How to Set up Automatic Tests

How to Test Your Email Campaigns Daily on Auto-Pilot

You can use GlockApps Inbox Insight to create automatic tests and monitor your message’s Inbox placement daily without intervention.

After the setup is complete, our email spam checker tool will send your message to the seed email addresses at the time interval you chose (every xx hours or xx days). You will see a deliverability report on your dashboard displaying where your email is placed in the mailbox. You can also receive alerts if your email doesn’t make it to the Inbox at any of the selected mailbox providers.

With an automatic test, you can:

• Test the same message on a regular basis without any actions on your side;
• Test deliverability of different messages or connected mailboxes at the same time;
• Quickly spot changes in your deliverability rate over time.

Automatic tests are mostly helpful for transactional messages (subscription confirmations, account activations, purchase confirmations, etc.) where the content does not change often. Your customers expect transactional messages, so it is important to ensure that they are delivered to their Inbox. Therefore, you’ll want to be notified when your message is placed in Spam.

To setup an automatic test, follow these steps:

1. Connect Your Mailbox.

If you have already connected your mailbox with GlockApps, skip this step.

In your account, go to Inbox Insight -> Connected Mailboxes.

Click “Create Connected Mailbox.”

Type a mailbox name. It can be any name in order you can recognize the connected mailboxt in the dashboard.

Next, select the email service provider you want to connect with.

The available integrations are: Outlook, Gmail/Google Workspace, Klaviyo, Hubspot, and Custom SMTP.

Click “Continue” and complete the integration. Make sure to give the right to the ESP to send emails on behalf of your account.

With the Ciustom SMTP option, you can connect to any email service by entering the SMTP settings and login credentials manually.

From name – the name that will be associated with your email address.

From email – the email address your emails will be sent to the seed list from.

SMTP server – the name of the SMTP server.

Port – SMTP port number (465 or 587).

Security protocol – none or SSL. The “none” option works as STARTTLS.

SMTP username – login for your account with the SMTP server. As a rule, it’s the full From email address.

SMTP password – password for your account with the SMTP server. If your SMTP user doesn’t require authentication, type nopassword in the Password field. The username can be any or empty. With nopassword, the username is ignored.

You can refer to your email service provider’s documentation regarding the SMTP settings to be used.

Important! If your SMTP server only accepts the connections from allowed IP addresses, add the GlockApps IP address 44.213.216.19 to your allowed senders list or whitelist.

When the connection is made successfully, the connected mailbox appears in the dashboard.

2. Set up an Automatic Test.

Now go to Inbox Insight > Reports and click on the Automatic Tests tab.

Click “Start Test”.

Follow these steps:

1. Select Mailbox.

From the drop down menu, select the mailbox connected with GlockApps that you want to use to send the message to the seed list. You can select one mailbox in one automatic test.

2. Select Spam Filters.

GlockApps can test your email with five major spam filters: Google Spam Filter, Microsoft EOP, Barracuda, SpamAssassin, and Proofpoint.

To select all the filters at once, put a check mark near All.

To select the filters individually, click on the filter to select it.

3. Select Email Providers.

Next, select the inbox providers to be added to the seed list.

To select all the providers at once, put a check mark near All.

To select the providers individually, click on the provider to select it.

When done, click Next.

4. Add Message.

To load a message for testing, click “Add New Email” on the right side.

Choose the option that works best for you:

Send to GlockApps – copy the provided email address and send an email message to it. Or

Import an email – import the message from an .eml file.

When a message is sent or imported, click Done.

After a while, the message appears on the Emails list. GlockApps saves all loaded messages and allows you to select them from the list in future automatic tests.

Put a check mark near the message.

Click Next.

5. Select Folder.

From the drop down menu, select the folder to save the report to. The default folder is Home. You can select a different folder or add a new folder right from the menu.

6. Add Note.

Optionally you can write a description or a note for the automatic test.

7. Enable/Disable Link Checker.

It is recommended to keep the Link Checker enabled. To ensure the validity of each URL (excluding the unsubscribe link) in your message, GlockApps conducts a thorough check. It even goes the extra mile to extract target URLs if you use redirects and scrutinizes the domain in the target URL against domain blacklists, which include Spamhaus DBL Domain Block List, involvement DNSBL, and SURBL multi (Combined SURBL list). 

If, for any reason, you don’t want the tool to validate URLs in your email, toggle the “Check links in this email” setting to Off.

8. Set up Automatic Test Schedule and Throttling.

Click “Set Schedule and Throttling”.

Configure the automatic test sending mode using these options:

Start from – the default test starting date and time is Now. You can change them by choosing a different date/time from the menus.

Repeat every – choose the testing interval in hours, days, weeks, or months. Once selected, the tool calculates the number of tests to be performed per month to help you comply with your subscription quota.

Send Throtting – by default, GlockApps sends the message to all the seed addresses at one go (simultaneously). If, for any reason, you want to slow this down, choose the “One email every” option and set a delay between the messages.

Click Done when finished and then click Next.

9. Set up Alerts.

Optionally you can set up conditions for notifications that will inform you when the test results meet a defined condition. For example, you can be alerted when the total Inbox rate is lower than 70% or the Gmail’s Inbox rate is lower than 90%.

Enter a notification name.

Select the alert channel in the “Send notification to” menu. It is possible to select multiple channels at a time.

Enter the interval in the “Wait xx minutes before sending” field. This indicates how much time GlockApps waits before sending the alert to you. The recommended interval is 15-20 minutes — within this time frame the test is completely finished as a rule.

Next, add the condition(s) for the alerts to be sent.

When done, click “Save and Activate”.

To save the test configuration and run it now, click “Save & Test Now”.

To save the test coiiguration and run it later based on schedule, click “Just Save”.

How to View Automatic Test History

To view the automatic test report, click on the message Subject line under Automatic Tests. By default, the system displays the last report. 

At the top of the report, there is a diagram of the report’s 30-day history. The diagram shows your deliverability rate over time.

To view your detailed report from any specific date, scroll your mouse over the top of the history diagram, and click a date you’d like to examine.

How to Edit Automatic Test Settings

To change the automatic test settings, click the Settings icon at the right side.

In the settings you can change:

• message;
• connected mailbox;
• throttling setting;
• spam filters and providers;
• folder;
• note text;
• link checker setting;
• testing interval;
• alert settings. 

To save the changes, click “Save“, then click “Just Save“.

How to Run Automatic Test Now

To force the automatic test run in the middle of the chosen interval:

• click on the Settings icon for the test;
• scroll the page down and click “Save”;
• click “Save & Test Now“.

How to De-Activate/Re-Activate Automatic Test

Put a check mark next to the test(s) you want to de-activate.

Click “Deactivate” on the menu bar.

To re-activate inactive automatic tests, select them and click “Activate“.

How to Delete Automatic Test

Put a check mark next to the test(s) you want to delete.

Click “Delete” on the menu bar.

How to Duplicate Automatic Test

Put a check mark next to the test you want to duplicate.

Click “Duplicate” on the menu bar.

Important note!

ISPs update their filtering algorithm regularly. When a mailbox provider receives an email, it stores information about the sender and the outgoing mail servers they use to send large volumes of emails. They track how the recipients engage with the emails received and over time, each sender develops a reputation, good or otherwise. 

Automatic tests from GlockApps allow you to see your current sender reputation and know if any ISPs or popular filters are flagging your email as spam. You’ll be notified via email if there is a problem with your email deliverability.