{"id":50755,"date":"2025-03-14T09:34:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T13:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?p=50755"},"modified":"2026-02-06T14:20:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T19:20:53","slug":"make-it-to-the-inbox-not-the-spam-folder-with-litmus-spam-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/make-it-to-the-inbox-not-the-spam-folder-with-litmus-spam-testing","title":{"rendered":"Make It to the Inbox With Litmus Spam Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<div id=\"simple-text-block-block_45a0cdd2b68c9226234d2ac5236a9225\" class=\"block-simple-text-block alignfull \" style=\"background-color:\">\n  <div class=\"container\">\n  \t<div class=\"row\">\n  \t\t<div class=\"col\">\n  \t\t\t<div class=\"copy\">\n  \t\t\t\t<table style=\"background-color: #f2f3f6;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"block-1\" style=\"padding: 20px;\">\n<h3>Key takeaways \u2728<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Prevention is key:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> run email spam tests regularly to catch errors before they cause deliverability problems.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Litmus Spam Tests<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can be run manually, together with your email service provider (ESP) or automatically when you send an email for QA.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re like the 55% of marketers who use promotional or marketing emails, you know that they have a huge impact on <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/resources\/state-of-email-lifecycle-marketing\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lifecycle marketing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. But did you know over 14% of all emails never make it into the inbox?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/why-email-deliverability-matters\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">email deliverability<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can feel like a bit of a mystery at times, you don\u2019t have to cross your fingers and hope that your messages end up where you intend. With Litmus Spam Testing, you can identify and fix issues that might otherwise land your emails in spam\u2014long before you hit send.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read on to learn what impacts email deliverability and why running regular spam tests is important for maintaining and <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/email-deliverability\">improving your inbox placement<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Table of contents<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#deliverability\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What factors affect email deliverability?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#important\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why is email spam testing important?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#litmus-spam\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is Litmus Spam testing?<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#get-started\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to get started with Litmus Spam Testing<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#results\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How do you read the spam test results<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"#run-tests\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why you need to run spam tests regularly<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span id=\"deliverability\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What factors affect email deliverability?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A lot of <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/how-your-content-could-trigger-the-spam-filter\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">factors affect your email deliverability<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> including <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/email-authentication\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">email authentication<\/a>, sender reputation, and the actual content of your email, to name a few.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Litmus\u2019 Pre-Send Spam Test helps you spot issues that could land your email in spam, so you can fix them before pressing send. Here are the main filters it tests against and why they matter.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Email authentication<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Email authentication looks at the source of an email to see if it\u2019s valid. Also called domain authentication or validation, email authentication helps prevent spoofing and phishing scams from phony email addresses (like emails pretending to be from your boss or your bank\u2014but aren\u2019t).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are some of the authentications our email spam test considers:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>DomainKeys Identified Mail (<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/email-authentication\/dkim\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DKIM<\/a>).<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Shows that your email is associated with your domain. In turn, it essentially allows your organization to claim responsibility for your email.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting &amp; Conformance (DMARC).<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Meant to combat phishing and helps you identify if a sender is attempting to impersonate you.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/the-ultimate-guide-to-list-unsubscribe\"><b>List-Unsubscribe<\/b><\/a><b>.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> An optional email header that allows for an easy and consistent unsubscribe action.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Sender Policy Framework (<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/email-authentication\/sender-policy-framework\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SPF<\/a>).<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Allows a domain owner to indicate multiple IP addresses or domains that can send mail on their behalf via a DNS TXT entry.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>TLS, STARTTLS, or Opportunistic TLS.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Gives senders the ability to encrypt email in transit.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Brand Indicators for Message Identification (<\/b><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/what-is-bimi-and-why-should-email-marketers-care\"><b>BIMI<\/b><\/a><b>).<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A way for inbox providers to verify information about your brand. Allows you to display a sender logo alongside your messages in the inbox for better trust and visibility.