole Lists) at once to identify if you're being blocked by any of them.
Email marketer from SendPulse explains that checking sender reputation using tools like Sender Score and Google Postmaster Tools provides insights into how mailbox providers view your sending practices, impacting deliverability.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that blocklist monitoring alerts you when your IP address or domain is listed on a blocklist, enabling prompt action to resolve issues and prevent deliverability problems.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that personal seeds can be skewed by user interaction, influencing ISP perceptions. GlockApps offers interactive and non-interactive seeds, providing a better representation of how new signups would perceive the email and helps identify problems with non interactive (new signups).
Marketer from Email Geeks shares their experience with GlockApps, noting it's a good benchmark but has limitations like a small seed sample size. They find it useful for identifying inbox placement issues, especially with Gmail.
Email marketer from Reddit highlights the importance of setting up feedback loops (FBLs) with major ISPs. FBLs notify you when recipients mark your emails as spam, allowing you to remove those addresses from your list and improve your sender reputation.
Email marketer from Gmass recommends warming up your IP address, especially if you're new to sending or are using a new IP. This involves gradually increasing your sending volume to build a positive reputation with ISPs.
Email marketer from Email on Acid Blog explains that seed list testing helps identify deliverability problems before a campaign is sent by revealing inbox placement across different mailbox providers.
Email marketer from StackOverflow emphasizes the importance of correctly configured SPF and DKIM records for improving email deliverability and authenticating your email sends.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that deliverability problems are rarely caused by one specific issue, but rather a confluence of issues, requiring a holistic approach to diagnosis.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that monitoring your IPs and Domains with external reputation services and blocklists will help proactively identify deliverability problems.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that seedlists can be inaccurate and incomplete, only showing deliverability at the moment of the test, and that deliverability is a continuous process so more active monitoring is important.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that setting up and monitoring feedback loops is a critical component for understanding how recipients are reacting to your mail.
What the documentation says6Technical articles
Documentation from DKIM details DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), an email authentication system that uses digital signatures to verify the sender and ensure the message hasn't been altered during transit.
Documentation from Microsoft describes the Sender Support portal, which provides information and tools to help senders troubleshoot deliverability issues when sending email to Outlook.com, Hotmail, and other Microsoft services.
Documentation from DMARC.org explains Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC), which builds on SPF and DKIM to provide a policy for handling email authentication failures and reporting mechanisms to monitor email streams.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools explains that the tool provides data on your sending reputation, spam rate, and other metrics to help diagnose and fix deliverability issues when sending to Gmail users.
Documentation from RFC explains Sender Policy Framework (SPF), which helps prevent email spoofing by allowing domain owners to specify which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of their domain.
Documentation from Spamhaus explains how to use the Blocklist Removal Center to check if your IP address is on a Spamhaus blocklist and, if so, what steps to take to request removal.