Sent a quick ‘test’ email and it went to spam? You’re not alone. When you set up a new email address, or something isn’t working, it’s natural to send a quick test – but one of the most common reasons we see for ‘my email went to spam’ is the test email itself.
Why “test” emails go to spam
Email providers such as Gmail and Outlook check every incoming email and give it a spam score. The higher the score, the more likely it is to land in the spam folder, or not be delivered at all. Some things add points almost everywhere:
| What the spam filter sees | Why it counts against you |
|---|---|
| An empty message | Real emails have something in them. A blank body is a classic sign of spam. |
| A subject of just “test” | Spammers send huge numbers of “test” emails to find out which addresses are live. |
| Several tests in a few minutes | Lots of near-identical emails in quick succession looks like automated sending. |
Every email provider scores emails differently, so a bare test email might reach one inbox and go to spam at another. Either way, it tells you very little about how your real emails will be treated.
But my SPF, DKIM and DMARC are set up
Good – they’re important, and they help your real emails reach the inbox. But they won’t stop a bare “test” email going to spam.
These records prove an email genuinely came from your domain’s authorised mail server. They don’t say anything about whether the email itself is genuine.
Why that matters: email accounts are sometimes taken over – for example after a password is stolen – and used to send spam. Those emails pass SPF, DKIM and DMARC checks perfectly, because they really are sent from the real account. So email providers still look closely at what’s in every email, and an empty ‘test’ email looks exactly like something a compromised account would send.
Don’t and do
| Don’t | Do |
|---|---|
| Use the subject “test” | Use a realistic subject, such as “Checking in about next week’s meeting” |
| Leave the message empty | Write a few sentences, as you would to a real person |
| Leave off your signature | Add your name, business name and phone number |
| Send it to yourself at the same address | Send it to an address at a different provider, such as Gmail or Outlook.com |
| Send “test”, “test 2”, “test 3” in a row | Send one or two, a few minutes apart |
How to send a proper test email
- Write it as if it were a real email to a real person, with a realistic subject, a few sentences and your signature.
- Send it to an address you can check at a different provider, such as a personal Gmail or Outlook.com address.
- Check the inbox, and the spam folder, at the other end.
- Reply to it, to test that you can receive email too.
Example of a good test email
Subject: Checking in about next week’s meeting
Hi Sam,
Just checking you’re still free for our meeting on Tuesday at 10am. Let me know if you need to move it and I’ll find another time.
Thanks,
Jane Smith
Smith & Co Accounts
01234 567890
Want to check your email’s score?
Free tools such as mail-tester.com give you a temporary address to send a realistic test email to, then show its spam score and anything that could be improved.
If a realistic test email still lands in spam, see why your emails are going to spam and how to fix it.
Still having trouble? Please open a support ticket and we’ll check it for you.
