Why are 250ok seed lists showing missing emails and how to fix?

Email marketer from Reddit notes that the seed list may be being suppressed on the ESP for multiple reasons including unsubscribes, spam complaints or hard bounces. One must ensure the seed list are valid and subscribed, and not accidentally added to any suppression lists, to ensure valid results.

Email marketer from EmailGeeks.com shares that ensuring your 250ok seedlist is isolated in its own list is crucial. This allows you to confirm the list is not being accidentally excluded. If engagement suppressions are set up on your sending segments (e.g., has not opened/clicked in x days), the non-engaging seeds will be naturally excluded, leading to them appearing as "missing" in 250ok.

Email marketer from Quora mentions that 250ok relies on consistent seed data. If that data is inconsistent due to suppression or segmentation, then that will cause errors to occur in reporting, thus making the data suspect.

Marketer from Email Geeks shares that one should ensure the 250ok seedlist is isolated in its own list so it is not accidentally excluded. If engagement suppressions are setup on sending segments (has not opened/clicked in x days etc.), then those seeds would naturally be excluded, as the seeds don't engage, they will always fail engagement criteria and become suppressed, and show as "missing" in 250ok.

Email marketer from StackExchange responds that the seeds are likely excluded from your sends by an engagement filter, because they never interact with your sends and thus are excluded from mailings. Add them to a specific list that is excluded from engagement filters.

Email marketer from LinkedIn states that regular monitoring of your seed lists is important. If the seed list is not functioning, that indicates a deeper issue that needs resolving to ensure emails are delivered successfully.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that the seed list is not being sent to properly. Either, only the reference seeds are being sent or some of the seeds are being suppressed at the time of deployment or during send. This could be due to segmentation that your seeds do not qualify for or some kind of automated suppression time period.

Expert from Spam Resource shares that incorrect placement of seed list emails can result in them being filtered or suppressed. He recommends ensuring that seed addresses are correctly categorized, whitelisted, and excluded from suppression lists to provide accurate deliverability metrics. Also, confirm that you are actually sending to the seed list and haven't accidentally excluded the list.

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that maintaining good seed list hygiene is crucial. This means ensuring that seed addresses are valid, actively monitored, and not accidentally suppressed due to filters or list management practices. Regularly auditing your sending practices and seed list performance can help identify and resolve issues causing missing emails.

Documentation from 250ok.com explains that missing seed list emails in inbox tests typically indicate a technical issue on the sending end, not a reputation problem. It's often related to an x-header not being implemented with a unique value or, more commonly, suppression issues where seed addresses are not being sent to, or are being suppressed post-deployment because 250ok seeds don't engage.

Documentation from SparkPost shares that using suppression lists or engagement filters will inadvertently remove seed addresses. It is important to isolate these seeds so they are not impacted by this, and will continue to provide reliable data.

Documentation from Mailgun explains that your seed list addresses should be dedicated solely to seed testing and should not be used for marketing purposes or any other kind of sending, as that pollutes the data and distorts the inbox placement reporting. They must also be valid addresses.