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Placement filters\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Placement filters evaluate emails against a set of criteria\u2014which changes over time. These filters look at a combination of engagement, reputation, authentication, formatting, and content. (But not necessarily<\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/why-spam-trigger-words-are-a-thing-of-the-past\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">spam word triggers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the subject lines and copy\u2014those are a thing of the past.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Litmus Spam Testing checks your email against the following placement filters:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AOL Mail<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gmail<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GMX<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GoDaddy<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">G Suite<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mail.com<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mail.ru<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Office 365<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Outlook<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Web.de<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yahoo<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Score filters<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These scores show you the likelihood a <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/help.litmus.com\/article\/277-spam-filters-and-how-they-score-emails\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">spam filter tool <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">will catch your email and put it in someone\u2019s spam inbox.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Barracuda. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Barracuda Essentials for Email Security is a sophisticated anti-spam and email analysis tool often used by large organizations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Microsoft Exchange Online Protection.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Uses a built-in malware and spam filter to evaluate and score email.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Outlook Desktop.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Outlook comes with a built-in junk email filter that \u201clearns\u201d spam emails over time.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>SpamAssassin. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An open source spam filter that analyzes email headers and body text by using text analysis, bayesian filtering, DNS blocklists, and collaborative filtering databases.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blocklist filters\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A blocklist is a real-time collection of senders thought to be sources of spam or other types of email abuse. Blocklist providers may use a combination of spam traps, spam complaints, and other proprietary data sources as criteria for adding a sender to a blocklist. Inbox providers often maintain their own proprietary blocklists, using them in combination with independent, third-party blocklists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<div class=\"container pt-3 pb-5\">\n\t<div class=\"row blog-cta-blue  p-4\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col-12 mx-auto\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"row d-flex align-items-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-lg-6 col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t<p class=\"bold fs-4\">Unlock 2026 inbox benchmarks now<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Download Validity\u2019s 2026 Email Deliverability Benchmark Report and learn how your inbox placement compares before your next send.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"button-blue arrow\"><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/resource-center\/2026-email-deliverability-benchmark-report\/\" class=\"text-white text-decoration-none\">Get the report<\/a><\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/div><!--col-6-->\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-6 d-none d-lg-block\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/blog-cta-12172024.svg\" width=\"208\" height=\"171\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t<\/div><!--col-6-->\n\t\t\t<\/div> <!--row-->\n\t\t<\/div><!--col-12-->\n\t<\/div><!--row-->\n<\/div><!--container-->\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"important\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why is email spam testing important?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can\u2019t simply look at an email and know if it will land in a spam folder.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Avoiding the spam folder is more complex than it used to be. Many issues could potentially land you in the spam folder that you can\u2019t predict manually\u2014from blocklists to email content to varying scores and weights that a spam filter uses to decide whether an email is spam.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In early 2024, <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/a\/answer\/81126?hl=en#zippy=%2Crequirements-for-all-senders%2Crequirements-for-sending-or-more-messages-per-day\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> refined their sender requirements and guidelines to help ensure messages are delivered to Gmail accounts as expected. Its goal was to \u201c&#8230;prevent Gmail from limiting sending rates, blocking messages, or marking messages as spam.\u201d They also outlined clear guidelines to help users prevent their emails from going to spam.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Emails in the spam folder waste your opportunity<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nearly 65% of email marketers who responded to our <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/resources\/state-of-email-2023\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2023 State of Email Report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> ranked email among their top three most important marketing channels. If your emails are landing in the spam folder, you\u2019ve missed out on all that opportunity!<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/email-guardian\">Protect your email deliverability<\/a> and sender reputation<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spam testing can help you spot\u2014and correct\u2014issues before you send. If you never send errors, your email deliverability and sender reputation should get a boost.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Send emails your subscribers are excited to open and click<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019re sending emails to engage subscribers with some goal in mind. But the ways in which they engage with your messages also shows inbox providers people actually want to engage with your messages. When they know you\u2019re a trusted sender, inbox providers are more likely to put your messages where you want them\u2014the inbox!