How do I interpret the results (e.g., % inbox, % spam, % missing)?

You've just run an inbox placement test and you're staring at three numbers: inbox, spam, missing. They look simple enough, but knowing what to do with them is a different story.

Here's what each bucket actually means.

Inbox percentage is the share of seed addresses where your email landed in the inbox (or a tab like Promotions, depending on the tool). This isn't a perfect proxy for real-world delivery, but it's the closest signal you've got before sending to your actual list. A high inbox rate is a green flag, not a guarantee.

Spam percentage means the email hit the spam or junk folder at those seed addresses. That's the one you want to take seriously. A handful of spam placements at a single provider can mean that provider's filters have flagged something in your content, your authentication, or your sending history. One or two in a big seed test might be noise. Consistent spam placement at a specific provider is a signal worth investigating.

Missing percentage is the trickiest number. It means those seed addresses never received the message at all. That could be a hard bounce (the address doesn't exist), a soft bounce (temporary delivery failure), a block at the server level before the message was even accepted, or in rare cases a delivery delay that fell outside the test window. Missing results don't tell you which of those happened on their own, so you'll want to cross-reference your bounce logs and sending logs to figure out the cause.

Reading across providers, not just overall

The overall percentage is almost meaningless on its own. What matters is the breakdown by provider. If you're seeing 92% inbox at Gmail and 45% spam at Outlook, those are two completely different problems requiring two completely different fixes. Gmail's filters and Outlook's filters are not the same. A sending reputation issue, an authentication gap, or a content flag that affects one may not affect the other at all.

This is why good placement test tools break results down by mailbox provider. If yours doesn't, you're working with blurred vision.

And a rough framework for interpreting what you see:

• High spam at one provider only. Likely a provider-specific reputation or content issue. Check if your sending IP or domain is on a blocklist that provider trusts, and review your recent complaint history for that provider specifically.
• High spam across all providers. Something more fundamental is wrong. Check your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC alignment first. Then look at your content for spam trigger patterns.
• High missing at one provider. That provider may be blocking your IP or domain outright. Look for a bounce code in your sending logs, or check if you're listed on a blocklist that provider uses.
• High missing across all providers. Delivery infrastructure problem. Could be a DNS misconfiguration, a server-level reject, or a serious reputation issue. This is worth escalating quickly.

One snapshot is just context, not a verdict

A single test result tells you where things stand right now. What actually tells you whether things are getting better or worse is running placement tests consistently and comparing over time. If your inbox rate at Gmail drops from 95% to 78% between tests, that's a trend worth acting on. If it was 78% in your first test ever and you have nothing to compare it to, it's hard to know whether that's normal for your current setup or a sign of trouble.

Not sure what's causing a drop you're seeing? Our SOS hotline is free. Sometimes a second pair of eyes on the numbers is all it takes to spot the culprit.