How to Test Email Before Sending
Complete guide to testing emails for optimal deliverability
Table of Contents
How to Test Email Before Sending
Testing emails before sending is essential for ensuring optimal deliverability and preventing issues that could damage your sender reputation. A comprehensive testing approach covers multiple aspects of your emails.
Our email testing tool provides comprehensive analysis including spam scores, authentication checks, HTML validation, and deliverability insights to help you optimize emails before sending campaigns.
Make testing a standard part of your email workflow. Test every email before sending, especially when making content changes, using new templates, or sending to new segments.
Email Testing Methods
1. Comprehensive Email Testing
Use our email testing tool for comprehensive analysis. It checks spam scores, authentication, HTML validity, content quality, and provides inbox placement predictions across multiple email providers.
2. Spam Score Testing
Test spam scores with SpamAssassin to see how spam filters will evaluate your emails. Aim for scores under 5.0 for optimal deliverability.
3. Authentication Testing
Verify SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are properly configured and working. Check individual records with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC lookup tools.
4. Content Testing
Check for spam trigger words using our spam words checker. Identify problematic words and phrases that could trigger spam filters.
5. HTML Validation
Validate HTML code with our HTML validator to ensure proper structure and compatibility.
6. Domain Health Check
Monitor your domain health including blacklist status, DNS configuration, and overall reputation factors.
Spam Score Testing
Spam score testing evaluates how likely your emails are to be filtered by spam filters. Lower scores indicate better deliverability prospects.
How Spam Scores Work
Spam filters assign points for various factors. Our SpamAssassin test provides detailed scoring and identifies specific issues contributing to the score.
Score Interpretation
- 0-3: Excellent - Very low spam probability
- 3-5: Good - Low spam probability
- 5-7: Moderate - May be filtered by some providers
- 7+: High - Likely to be filtered to spam
Aim for scores under 5.0. If scores are high, review the detailed report to identify and fix specific issues.
Authentication Testing
Email authentication is critical for deliverability. Test all three protocols to ensure they're properly configured.
SPF Testing
Verify your SPF records authorize your sending servers and are correctly formatted. Missing or incorrect SPF significantly hurts deliverability.
DKIM Testing
Check that DKIM signatures are valid and properly configured. Failed DKIM checks increase spam scores.
DMARC Testing
Verify your DMARC policy is properly set up. DMARC protects your domain and improves deliverability.
Use our comprehensive authentication checker to verify all three protocols in one test.
Content Testing
Content quality significantly affects deliverability. Test various aspects of your email content before sending.
Spam Word Detection
Use our spam words checker to identify problematic words and phrases. Replace or remove spam triggers to improve scores.
HTML Validation
Validate HTML code with our HTML validator. Invalid HTML can trigger spam filters and cause rendering issues.
Link Analysis
Check link patterns and ratios. Excessive links or suspicious URLs can trigger filters. Maintain reasonable link-to-text ratios.
Image-to-Text Ratio
Ensure good text content alongside images. Image-heavy emails with little text are often filtered.
Subject Line Testing
Test different subject lines. Avoid spam triggers and ensure subject lines accurately reflect email content.
Technical Testing
Technical configuration issues can significantly impact deliverability. Test various technical aspects of your email infrastructure.
DNS Configuration
Verify MX records are correctly configured. Misconfigurations can cause delivery issues.
Reverse DNS (rDNS)
Check your reverse DNS setup. Proper rDNS is important for reputation.
SMTP Configuration
Test your SMTP server to ensure proper configuration and connectivity.
Email Headers
Verify email headers are valid and properly formatted. Invalid headers can trigger filtering.
Blacklist Status
Check your blacklist status regularly. Being listed severely impacts deliverability.
Pre-Send Testing Checklist
Use this checklist before sending every email campaign:
Content Checks
- ✓ Test spam score with SpamAssassin (aim for under 5.0)
- ✓ Check for spam trigger words using spam words checker
- ✓ Validate HTML with HTML validator
- ✓ Review subject line for spam triggers
- ✓ Check link patterns and ratios
- ✓ Ensure good text-to-image ratio
Authentication Checks
- ✓ Verify SPF, DKIM, DMARC are working
- ✓ Check SPF records are correct
- ✓ Verify DKIM signatures are valid
- ✓ Confirm DMARC policy is set up
Technical Checks
- ✓ Verify MX records are configured
- ✓ Check reverse DNS setup
- ✓ Test SMTP server configuration
- ✓ Monitor blacklist status
Final Checks
- ✓ Run comprehensive test with our email testing tool
- ✓ Review all test results
- ✓ Fix any identified issues
- ✓ Re-test after fixes
- ✓ Proceed with sending only after all checks pass