<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"run-tests\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why you need to run spam tests regularly<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Email clients update every <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/how-often-do-email-apps-change-more-often-than-you-might-think\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1.2 days on average<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and you may be completely unaware of the changes. In the same way, the algorithms for spam filters update regularly. And sometimes, your IT or dev team may change an IP address without realizing it impacts email. At any rate\u2014an email spam test helps keep you in the know!<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"row p-5 my-5 background-light-gray rounded-5\">\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\"><p>\u201cWe run an abbreviated spam test every time an email is sent in for QA. More often than not, it\u2019s all we need and is built directly into our workflow. If there\u2019s an unexpected flag, then we\u2019ll run a complete check to see what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/blockquote><figcaption class=\"blockquote-footer\"><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/carinslater\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Carin Slater<\/a>, Lifecycle Email Marketing Manager at Litmus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Landing in the spam folder is more than just bad for your marketing campaigns and reputation. It costs you in the form of wasted resources, lost revenue and missed opportunities to connect with your subscribers. In some cases, it may even require hiring a company to fix your sender reputation.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"litmus-spam\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is Litmus Spam Testing?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Litmus\u2019 Spam Test tool scans your emails against 20+ different tests, identifying any potential issues that could prevent you from landing in the inbox. Best of all, it provides actionable advice on how you can fix them, before you hit send.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"row p-5 my-5 background-light-gray rounded-5\">\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\"><p>\u201cWhat you do before you press send will determine whether your email reaches the inbox or the spam folder. Litmus Spam Testing helps marketers catch potential issues before they impact campaigns, protecting sender reputation and ensuring emails land where they belong: front and center in the subscribers\u2019 inboxes.\u201d<\/blockquote><figcaption class=\"blockquote-footer\"><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jessica-materna\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jess Materna<\/a>, Sr. Director of Product and Partner Marketing at Litmus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: 0;\" title=\"Walnut embedded demo\" src=\"https:\/\/app.teamwalnut.com\/player\/?demoId=bd107087-6af1-4c0d-af29-e199c003e0ad&amp;showGuide=true&amp;showGuidesToolbar=true&amp;showHotspots=true&amp;source=app\" name=\"walnut_iframe\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600px\" frameborder=\"none\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-forms allow-downloads allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"get-started\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to get started with Litmus Spam Testing<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All Litmus Plus and Enterprise plans include spam testing. There are three <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/help.litmus.com\/article\/137-perform-a-spam-test\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">different ways to run a spam test<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Litmus: manually, via esp sync, and automatically.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Run a manual spam test in Litmus<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are the steps to run a complete check against all filters:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Log in and navigate to the \u201cTest\u201d tab.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Select \u201cView and create spam tests\u201d in the slider menu.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Start a new spam test or see the results of a recent one.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/fast.wistia.com\/embed\/medias\/o0nvbhvpfd.jsonp\" async><\/script><br \/>\n<script src=\"\/\/fast.wistia.com\/assets\/external\/E-v1.js\" async><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"wistia_responsive_padding\" style=\"padding: 56.25% 0 0 0; position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"wistia_responsive_wrapper\" style=\"height: 100%; left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0; width: 100%;\">\n<div class=\"wistia_embed wistia_async_o0nvbhvpfd seo=false videoFoam=true popover=true\" style=\"height: 100%; width: 100%;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\nRun a spam test using ESP Sync<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also use<\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/esp-sync\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> ESP sync<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to speed up the process by choosing an email that\u2019s already in your drafts. Litmus will pull this email in when you start a new spam test.<\/span><\/p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-110425 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ESP-Spam-862x1024.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of the Litmus platform for running a spam test using ESP Sync\" width=\"862\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ESP-Spam-862x1024.png 862w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ESP-Spam-252x300.png 252w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ESP-Spam-768x913.png 768w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ESP-Spam-1292x1536.png 1292w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ESP-Spam.png 1681w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 862px) 100vw, 862px\" \/>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\nRun an abbreviated spam test<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finally, you can run an abbreviated spam test each time you send in a test email to Litmus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Simply send your email to Litmus using your Litmus test address. Then navigate to the bottom of your Previews &amp; QA results. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This will show you your DKIM, DMARC, SPF and BIMI authentication results, as well as the Outlook Desktop filtering and domain blocklist results.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most critical errors will usually show up in your authentication. This abbreviated test highlights key results and is the perfect solution for most busy marketing teams.<\/span><\/p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-91409 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/litmus-spam-testing-qa-1024x520.png\" alt=\"An image that's a screenshot listing out the results of a spam filter test in Litmus.