Question 1

What is inbox placement rate?

Accepted Answer

Inbox placement rate is the percentage of your emails that land in the recipient's primary inbox (not spam, promotions, or blocked). It's the most important metric for cold email success — if your emails don't reach the inbox, nothing else matters.

Question 2

Is this a real inbox placement test?

Accepted Answer

This is an educational assessment tool that estimates your likely inbox placement based on best practices. A real inbox placement test requires sending actual emails to seed accounts and checking where they land. ColdRelay includes real inbox placement testing as part of its deliverability monitoring.

Question 3

What's a good inbox placement rate for cold email?

Accepted Answer

Top cold email senders achieve 85-95% inbox placement. Anything below 70% means a significant portion of your outreach is wasted. The items in this checklist are the primary factors that determine your placement rate.

Question 4

How often should I check my inbox placement?

Accepted Answer

For active cold email campaigns, check weekly at minimum. Your placement rate can change rapidly based on sending patterns, complaints, and blocklist status. Continuous monitoring is ideal — which is why ColdRelay automates this.

Question 5

Which factor has the biggest impact on inbox placement?

Accepted Answer

Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is the foundation — without it, nothing else matters. After that, domain warmup and bounce rate have the biggest impact. A fully authenticated, warmed-up domain with clean lists will have excellent placement.

Inbox Placement Tester

Deliverability Checklist

Frequently Asked Questions

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