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Sending an email campaign without knowing where it actually lands is like running an ad without knowing whether anyone sees it. Your email can be authenticated, well-written, and sent to a verified list — and still end up in spam for a significant share of your recipients, depending on factors like your domain’s reputation, authentication setup, or email content. The Inbox Placement Test gives you a clear, provider-specific view of exactly where your emails land before you commit to sending at scale.

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What Inbox Placement Testing Does

The Inbox Placement Test sends a set of real test emails from your connected mailbox to actual email accounts at the major providers Clodura monitors — Google Workspace (Gmail) and Microsoft 365 (Outlook). After a short processing period, Clodura reports back on exactly which folder each test email landed in: the primary inbox, spam or junk, or another folder such as Promotions. It also runs a domain health check at the same time, checking your SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MX records, reverse DNS, and blacklist status. Together, these results tell you whether your infrastructure is healthy and whether your emails are reaching real inboxes — or getting filtered.

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Plan Availability

The Inbox Placement Test is available to all users on Clodura’s credit-based plans:
  • Free Forever
  • Max
  • Pay As You Go (PAYG)
Users on older non-credit-based plans (Prospect, Prospect Pro, or Enterprise) need to upgrade to a credit-based plan to access this feature.

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Credit Cost

Each inbox placement test costs 50 credits and sends 10 test emails — 5 to Google Workspace accounts and 5 to Microsoft 365 accounts.

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How to Run an Inbox Placement Test

1

Navigate to Inbox Placement Test

In the left navigation bar, go to Email Warmup → Inbox Placement Test. Click Create Test to start a new test.
2

Select or add your mailbox

Choose the email account whose deliverability you want to test from the dropdown. This is the “From” address the test emails will be sent from. If no account is configured, click Add Account to connect one. You can also remove any account you no longer want to test.
3

Name your test

Enter a descriptive Placement Test Name so you can find and compare results easily later. For example: “Campaign A — July Draft” or “Post-Warmup Check — Week 4.”
4

Choose your email content

Select the email content to use for the test:
  • Custom Email — paste or type the email content you want to test. This is the best option when you are testing a specific campaign draft.
  • Predefined Template — choose from a selection of standard templates if you want a baseline test without a specific draft ready.
Using the actual content from your planned campaign gives you the most accurate and actionable results.
5

Start the test

Click Start Test. This consumes 50 credits and initiates the test immediately. Clodura sends 10 test emails — 5 to Gmail/Google Workspace accounts and 5 to Microsoft 365/Outlook accounts — and begins collecting placement data.
6

Wait for results

Results are collected automatically as test emails arrive at the recipient accounts. Allow a few minutes for processing before reviewing the report.

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Reading Your Test Results

Test results are organized into a Progress Report (summary view) and a Detailed Report with three tabs: Domain Health, Placement, and Email Copy.

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Progress Report (Summary)

The summary row for each completed test shows:
FieldWhat It Tells You
Mailbox TestedThe email account from which test emails were sent
Test NameThe label you gave this test
Subject LineThe subject line used in the test emails
Emails SentTotal number of test emails dispatched (always 10)
Domain Health ScoreAn overall percentage rating of your domain’s reputation
Inbox Placement ScorePercentage of test emails that landed in the primary inbox
Test Start DateWhen the test was initiated

