For cold email users, getting emails to land in the primary inbox is becoming increasingly difficult.
If your deliverability is weak, your emails often end up in the spam or promotions folder, which drastically reduces engagement and the success of your outreach. Over time, this also damages your sender's reputation.
With today’s privacy-focused email environment—where open tracking is becoming unreliable (due to features like Apple Mail Privacy Protection and Gmail's pixel tracking warnings)—it’s more important than ever to have a reliable way to verify inbox placement.
Without open tracking, placement testing becomes the only dependable method to know whether your emails are actually reaching the inbox.
Let's see how you can use Inbox Radar to know about your Inbox Placement.
What is Inbox Radar?
Inbox Radar is a powerful email deliverability testing tool built to help you monitor and improve inbox placement across major email service providers like Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, Zoho, and more.
It allows you to:
Run automated recurring tests and external tests.
Identify whether emails are landing in Inbox, Spam, Tabs, or Undelivered
Analyze email content, authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), IP/domain health, spam triggers, and ESP to ESP placement.
Get actionable insights with each test, plus a shareable report link, no login required
How to Create a Test with Inbox Radar
Step 1: Go to Inbox Radar
From the Saleshandy dashboard, click on the Inbox Radar section in the left-hand panel.
You will be directed to the Inbox radar tab. From here, click on the Create Test button in the Top right corner.
Step 2: Choose Email Providers and Sender Accounts
Pick the email providers you want to test (like Gmail, Outlook, Zoho, or Google Workspace).
Then, select the sender accounts that will send the test emails. You can either use your Saleshandy accounts or run an external test directly from your own mailbox.
Step 3: Select Sequence Step & Variant
After connecting your Saleshandy email account, choose the sequence you want to test.
Then, pick the specific step and variant of that sequence to run the inbox placement test on.
Step 4: Set Test Frequency
Choose how often you want your inbox placement test to run.
You can schedule it as a one-time test, run it daily, weekly, monthly, or set a custom schedule based on your needs.
Trigger and notify
You can set a trigger to pause sending and receiving notifications when your inbox placement drops below your chosen limit.
When the inbox placement rates drop to a chosen level, you can select to pause the email account or the entire sequence.
This is a premium feature available in the Pro plan.
Step 5: Launch Your Test
After configuring all settings, click Launch Test.
Before launching, review your total email sending count to ensure it stays within your ESP’s recommended daily sending limit. This prevents exceeding thresholds and protects your sender reputation.
Once reviewed, click Confirm & Launch to start the test.
Inbox Radar will automatically send test emails to the selected seed accounts based on your chosen frequency — whether it’s a one-time test, daily, weekly, monthly, or a custom schedule.
Once the emails are delivered, a detailed inbox placement report will be generated and available for you to review.
External Test
This test checks the inbox placement for emails sent from your mailbox using an external template or set up outside Saleshandy.
Step 1: Select External Test
Click on the “Click here” to run the external test link. This will generate a unique Test ID and seed email list that you’ll use in your mailbox.
Step 2: Select Email Providers
Choose the email service providers (ESPs) you want to include in your external test, such as Gmail, Outlook, Zoho, Microsoft Business, or Google Workspace. Inbox Radar will use seed accounts from the selected ESPs to track where your emails land (Inbox, Spam, Promotions, or Undelivered).
Step 3 : Compose & Insert Test ID
In your mailbox, compose the email and paste the Test ID from Saleshandy into the body.
Step 4 : Add Seed Recipients
Copy the seed email list from Saleshandy and add it to the recipient field.
Step 5 : Send & Launch the Test
Send the email, then click “Launch Test” (within 10 mins) in Saleshandy to start tracking.
Test Insights You’ll Receive
Inbox Radar Dashboard: This dashboard gives you a consolidated view of your email deliverability performance. It shows Inbox, Spam, Other, and Undelivered rates over time, helping you track trends, compare campaigns, and quickly identify spikes or drops that may affect inbox placement.
