Checking Spam Scores: Email Deliverability Testing Guide

So, your email went to spam. You've taken care of email authentication and domain warmup, those aren't the issues. That means it's got something to do with your email content itself.

This happens a lot, by the way. You send emails that look fine to them but get caught by spam filters anyway. The frustrating part is that spam filters don't tell you what went wrong. Your email just disappears into the void.

Spam score testing gives you a way check your email is OK before sending. These tools analyze your emails before you send them, checking the same signals that spam filters look for. You get a score that tells you how likely your email is to get flagged. More importantly, you get specific feedback about what needs fixing.

But spam scores come with a catch - a perfect score doesn't guarantee your email reaches the inbox and a mediocre score doesn't mean automatic failure. These numbers are clues, not verdicts. The real value comes from understanding what the scores tell you about your email setup.

TL;DR: Quick Spam Score Testing Guide

Best free tool: Mail-Tester gives you a 0-10 score (lower is better) with detailed feedback. Send a test email to their address, get instant results.

For serious testing: GlockApps tests delivery to actual inboxes at Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo. Shows you exactly where your emails land.

Main spam triggers to check:

• Spam words in subject lines ("free", "guarantee", "act now")
• Missing SPF, DKIM, or DMARC authentication
• Too many links or images vs text
• Sending from free email domains (gmail.com, yahoo.com)

Quick fixes that actually work:

• Set up proper email authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC)
• Write like you're emailing a colleague, not a crowd
• Use your own domain for sending
• Keep image-to-text ratio balanced

Reality check: Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook all use different spam filters. A good score with one tool doesn't guarantee delivery everywhere. Test with multiple tools and monitor your actual delivery rates.

For deeper dives: Check our why emails go to spam guide or explore email deliverability tools.

Warning: Don't Get Lost in The Spam Score Sauce

It's easy to get so involved in spam score testing you end up with paralysis by analysis. Before you know it, you've got two dozen text inboxes and you're split-testing synonyms to see which version ends up in the primary tab vs promotions and you forget a large part of email deliverability is based on what individual subscribers do with your emails. This, you can't control.

If I love your emails so much I create a special filter for them so they always end up in my primary inbox, and another subscriber has ignored your emails for the past six months so Gmail starts sending them to spam, what are you going to do about that?

Follow email deliverability best practices, write emails people want to read, and send them to the relevant audience. The time you spend obsessing over spam scores can be put toward writing more emails.

That's why Bento comes with so many built-in email deliverability tools. We want you to stop worrying about your spam score and start sending more emails. Because the more emails you send, the more money you make.

What Are Spam Scores?

Think of spam scores like a pre-flight check for your emails. Before you hit send to thousands of subscribers, these tools run your email through tests similar to what Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo use. You get back a number, usually between 0 and 10 or 0 and 100.

The score itself is simple math: lower numbers mean your email looks clean, higher numbers mean you're triggering red flags. A score of 2 out of 10 suggests smooth sailing while a score of 8 means you've got problems to fix.

These tools scan everything - your subject line gets checked for trigger words, your HTML code gets inspected for sloppy formatting, your links get verified and your authentication records get tested. Each issue adds points to your score, and those points add up fast.

But here's what most people miss: spam scores are educated guesses, not guarantees. Mail-Tester might give you a perfect score while Gmail still sends you to spam. Why? Because every email provider has their own secret sauce. Gmail cares more about engagement rates, Yahoo focuses on authentication, and Outlook has its own quirks.

The real value isn't the score itself - it's the detailed report that comes with it. That report shows you exactly what triggered the score. Maybe you used "FREE" in all caps. Maybe your SPF record is broken. Maybe you have too many images and not enough text. All these specific issues are what you need to fix.

How to Check Spam Scores

Testing your spam score takes about five minutes and here's the fastest way to do it.

First, pick a testing tool. For example, Mail-Tester works great for quick checks and it's free. Just go to their website and they'll give you a unique email address that looks something like test-abc123@mail-tester.com.

Next, send your actual email to that test address. Use the same email service or platform you normally use. Send the exact email you plan to send to subscribers and don't create a special test version. You want to test what your subscribers will actually receive.

Within seconds, you'll get your results. Mail-Tester shows a score from 0 to 10, where lower is better, but the score is just the starting point. Scroll down to see the full report. It breaks down every issue it found, from minor formatting problems to major authentication failures.

Now comes the actual work. Fix the biggest issues first. If your authentication is broken, fix that before worrying about word choice. If you're missing important headers, add those before tweaking your content. The tool tells you exactly what's wrong and usually how to fix it.

After making changes, test again with a fresh test address. Don't reuse the same test address, as some tools cache results. Keep testing and fixing until you get the score where you want it. Most senders aim for a score under 3 out of 10, though even a 5 can deliver fine if your sender reputation is strong.

Common Spam Score Tools

Each spam testing tool has its own strengths. Here are the ones that actually deliver useful results.

Mail-Tester

Mail-Tester is the quick and dirty option that works surprisingly well. It's completely free for up to 3 tests per day. You send an email to their test address, click the link they provide, and get your score in seconds.