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Detailed Report

Click into any completed test to open the full report. Use the tabs at the top to switch between views.
This is the primary analysis view. It contains two performance gauges at the top and a set of authentication checks below.Performance Gauges:
  • Domain Health Score — An overall percentage that reflects how much major providers trust your domain. A low score (shown in red or orange) is accompanied by a warning such as “Your domain is not healthy.” Aim for as close to 100% as possible.
  • Inbox Placement Score — The percentage of your 10 test emails that landed in the primary inbox. For example, if 7 out of 10 landed in the inbox, your Inbox Placement Score is 70%. Low scores trigger alerts like “Emails are going to spam.”
Authentication and Server Checks:Clodura runs seven checks, each shown as green (passing) or red (failing):
CheckWhat It Verifies
SPFAuthorized sending servers are listed in your DNS SPF record
DKIMA valid DKIM public key is present and email signatures match
DMARCA DMARC policy record is published and enforced
MX FoundYour domain has MX records configured for receiving mail
Reverse DNSThe sending IP address maps back to your domain
Blacklist CheckYour domain and IP are not listed on major blacklists
Health ScoreSummary rating based on all checks
Each check includes an info icon with expanded details or logs, so you can see exactly what was found in your DNS.
The Placement tab shows a provider-by-provider breakdown of where your 10 test emails landed.Summary Cards at the top:
  • Inbox — count of emails delivered to the primary inbox
  • Spam — count of emails that went to spam or junk
  • Others — count of emails in secondary folders (e.g., Promotions, Social)
  • Missing — count of emails that were not delivered or not detected
Provider Breakdown:Results are grouped by provider:
  • Google Workspace — results for the 5 Gmail/Workspace test recipients
  • Microsoft 365 — results for the 5 Outlook/365 test recipients
Each provider section shows the Inbox %, Spam %, and the folder result for each individual test recipient, so you can see whether a deliverability issue is universal or provider-specific.
This tab displays the exact content of the email used in the test, including subject line and body. Use this view to correlate specific content choices with your placement results. If emails are landing in spam, review the content here alongside your Spam Score results to identify likely triggers.

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How to Improve Your Inbox Placement

If your test results show a low inbox placement score or failing domain health checks, work through these steps before running your campaign:
1

Fix failing authentication checks

If SPF, DKIM, or DMARC show red in the Domain Health tab, fix those DNS records first. Authentication failures have a larger impact on inbox placement than any content issue. See the Email Deliverability Overview for detailed setup instructions for each protocol.
2

Check your blacklist status

If the Blacklist Check is red, your domain or sending IP is listed on one or more blacklists. Use MXToolbox Blacklist Check to identify which lists you appear on and follow their removal processes. This can take several days to resolve.
3

Run or continue email warmup

A low inbox placement score from a domain with no warmup history is expected — you need to build reputation before providers trust your mail. Start or resume Email Warmup and run for at least 30 days before re-testing placement. Warmup specifically addresses the domain reputation signals that determine inbox vs. spam routing.
4

Review your email content

If authentication passes but emails still land in spam, switch to the Email Copy tab and review your content. Run a Spam Score check on the same content to identify specific triggers. Rewrite flagged phrases and retest placement with the improved version.
5

Adjust subject lines

Subject lines are evaluated independently by spam filters. If your placement is good for the body content but low overall, try alternative subject lines. Avoid aggressive sales language, all caps, or artificial urgency — the same rules that apply to body content apply to subjects.
6

Re-run the placement test

After making changes to your DNS records, content, or warmup status, run a new placement test to measure the impact. Keep a record of test names and dates so you can compare results over time.
Use Inbox Placement testing as a regular checkpoint in your email program — not just a one-time diagnostic. Run a test after completing warmup, before major campaign launches, and whenever you notice a drop in open rates or an increase in bounce rates.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Each test sends exactly 10 emails — 5 to Google Workspace accounts and 5 to Microsoft 365 accounts. This simulates real-world inbox placement across the two dominant business email providers.
Results are collected as the test emails are received by the test accounts, which typically takes a few minutes. For best accuracy, wait until all 10 emails have been processed before drawing conclusions from the results.
Yes. Use the Delete option available on each test entry in the progress report to permanently remove the test data from your dashboard.
A 50% inbox rate means roughly half your emails are landing in spam. Start by reviewing the Domain Health tab — if any authentication checks are red (SPF, DKIM, or DMARC), fix those first, as they have the largest single impact on placement. Next, check whether you have completed at least 30 days of email warmup. If not, run or extend warmup before sending campaigns at scale. Finally, review your email content with the Spam Score checker to eliminate any content-based triggers.
Yes. The test uses whatever email account you connect in the setup step, including accounts configured via the “Others” (manual SMTP/IMAP) option. The test sends emails from your actual connected mailbox using your credentials, so results reflect real-world deliverability for that account.