Email Hacks #5: Deliverability Testing
Automated and manual deliverability testing
Over the years I have built multiple deliverability testing solutions to try and automate the process so that I don’t have to check dozens of mailboxes everytime I run a test.
They all worked for a while then something changed and I would have to spend a day patching code, and eventually I gave up on that and used a string of paid solutions.
These worked well but ultimately cost several hundred dollars a month and I really wanted to find a reliable free solution, and a couple of years or so ago I found one which I now run alongside my manual tests for hitting the inbox. (see The Inverse Promotion Expansion)
Introducing GMass.
GMass is a bulk mail merge application that sits on top of Gmail and allows you to send bulk email.
That is not why I am using it.
One of the features of GMass is they have a email deliverability tester which is fully featured, and most importantly is free.
You can find it here:
They give you twenty email addresses that you can send to that are all running on top of GSuite or Gmail and some have various additional anti-spam solutions bolted on.
All you need to do is create a test list in your autoresponder software and add these names to it, then fire your campaign off to this list.
The results will instantly show on the page like this:
As you can see, you also get everybody else’s results too, but you can type in your sent from address or subject line and it will filter to show only your results.
Some results have differed from my own Google accounts, but on the whole I think it is a pretty good indicator.
Manual Testing
Now, for more accurate testing I implement the following protocol for both myself and my clients.
I create five seperate gmail accounts as well as a Yahoo and an Outlook account.
For the Gmail accounts I have:
One for opens, one for opens and clicks, one for non-opens, one for mixed, and one for replied to.
In the opens one, ALL the emails are opened.
Opens and clicks is the one where emails are opened and links are clicked on.
No opens, does what it says on the can.
Mixed is for randomness, so sometimes I open, sometimes I open and click, and other times I do nothing with that email.
And the last one is also mixed but the email account has hit reply at least once on an email and sent a message.
I usually have all these emails and the Gmass emails in a separate test list which I will broadcast to first, see how the email does, then if all is ok I will schedule it for later in the day.
As I am in the UK I have a little advantage that I am at least five hours ahead of the USA, but I will share my strategy and the best times to mail in an upcoming hack.