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Placement Tests Overview

Placement Tests Overview


Purpose


A placement test tells you where your emails actually land — inbox, spam, or promotions tab — broken down by email provider (Google, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.) before you send to your real audience. This article explains how placement tests work, what you can learn from them, and how to run one.


Why Run a Placement Test


Your warming dashboard shows an average inbox rate across your warming network, but that's an aggregate. A placement test lets you:


  • Test a specific email (subject, body, links) with a specific sender against seed addresses at each major provider.
  • See provider-by-provider placement — e.g., 99% inbox on Google but 60% inbox on Outlook.
  • Identify whether a content issue (spam-triggering words, certain links) or a sender reputation issue is causing problems.
  • Do this before a large send, not after.


Run a placement test any time you want to:

  • Launch a new campaign with a new email template
  • Test a new mailbox you haven't used for campaigns yet
  • Diagnose a drop in open rates on an existing campaign


Navigate to Placement Tests


Go to Placement Tests from the team sidebar. If you don't see it, check your role permissions.


How a Placement Test Works


  1. You create a test using one of your connected sender mailboxes and an email template.
  2. SuperSend sends your test email to a network of "seed" addresses — real inboxes at Google, Outlook, Yahoo, Zoho, and other providers.
  3. The seed addresses report back: did the email land in inbox, spam, or promotions?
  4. Results appear in the placement test dashboard within a few minutes.


Placement tests cost global credits (typically a small number per test depending on the number of seed addresses tested). Check Admin → Global Credits before running large tests.


Create a Placement Test


  1. On the Placement Tests page, click New Test (or Create Test).
  2. Configure the test:
  • Sender — choose the mailbox to send from. This is the sender whose reputation is being tested.
  • Subject — the subject line you plan to use. Subject lines can influence spam filtering.
  • Email Body — paste or write the email content. The actual content matters — links, certain phrases, image ratios, and HTML structure all affect placement.
  1. Run the test.


SuperSend sends the email and waits for placement data to come back from the seed network.


Reading the Results


Results show placement by provider:


Column

What it means

Provider

The email provider (Google, Outlook, Yahoo, Zoho, etc.)

Inbox %

% of test emails that landed in the inbox at that provider

Spam %

% that landed in spam

Promotions/Other %

% that went to other tabs

Volume

How many seed addresses were tested at that provider


Green (≥95% inbox): This sender/content combination is landing well at this provider.

Yellow (90–94%): Borderline — some emails are being filtered. Worth monitoring.

Red (<90%): Active spam filtering happening. Investigate before sending a campaign.


Diagnosing Problems from Placement Results


If you're getting spam on one provider but not others:

The problem is likely provider-specific reputation. Check if the sending domain has good SPF/DKIM/DMARC alignment (some providers enforce this more strictly). Check if the sending domain has a history with that provider.


If you're getting spam across all providers:

The problem is likely content. Common culprits:

  • Spam-triggering phrases in subject or body ("free," "guaranteed," "limited time," etc.)
  • Link shorteners (bit.ly, etc.) — use real domain URLs
  • HTML with too many images and not enough text
  • Excessive link count
  • Missing opt-out language


Try a plain-text version of the same email and run another test. If plain-text performs better, the HTML formatting is the issue.


If results are inconsistent (good one day, bad the next):

Sender reputation fluctuates. Run multiple tests over a few days to get a reliable average. If reputation is inconsistent, it usually means warm-up isn't stable yet — let warming run longer before scaling.


Expected Result


You know exactly which email providers your placement test sender/content combination lands in inbox vs. spam, giving you data to act on before a live campaign send.


Troubleshooting


  • Issue: Test results don't show up.

Fix: Wait a few minutes — seed inboxes need time to report back. If results still don't appear after 10 minutes, check that the sender used is actively connected and able to send.


  • Issue: You don't have enough credits to run a test.

Fix: Check your credit balance in Admin → Global Credits. Purchase additional credits from Billing if needed.



Updated on: 17/03/2026

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