The interface looks like it's from 2010, but don't let that fool you. The analysis is thorough. You get a score from 0 to 10 (lower is better), plus a complete breakdown of what's wrong. It checks your SPF and DKIM authentication, scans for spammy words, verifies you're not on blacklists, and even analyzes your HTML code quality.

The best part is the specific feedback. Instead of vague warnings, Mail-Tester tells you exactly what to fix. "Your message contains 73% images and 27% text, this is too much" or "You're not using DKIM signature" with links explaining how to fix each issue.

GlockApps

GlockApps goes beyond basic scoring. It actually sends your test email to real inbox accounts at Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, and other providers. Then it tells you exactly where your email landed: inbox, spam, or promotions tab.

This real-world testing matters because spam scores are just predictions. GlockApps shows you actual delivery results. You might score perfectly on other tools but still land in Gmail's promotions tab. GlockApps reveals these provider-specific quirks.

The downside is cost. Plans start at $59/month for 150 tests. But if you're sending important campaigns or transactional emails, knowing exactly where they land is worth the investment. You also get detailed analytics on authentication, content issues, and provider-specific feedback.

Litmus

Litmus started as an email design testing tool but added solid spam testing features. Its main strength is showing how your email looks across 90+ email clients while also checking for spam issues.

The spam testing checks authentication, analyzes content, and provides a spam score. But where Litmus shines is catching design issues that trigger spam filters - broken HTML, rendering problems, or accessibility issues can all hurt deliverability. Litmus catches these problems that pure spam testers miss.

At $99/month for the basic plan, Litmus makes sense if you need both design testing and spam checking. If you only need spam scores, cheaper options work just as well.

What Affects Spam Scores

Spam filters look at dozens of signals, but some matter way more than others. Understanding these factors helps you fix the right problems instead of chasing minor issues.

Content Factors

Your email content is the first thing spam filters examine. Certain words and phrases immediately raise red flags - "free," "guarantee," "act now," "limited time," and "click here" are classics. Using ALL CAPS anywhere makes things worse. Alos, multiple exclamation points!!! - that's asking for trouble.

But modern spam filters go deeper than just word scanning - they analyze your writing patterns. Too many adjectives and hype words make you sound like a late-night infomercial; short, choppy sentences with lots of imperatives ("Buy now! Save today! Don't miss out!") scream spam.

HTML quality matters more than most people realize. If you have sloppy code with unclosed tags, inline CSS everywhere, or tables nested inside tables it will hurt your score. Many spam emails use terrible HTML to hide content from filters, so clean code actually helps you stand out as legitimate.

Links need special attention. Using link shorteners like bit.ly or tinyurl is almost guaranteed to hurt your score, and too many links compared to text makes you look spammy. Links to sketchy domains or recently registered websites raise major flags. Even legitimate links can hurt if you stuff too many into one email.

Finally, the image-to-text ratio is critical. Spammers often hide their message in images to avoid text filters. If your email is mostly images with tiny text, filters assume you're hiding something. Aim for at least 60% text to 40% images, though more text is usually better.

Authentication Factors

Email authentication is like showing your ID at the door. Without proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, you're basically wearing a fake mustache and hoping nobody notices.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) tells receiving servers which IP addresses can send email for your domain. Without it, anyone can pretend to be you. Setting up SPF wrong is worse than not having it at all, because it explicitly fails authentication instead of just being missing.

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a digital signature to your emails. This proves the email hasn't been tampered with and actually came from your domain. Missing DKIM won't always tank your score, but having it significantly helps.

DMARC ties SPF and DKIM together and tells receivers what to do if authentication fails. It's like having a bouncer with a guest list and instructions for handling crashers. DMARC is becoming mandatory at major providers, so you can't ignore it anymore.

Reputation Factors

Your sending reputation follows you everywhere. It's built over months and years but can be destroyed in days.

Domain reputation tracks how recipients interact with emails from your domain and high open rates, low complaint rates, and consistent sending patterns build positive reputation. Sudden volume spikes, lots of bounces, or spam complaints destroy it.

IP reputation works the same way but for the server sending your emails. Shared IPs mean you inherit reputation from everyone else using that server. One bad actor can tank deliverability for everyone. Dedicated IPs give you control but require steady volume to build reputation.

Blacklists are reputation killers. Land on Spamhaus or SURBL and your emails vanish into the void - these services track domains and IPs that send spam. Getting listed is easy. Getting removed is painful. Some blacklists charge fees for removal or make you wait weeks.

How to Improve Spam Scores

Getting a bad spam score feels overwhelming. The testing tool shows 15 different problems. Where do you even start?

Start with authentication. This is usually the biggest score killer and the most straightforward to fix. Set up your SPF record to include all services that send email for you, add DKIM signing through your email service provider and create a DMARC record, even if it's just in monitoring mode. These three changes alone can drop your spam score by several points.

Next, clean up your content. Remove obvious spam triggers first. Replace "FREE" with "free" or better yet, "complimentary." Change "Click here!!!" to "View details." Remove that wall of legal text at the bottom that nobody reads. Write like you're emailing a friend, not shouting at a stadium.