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/litmus-spam-testing-qa-1024x520.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/litmus-spam-testing-qa-300x152.png 300w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/litmus-spam-testing-qa-768x390.png 768w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/litmus-spam-testing-qa.png 1216w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<div class=\"container pt-3 pb-5 px-1\">\n\t<div class=\"row blog-cta-green rounded-5 p-4\">\n\t\t<div class=\"mx-auto col-12\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"row d-flex align-items-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-lg-6 col-12\">\n\t\t\t\t<p class=\"bold fs-4\">Get more messages to more people <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<p>Ensure your content is timely, engaging, and functions on any device\u2014and get ahead of blocklists and spam traps with handy alerts. \n<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"button-blue arrow\"><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/email-deliverability\" class=\"text-white text-decoration-none\">Boost deliverability<\/a><\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/div><!--col-6-->\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-6 d-none d-lg-block\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/blog-cta-email-guardian-07292024.svg\" width=\"210\" height=\"180\" alt=\"\">\n\t\t\t<\/div><!--col-6-->\n\t\t\t<\/div> <!--row-->\n\t\t<\/div><!--col-12-->\n\t<\/div><!--row-->\n<\/div><!--container-->\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"results\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How do you read the Litmus Spam Test results?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once your spam test has run, you\u2019ll see a high-level summary of your results. From here, you can drill deeper into issues that were uncovered.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"row p-5 my-5 background-light-gray rounded-5\">\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote\"><p>\u201cOur test does not have the benefit of knowing your inbox behavior, so it\u2019s behaving more like someone you have never emailed before. (So basically, it\u2019s the out of the box settings\u2014not influenced by knowing any behavior). Therefore, it\u2019s showing you where Gmail will put your email if Gmail has no additional knowledge.\u201d<\/blockquote><figcaption class=\"blockquote-footer\"><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/nicolecarolswift\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nicole Swift<\/a>, Director of Customer Experience at Litmus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Green square = passed<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If a filter shows a green square or says \u201cPassed\u201d, you\u2019re good to go!<\/span><\/p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-91283\" src=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/spam-screenshot.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"987\" height=\"778\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/spam-screenshot.png 987w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/spam-screenshot-300x236.png 300w, https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/spam-screenshot-768x605.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 987px) 100vw, 987px\" \/>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\nYellow square = minor issue<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If a filter shows a yellow square or is marked as a minor issue, you can still move forward with your send. However, it\u2019s a good idea to review what the filter flagged so you can monitor the issue. Unaddressed issues can become critical over time.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Red square = critical issue<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If a filter shows a red square or is marked as a critical issue, do not hit send until you resolve the issues flagged. When you click to review the results of that filter, you\u2019ll see a sidebar with recommended action steps. You may want to involve the person that manages your email infrastructure to help you figure out\u00a0 issues to resolve before you continue sending emails.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If a filter is unavailable, that means that we didn\u2019t receive your test. There could be several reasons for this that we can <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/help.litmus.com\/article\/137-perform-a-spam-test#FAQs-OtL55\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">help troubleshoot.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Catch errors early so every email lands in the inbox<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make it a best practice as part of your email workflows to run spam tests regularly, and keep your email campaigns alive and well. <\/span><a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/spam-filter-tests\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Try Litmus Spam Testing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and other helpful Litmus features for free.<\/span><\/p>\n  \t\t\t<\/div>\n  \t\t<\/div>\n  \t<\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"post-cta-buttonblock_42aca4fe9cac6f759a5c937a01249747\" class=\"block-post-cta-button mt-5\">\n  <div class=\"container px-0\">\n    <div class=\"row\">\n      <div class=\"blog-post-cta-button-wrapper col-12 col-lg-10 mx-auto p-4 d-block d-lg-flex align-items-lg-center align-items-start\">\n\t\t  \t\t  \t\t  \t\t  \t\t  \t\t  \t\t  \t\t \t\t\t  \t\t  \t\t  <div class=\"col-12 col-lg-9 ps-lg-4 ps-0 text-center text-lg-start mt-3 mt-lg-0\">\t\t\t  \t\t\t  <h2 class=\"h-sm\"><strong>Deliverability, from every angle<\/strong><\/h2>\n\t\t\t   \n\t\t\t  \t\t\t\t\t<p>Validity Everest gives you the insights and tools to improve inbox placement, sender reputation, and email performance.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t  \t\t  <\/div><!--col-12 col-lg-9 ps-lg-4 ps-0 text-center text-lg-start mt-3 mt-lg-0-->\t\t\t  \t\t  <div class=\"text-center text-lg-end col-12 col-lg-1 ms-lg-2 ms-0\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"btn btn-primary\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.validity.com\/everest\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tEXPLORE EVEREST\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t  \t\t  <\/div><!--text-center text-lg-end col-12 col-lg-1 ms-lg-2 ms-0-->\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t        <\/div><!--blog-post-cta-button-wrapper-->\n    <\/div><!--row-->\n  <\/div><!--container-->\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Find out how Litmus Spam Testing can keep you out of the spam folder by testing against 25 filters and giving insights on how to fix deliverability issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[45,1418,1419,48],"blog_category":[10308],"class_list":["post-50755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-deliverability","tag-dkim","tag-email-authentication","tag-spam-filter","blog_category-email-testing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - 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