What are the best tools for tracking all-round email deliverability?
Summary
What email marketers say13Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email Geeks recommends using a spreadsheet to record campaign metrics like bounces, complaints, sends, and unique clicks, matched with your content calendar. This helps establish a baseline and identify sharp changes that require investigation. He recommends understanding your sending as the start and warns against only reacting to alarms from tools and proactively using tools to get greater insights on what you are seeing with your fundamental measurements.
Email marketer from SendGrid stresses the importance of using their platform's deliverability tools, which include dedicated IP addresses, email authentication, and feedback loop integration. They emphasize the need to proactively monitor sender reputation and manage email list hygiene.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that reputation problems with domains and IPs are caused by sending behaviour, and understanding your sending and the feedback on that is fundamental to deliverability. He suggests proactively using tools to confirm/get greater insights on what you are seeing with your fundamental measurements, rather than reacting to alarms from tools.
Email marketer from an Email Marketing Forum suggests implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to authenticate your email and improve deliverability. They also recommend regularly cleaning your email list to remove invalid or inactive addresses.
Email marketer from Validity advises to use its Everest platform to manage and optimize email deliverability, encompassing sender reputation monitoring, inbox placement testing, and email list hygiene. They stress the importance of a holistic approach, combining technology with expert guidance.
Email marketer from GlockApps emphasizes the importance of monitoring sender reputation using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS. They also recommend using GlockApps' own platform to monitor inbox placement, spam filter hits, and authentication status.
Email marketer from Litmus suggests using their email testing platform to preview emails across different devices and email clients to identify rendering issues that could affect user engagement and spam filter placement. They also recommend using their spam testing tool to check for common spam triggers.
Email marketer from Reddit recommends using a combination of tools. Specifically, they recommend using GlockApps for seed list testing and Google Postmaster Tools for monitoring sender reputation, and MXToolbox for checking blacklist status.
Email marketer from GMass says Gmass finds it important to use a tool that provides real-time deliverability insights directly within the Gmail interface, highlighting the ability to track opens, clicks, and bounces for each email campaign. They also recommend using their platform's built-in spam testing feature.
Email marketer from Mailjet recommends using tools like Mailjet's deliverability dashboard to track key metrics such as bounce rate, spam complaints, and inbox placement. They also suggest using seed list testing to evaluate inbox placement across different ISPs and mailbox providers.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that they have been using Glockapps but are not having a great time with it as the seed list is not really accurate, and the results are always wrong when testing with Klaviyo.
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests users technically prob have to RFP & demo each deliverability tool mentioned as they will build a business case for your management and you can compare each side by side based on features, cost etc. Udeme has used or demoed Sparkpost’s eDatasource, Validity’s Inbox Monitor (Validity acquired ReturnPath), Kickbox, in-house (homegrown) based on KPI thread holds like bounce rates, Mailermike, etc, and standalone tools like Google’s Postmaster Tools, Microsoft’s SNDS
Email marketer from EmailToolTester suggests using a combination of tools, including a dedicated email deliverability platform like Mail-Tester, along with monitoring sender reputation through Google Postmaster Tools and utilizing seed list testing. They highlight the importance of understanding your sender score and identifying any blacklisting issues.
What the experts say2Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise recommends looking beyond just inbox placement and focusing on feedback loops (FBLs) and complaint rates. These are direct signals from mailbox providers about how recipients are reacting to your mail, giving valuable insights into deliverability problems.
Expert from Spam Resource suggests using blocklist monitoring tools as a part of deliverability tracking to identify if IPs or domains are listed on any DNSBLs. He finds it important to understand the different types of blocklists and their impact on email delivery.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from SparkPost explains that their platform provides detailed deliverability analytics, including bounce codes, engagement metrics, and inbox placement data. They offer tools for managing suppression lists, authenticating email, and monitoring sender reputation.
Documentation from MXToolbox explains that their platform offers tools for diagnosing and monitoring email server health, including blacklist checks, DNS record verification, and SMTP diagnostics. This can help identify and resolve technical issues that may be affecting deliverability.
Documentation from Google explains Google Postmaster Tools is a free service that provides senders with data about their email traffic, including spam rates, feedback loop complaints, and authentication status. This information can be used to identify and address deliverability issues.
Documentation from Microsoft states the Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) provides data about your sending IP addresses, including complaint rates and spam trap hits. This data can help you identify and resolve deliverability problems with Microsoft email services.