Inbox Placement Tests help you measure how your emails land across major mailbox providers (Inbox, Spam, Missing, Blacklist). With InboxKit, you can run one-time or recurring tests to continuously monitor your mailboxes’ deliverability performance.
This guide walks you through:
What Inbox Placement tests are
How to start a new test (4-step flow)
How billing works
How to view and interpret the results
1. What Are Inbox Placement Tests?
Inbox Placement Tests simulate real outbound sending by delivering your email to a global seed network of mailbox providers.
This allows you to understand:
Inbox Rate: % of emails delivered to Inbox
Spam Rate: % of emails flagged as Spam
Missing Rate: Providers that didn’t receive the message
Authentication Status: SPF / DKIM / DMARC
Provider-wise placement performance
Overall deliverability score
These insights help you take corrective actions before starting or scaling campaigns.
You can test against:
Personal Gmail
Personal Outlook
Business Google Workspace
Business Microsoft 365
Each test is pay-as-you-go and runs with safe sending patterns for accuracy.
2. How to Start a New Inbox Placement Test
Navigate to:
Addons → Inbox Placement → Start New Test
InboxKit will guide you through a 4-step test creation flow.
Step 1: Select Mailboxes & Name the Test
Here’s what you do in Step 1:
✔ Add a Test Name
This appears in your test history for easy identification.
✔ Select Mailboxes
Choose the mailboxes you want to test (up to 500 mailboxes in one run).
You can:
Select individual mailboxes
Filter by provider or status
Select all active mailboxes at once
Failed or inactive mailboxes cannot be selected.
Once done, click Continue.
Step 2: Choose Frequency
InboxKit lets you choose:
A. Mailbox Types to Test Against
You can test your deliverability against:
Personal Gmail
Google Workspace
Microsoft 365
(You can pick 1–4 provider groups.)
B. Choose Test Frequency
You can run tests:
One-time (most common)
Weekly
Biweekly
Monthly
Or set a specific weekday
Pricing:
Every test costs $0.05 per mailbox.
Click Continue to proceed.
Step 3: Message Settings
This step lets you customize how your test email is sent.
A. Sending Interval
You can set the delay between each test email to simulate realistic sending patterns.
Options range from 1 min to 30 min.
InboxKit automatically shows:
Recommended “safe interval”
Estimated completion time based on mailbox count
B. Email Subject
Optional — leave empty to use default.
C. Email Body
Optional — you can paste your own message or keep the default test content.
Click Continue.
Step 4: Review & Confirm
This is the final review page showing:
Billing Method
Wallet Credits (default)
IP Tokens (if enabled)
Order Summary
Frequency
Selected mailbox providers
Number of mailboxes
Total cost
Billing Details
You’ll be charged once the test starts
Estimated time for test completion
Click Start Test to begin.
3. Test Execution & Status
After submission, you are redirected back to the Inbox Placement dashboard.
Under Test History, your test will show:
Status: Processing
Test Name
Inbox/Spam/Missing counts
Date
No action needed — InboxKit runs the test automatically.
Once completed:
Status updates to Completed or Failed
A View Results button appears
4. Viewing and Understanding Test Results
Click View Results to see full performance metrics.
Results include:
✔ Overall Score (0–10)
A higher score indicates stronger deliverability.
✔ Category Scores
B2B
B2C
Authentication (SPF / DKIM / DMARC)
✔ Inbox / Spam / Missing Breakdown
Total Inbox
Total Spam
Missing (Not Found)
Blacklisted (if any)
✔ Placement Distribution
Graph showing how emails landed across 27+ global providers.
✔ Sender-wise Performance
Each sender's score and placement breakdown.
You can filter, export, or expand detailed provider-level results.
5. Pricing & Billing
Inbox Placement tests follow a simple usage-based model:
$0.05 per mailbox per test
Frequency-based tests bill automatically on schedule
Wallet credits are used for payment
Ensure you maintain sufficient credits to avoid test failures.
6. Best Practices for Accurate Results
To get the most accurate deliverability insights:
Use realistic sending intervals
Keep your subject/body close to real campaign content
Always test newly warmed or freshly created mailboxes
Re-test weekly to maintain deliverability hygiene
Review Missing results — they often indicate reputation or infrastructure issues
7. Common Reasons for Failed or Poor Results
Low warm-up levels
Poor sending patterns
Spam-triggering content
Missing/outdated SPF, DKIM, DMARC
Recently purchased or inactive domains
Mailboxes hitting provider limits
Fix issues and retest to confirm improvements.
Final Summary
Inbox Placement Tests are essential for ensuring your campaigns land in the inbox consistently. InboxKit provides a simple, automated, 4-step setup flow:
Select Mailboxes & Name
Choose Frequency
Message Settings
Review & Confirm
After running the test, analyze deliverability performance, identify issues, and apply corrective actions — ensuring optimal inbox placement for your outreach.