Guide
Inbox Placement Test: See Where Your Emails Land
An inbox placement test sends your email to seed mailboxes at Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and others, then reports whether each copy reached the inbox, a tab like Promotions, or spam. It shows what a delivery rate can't.
- Gmail Inbox · Primary
- Google Workspace Inbox
- Outlook.com Junk Email
- Microsoft 365 Inbox · Focused
- Yahoo Mail Inbox
Next step: check Microsoft reputation and authentication before sending to Outlook.com addresses.
Basics
What an inbox placement test measures
Your sending tool reports delivery: the receiving server said yes. Inbox placement is what happens next, and it's invisible unless you test for it.
Where delivery rate stops and inbox placement starts
An accepted email can still land in spam. Only a placement test sees that split.
| Metric | What it measures | Blind spot | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery rate | Emails the receiving server accepted. | Accepted mail that was filed as spam. | Your sending tool |
| Inbox placement | Where accepted mail landed: inbox, tab or spam. | Seed mailboxes have no history with you. | A seed-list placement test |
| Spam complaint rate | Inbox recipients who clicked Report spam. | Gmail only; needs enough daily volume. | Google Postmaster Tools |
| Bounce rate | Emails rejected outright. | Silent spam-foldering. | Your sending tool |
How it works
How seed-list email placement tests work
A placement test only means something if it mirrors the real send: same mailbox, same domain, same subject and body.
Step 1
Seed list
Test mailboxes across Gmail, Google Workspace, Outlook.com, Microsoft 365 and Yahoo.
Step 2
Send for real
Send your actual email from the mailbox you'll use for the campaign.
Step 3
Check each seed
Each copy is located: inbox, tab or folder, spam, or missing.
Step 4
Read by provider
Results are grouped per provider, because each filters on its own.
Step 5
Fix and retest
Change one thing at a time, then run the test again.
Run a placement test from your Jetmail dashboard
Reading results
Inbox placement results by provider
Each provider has its own folders and its own idea of a good sender.
| Provider | Where mail can land | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Gmail & Google Workspace | Primary, Promotions, Social, Updates or Forums tab, or Spam | Promotions is for sales and marketing mail; a cold email sorted there reads like a newsletter. |
| Outlook.com & Microsoft 365 | Focused or Other (when Focused Inbox is on), or Junk Email | Focused Inbox favors senders people interact with. Junk is the real problem. |
| Yahoo Mail | Inbox or Spam | Yahoo requires SPF or DKIM from every sender and an aligned DMARC pass from bulk senders. |
Outlook.com rejects mail from domains that send 5,000+ messages to its consumer inboxes without SPF, DKIM and DMARC in place, with error 550 5.7.515; the requirement has applied since May 2025. A seed that shows “missing” rather than spam usually means a bounce like this one.
Troubleshooting
What to do with each result
| Result | Likely cause | What to fix |
|---|---|---|
| Spam at every provider | Authentication failing, or the domain or IP is on a blocklist. | Check SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MX |
| Inbox at one provider, spam at another | Reputation is tracked per provider. | Lower daily volume per mailbox and warm the weak side gradually. |
| Gmail Promotions tab | Content looks like marketing. | Plain text, one link at most, no images or heavy formatting. |
| Missing (never arrived) | The message bounced or was blocked. | Decode the bounce |
| Inbox in tests, few replies live | List quality or targeting, not placement. | Verify addresses and watch spam complaints in Postmaster Tools. |
Authentication is the usual first suspect. If you're unsure how the three records interact, read SPF vs DKIM vs DMARC.
Monitoring
Inbox placement monitoring, not just one test
Placement drifts as volume, content and reputation change. Build a habit, not a one-off check.
- Test every new mailbox or domain before it joins a campaign.
- Retest after changing DNS, your sending tool, your template or your daily volume.
- Watch your spam rate in Google Postmaster Tools: Google says keep it below 0.1% and never reach 0.3%. Dashboard data usually updates within 24 hours.
- Monitor blacklists continuously, so a listing is caught before your next send.
For the full checklist, from authentication to warmup, see the email deliverability guide.
Sources: Google email sender guidelines · Postmaster Tools dashboards · Gmail inbox categories · Microsoft: Focused Inbox · Microsoft: fix 550 5.7.515 · Yahoo sender best practices
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Or see pricing →Frequently asked questions
What is an inbox placement test?
A test that sends your email to a list of seed mailboxes at providers like Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo, then checks each one to see whether the message landed in the inbox, a tab such as Promotions, or the spam folder.
What's the difference between inbox placement and delivery rate?
Delivery rate counts every email the receiving server accepted, including the ones it then filed as spam. Inbox placement shows where accepted mail actually ended up, which is what decides whether anyone reads it.
How often should I run an email placement test?
Before you start sending from new mailboxes or domains, after any DNS or sending-tool change, before a large campaign, and whenever reply rates drop without an obvious reason.
Are inbox placement tests accurate?
They show reliably where your email lands for the test mailboxes at that moment. Real recipients' filters also weigh their own history with you, so treat results as a strong signal and pair them with Google Postmaster Tools data.
Why do my emails land in Gmail's Promotions tab?
Gmail files sales, discounts and other marketing mail under Promotions. Cold emails that read like newsletters, with heavy formatting, images or several links, tend to be sorted there. Short, plain, personal messages look like one-to-one mail.
How do I fix emails going to spam?
Check that SPF, DKIM and DMARC pass and align, make sure your domain isn't on a blocklist, cut volume per mailbox, verify your list to avoid bounces, and simplify the content. Then run the placement test again.