Fix your HTML if you're using it. Run your email through an HTML validator. Remove inline CSS and move it to the head section, and make sure all your tags are properly closed. If your HTML is a mess, consider using a proper email template or builder instead of hand-coding.

Balance your images and text. If your email is one giant image, break it up with actual text. If you have five images and two sentences, add more content. Spam filters can't read images, so they assume image-heavy emails are hiding something. Give them text to analyze.

Check your links carefully. Replace any shortened URLs with full links and remove links to domains registered in the last 30 days. Limit yourself to 2-3 links per email unless absolutely necessary. Make sure every link uses HTTPS, not HTTP.

For reputation issues, the fixes take time. Start sending to your most engaged subscribers first. Remove inactive emails from your list. Slow down your sending speed if you've been blasting huge volumes. Monitor your bounce rates and complaint rates. Building reputation takes months of consistent, quality sending.

Spam Score Best Practices

Years of testing have taught us what actually works for maintaining good spam scores. These practices come from real campaigns, not theory.

Test every campaign before sending, not just when you remember. Make it part of your workflow. Draft email, test spam score, fix issues, send. This habit catches problems before they hurt your reputation. One bad campaign can damage months of reputation building.

Test the same email with multiple tools. Mail-Tester might miss something that GlockApps catches. SpamAssassin weights factors differently than commercial filters. Getting good scores across multiple tools gives you confidence your email will actually deliver.

Pay attention to trends, not just individual scores. If your scores slowly creep up over several campaigns, something's deteriorating. Maybe your list quality is declining and maybe your domain reputation took a hit. Catching trends early prevents major problems.

Keep a swipe file of high-scoring emails. When you create an email that scores perfectly and gets great engagement, save it. Use it as a template for future campaigns. Note what made it work: the subject line style, the content structure, the call-to-action format.

Test at different times and days. Some spam filters adjust their sensitivity based on current spam trends. An email that scores well on Monday might score worse on Friday when filters are seeing more spam. Test when you actually plan to send.

Don't chase perfect scores at the expense of effectiveness. A score of 2 that converts beats a score of 0 that doesn't. Some industries naturally trigger more spam signals. Financial services, health products, and online education often score higher but still deliver fine with good reputation.

Where Bento Fits: Deliverability Testing

Most email platforms make you figure out deliverability yourself - you set up authentication, monitor reputation, and test spam scores on your own. They also might charge extra for "deliverability packages" that should be included.

Bento builds deliverability infrastructure into the platform. You're not paying extra for authentication help or reputation monitoring. It's just there, working in the background to keep your scores low and your emails delivering.

The authentication setup actually works. When you add a domain to Bento, you get step-by-step instructions for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. The platform verifies everything is configured correctly and there is no guessing whether your DNS records are right and no wondering why authentication keeps failing.

Reputation monitoring runs continuously. Bento tracks your domain reputation, watches complaint rates, monitors engagement metrics. If something starts going wrong, you get alerts before it becomes a crisis. You see trends developing, not just current scores.

The batching controls prevent reputation damage. Instead of blasting 100,000 emails at once and triggering spam filters, Bento automatically spreads sends over time. This keeps your sending patterns consistent and your reputation stable.

Bento makes sense when you want to focus on creating emails, not debugging deliverability. You still need to write good content and avoid spam triggers, but the technical infrastructure, authentication setup, and reputation monitoring happen automatically.

Specialized testing tools still have their place. GlockApps shows exactly which inbox providers are delivering your mail, Litmus catches design issues across email clients and Mail-Tester gives you quick free testing. Use these tools alongside Bento for comprehensive testing.

The point isn't that Bento replaces testing tools, it's that Bento gives you a solid foundation that makes good scores easier to achieve. When your authentication works, your reputation is strong, and your infrastructure is solid, you start with better scores before you even begin optimizing content.

Start Testing Your Spam Scores Today

The fastest way to improve your email delivery is to start testing. Right now. Open Mail-Tester in another tab and send them your latest email campaign. You'll have results in 60 seconds.

When you get your score, focus on the biggest issues first. Authentication problems? Fix those immediately. Too many images? Add more text. Spam trigger words? Rewrite your copy. Each fix gets you closer to the inbox.

Remember that spam scores are guides, not gospel : a perfect score with Mail-Tester doesn't guarantee Gmail delivery and mediocre score doesn't mean automatic failure. Use these tools to identify problems, but track your actual delivery rates to measure success.

Testing needs to become a habit. Before every campaign. After every major change. When trying new content styles. The more you test, the better you understand what triggers spam filters for your specific content and audience.

Next steps: Learn why emails hit spam folders in our why are my emails going to spam guide. Explore professional-grade email deliverability tools for deeper analysis. Master email design with our email design guide to create emails that look great and deliver reliably.

Good spam scores come from good email practices. Fix your authentication. Clean your content. Monitor your reputation. Test consistently. Your emails will find their way to the inbox.