Detailed Test Report (Per Test)
When you click on a specific test report, you’ll see these insights:
Inbox Placement Score:
Checks where your emails land (Inbox, Spam or Other tabs) across major email providers. It gives you a breakdown of:
Inbox %
Spam %
Other %
Undelivered %
ESP-to-ESP Placement Report :
The ESP-to-ESP Placement Report shows how your emails perform across different provider combinations. It highlights whether emails land in Inbox, Spam, Other tabs, or remain Undelivered when sent from one ESP to another (e.g., Gmail → Outlook). This helps you spot deliverability gaps specific to provider pairs.
Placement Improvement Suggestions :
This highlights the key issues affecting your deliverability and provide clear, actionable fixes. From spam risks and personalization gaps to email length or formatting balance, you get step-by-step guidance to optimize your emails for better inbox placement.
Placement insights:
Placement Insights gives you a detailed breakdown of how each sender account performs across Inbox, Spam, Other, and Undelivered. You also see your SpamAssassin score and overall risk level, helping you quickly spot issues tied to specific accounts and improve deliverability with precision.
Overview: Per-account results with Inbox, Spam, Other, Undelivered breakdown & SpamAssassin score (safe if <5, risky if >5).
Clicking on the Spam Assassin score will open a more detailed report.
Authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation results along with domain/IP blacklist status. This informs you about the technical authentication status of your email accounts and whether your domain or IP address is blacklisted anywhere. You can click on any parameter to get a more detailed insight.
Detailed Analysis: Granular inbox placement data for each sender account across all selected providers.
Shareable link to the full report (no login required)
CSV export of the test results (for internal use)
Inbox Radar takes the guesswork out of deliverability. Know where your emails land, fix issues fast, and keep your outreach performing at its best. Try it now!
FAQ
1. What is the Inbox Radar test, and how does it help in improving my deliverability?
Inbox Radar is your email placement testing tool that helps you find and fix deliverability issues. It shows where your emails land—Inbox, Spam, or other tabs—across major providers like Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and more. You also get detailed reports with actionable insights on spam triggers, authentication, and blacklist status.
2. Can I test emails that are not part of a Saleshandy sequence?
Yes, use the External Email Test option. You’ll get a unique Test ID and a seed email list. Paste the Test ID in your email body, send it to the seed addresses, and click "Launch Test" within 10 minutes to generate your report.
3. Will I be notified if my inbox placement drops?
Yes, you can set a threshold (e.g., 90%) for inbox rates. If placement drops below this, your email account or sequence can be auto-paused (Pro plan & above). You’ll get both in-app and email alerts, and can resume sending manually after review.
4. Do I need to log in to view test reports?
No, each Inbox Radar test report includes a public shareable link. Anyone with the link can view the report—no login needed.
5. What insights do I get from a test?
Every test includes:
Inbox, Spam, Tab, and Undelivered % breakdown
SPF, DKIM, DMARC authentication status
IP/domain blacklist checks and suggestions
SpamAssassin spam score with spam trigger analysis
ESP-wise delivery breakdown
ESP-to-ESP Placement Report
Spam words and weak content indicators
Shareable test link and CSV export
6. Can I pause and resume the test?
Yes you can pause the on-going test and also resume the pause test.
If the test is recurring, then user can pause the recurring cycle.
7. How many tests can I run?
Inbox Radar is an add-on (not included in outreach plans).
Starter Plan: 15 tests
Pro Plan: Unlimited tests
8. How many tests can I do if I am a paid outreach user?
If you're a paid user on an outreach plan, you get limited tests:
Pro plan: 1 test
Scale plan: 2 tests
Scale Plus: 2 tests
To run more, you’ll need to subscribe to the Inbox Radar add-on.
9. Do I need to pay separately for the seed list?
No, you're only charged per test, not per seed list. The seed list is included in every test.
10. Which email accounts and ESPs can I test?
You can test any email account connected to your Saleshandy workspace. Choose specific ESPs like Gmail, Outlook, Zoho, etc., and see where your emails land across each provider.
11. Can I pause sequences if placement drops?
Yes, you can configure triggers to auto-pause the email account or sequence if inbox placement falls below a set limit. This feature is available on the Pro plan and above.
12. How soon do I get the test results?
Inbox Radar test reports are generated within minutes after sending. You get real-time insights and recommendations instantly.