Deliverability preview

The deliverability preview lets you check your mailing before dispatch, whether the contents are displayed correctly and whether your mailing has been classified as spam by the most popular email providers. Optimizely works together with an external software service provider to analyze and create the deliverability preview.

To create or view a deliverability preview, open the Optimizely Campaign menu and select Analytics > Deliverability Preview.

Image: Deliverability preview

Creating a deliverability preview

Deliverability previews have additional costs. For more information, contact customer support.

Prerequisite:

To create a deliverability preview:

  1. Click Create….
  2. In the Select Mailing drop-down list, select the mailing for which you want to create a deliverability preview.
  3. In the Select Test Recipient drop-down list, select a recipient list.

    Only use test lists and no real customer data. See also Recipient lists.

  4. In the Name field, enter a name for the deliverability preview.
  5. Click Create.

    The analysis and creation of the deliverability preview may take several minutes.

  6. Click Close.

Viewing a deliverability preview

In the Select Preview drop-down list, select a deliverability preview.

The results may not display immediately. In the Select Preview drop-down list, you can check the progress of each analysis under Status.

The deliverability preview has two tabs:

Display

The Display tab lets you preview how the graphics and fonts in your mailing are displayed by the most popular email providers and browsers.

To filter the results, enter a search term in the Filter results... field.

For example, enter iPad to check the appearance on Apple iPads, or enter Gmail for the Gmail email provider.

Click a thumbnail to display the respective image. For some images, you can change the format from Portrait (vertical) to Landscape (horizontal). Click the desired format in the upper left corner of the image.

Image: Changing the format

Spam suspicion

The Spam Suspicion tab provides an overview of whether your mailing has been classified as spam by the most popular email providers.

  • The red icon indicates that your mailing has been classified as spam.
  • The green icon indicates that your mailing has arrived at the respective email provider.
  • The violet icon indicates that no result is available yet.

If available, the spam score is also displayed and you can view further information on the spam filters by hovering over the info symbol . See also: Notes on spam filters of each client.

Image: Spam suspicion

Client Description
Inbox folder test
Gmail Gmail's spam filter is part of the standard Gmail service. Gmail is supported in all browsers and in several mobile applications. The test uses Gmail's default spam filter settings.

In Gmail, recipients can manage incoming messages using filters that allow them to automatically label, archive, delete, star or forward an email, or keep it from entering the spam folder in the future. They can also add senders to the address book to prevent future emails to be sent to the spam folder. These options are not considered for this test.

Gmail's spam filters also work in IMAP clients. IMAP clients can be used on iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire, Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Outlook 2003, Outlook Express and others. This means that your email might have to pass a combination of two filters to access the inbox. Gmail recommends turning off any additional anti-spam or junk mail filters within those clients to improve performance. However, this is not enabled by default and some clients might not allow different spam settings for several accounts.
Outlook.com Outlook.com's spam filter is part of the Hotmail service. The test uses Hotmail's default spam filter settings. Recipients can add senders to their address book to prevent that future emails are sent to the spam folder. This option is not considered for this test.
Outlook 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 Outlook's spam filters are part of the respecting Outlook desktop client of version 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 or 2019. The test uses Outlook's default spam filter settings.
Yahoo! Yahoo!'s spam filter is part of the Yahoo! service. The test uses Yahoo!'s default spam filter settings. Recipients can add senders to their address book to prevent that future emails are sent to the spam folder. This option is not considered for this test.
Fastmail Fastmail's spam filter is part of the Fastmail service. Recipients can add senders to their address book to prevent that future emails are sent to the spam folder. This option is not considered for this test.
GMX GMX's spam filter is part of the GMX service. The test uses GMX's default spam filter settings. Recipients can add senders to their address book to prevent that future emails are sent to the spam folder. This option is not considered for this test.
Hushmail Hushmail's spam filter is part of the Hushmail service. The test uses Hushmail's default spam filter settings. Recipients can add senders to their address book to prevent that future emails are sent to the spam folder. This option is not considered for this test.
Mail.com Mail.com's spam filter is part of the Mail.com service. The test uses Mail.com's default spam filter settings. Recipients can add senders to their address book to prevent that future emails are sent to the spam folder. This option is not considered for this test.
Google Apps Google purchased this service formally known as "Postini" and merged all of the functionality into its Google Apps offering. Since then, few information in regards to reasons for SPAM is available. Google Apps now only reports if an email is considered "Spam" or "Phishy". If an email is marked as "Phishy" it will also be marked as "Spam".
Apple Mail 10, 11 Apple Mail's spam filters are part of the respecting Apple Mail desktop client of version10 or 11. The test uses Apple Mail's default spam filter settings.
Anti-spam filter test
Spam Assassin The rating system of Spam Assasin consists of positive or negative scores, with positive values indicating "spam" and negative values indicating "ham" (non-spam messages). By default, Spam Assassin considers a score over 5 to reflect a probable spam message. However, this can be changed to a lower or higher value depending on the recipient's spam restriction preferences.
  • Score < 5 is recommended
Symantec Cloud Symantec MessageLabs Email Security.cloud service combines advanced email antivirus, antispam, and content filtering capabilities in a solution that requires no on-site hardware or software.
  • Score < 7 is recommended
Barracuda Barracuda is a Gateway Appliance which eliminates spam and virus intrusions while safeguarding an organization's reputation through content inspection based on policy for both inbound and outbound email.

Barracuda Spam scores are as follows:

  • Score < 3.5 is recommended
  • 3.5 – subject line gets modified.
  • 6– message gets blocked.
  • 10 – message gets quarantined.
Cloudmark Cloudmark's spam filter is offered as an email client plug-in and gateway service. The test uses the default spam filter settings that is standard in either the plug-in or gateway service.
Symantec Messaging Gateway (formerly Brightmail) Symantec Messaging Gateway service combines advanced email antivirus, antispam, and content filtering capabilities in either a hosted solution or a virtual appliance.
Validation test
SPF Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an email validation system designed to prevent email spam by detecting email spoofing by verifying sender IP addresses. SPF allows administrators to specify which hosts are allowed to send mail from a given domain by creating a specific SPF record (or TXT record) in the Domain Name System (DNS).
DKIM DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is a method for associating a domain name to an email message, thereby allowing a person, role, or organization to claim responsibility for the message. The association is set up by means of a digital signature which can be validated by recipients.

Optimizely cannot view nor influence the parameters used to check the spam suspicion. The results of this analysis do not guarantee that your mailing will lead to the same ratings of a real mailing dispatch. The reputation of Optimizely Campaign as an email service provider is not considered in the analysis.

To learn how to optimize your mailing, see Deliverability basics.