If you send a lot of email—maybe newsletters, promos, or transactional stuff—you know that “delivered” doesn’t always mean “in the inbox.” If you’ve ever wondered where your emails actually land, Glockapps is probably on your radar. This guide is for folks who want real answers about their deliverability, not just pretty dashboards.
We’ll walk step-by-step through connecting your email sending platform to Glockapps for real-time monitoring. We'll talk about the stuff that matters, call out what you can skip, and point out a few potholes along the way.
Why bother with Glockapps?
Here’s the blunt truth: Most email platforms will tell you your emails are “sent” or even “delivered,” but that doesn’t mean much. Gmail might shove your message into Promotions or Spam, and you’d never know—except maybe by watching your open rates plummet.
Glockapps helps you see exactly where your emails are landing across a bunch of inbox providers, in real time. It does this by letting you send to a network of test accounts and tracking what happens. It's not perfect, but it's way better than flying blind.
If you care about actually getting into the inbox, not just out the door, this is a tool worth setting up.
What you need before you start
Let’s not waste time. Here’s what you need on hand:
- A Glockapps account: Sign up if you haven’t already.
- Access to your email sending platform: This could be Mailchimp, SendGrid, Amazon SES, ActiveCampaign, or whatever you use.
- Permission to send emails: Don’t do this with someone else’s account or without the right to send.
If you’re locked out of any of these, stop here and sort that out first.
Step 1: Get your Glockapps test list
Glockapps works by having you send your campaigns to a special set of test email addresses they give you. These addresses are scattered across Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and others, so you get a real-world deliverability snapshot.
How to get it: 1. Log in to your Glockapps dashboard. 2. Go to Inbox Insight (sometimes called “Inbox Placement”). 3. Click Start Test or New Test. 4. Glockapps will generate a unique list of email addresses—these are your test contacts for this run.
Pro tip:
Don’t reuse old lists. Glockapps generates new addresses for each test to keep results accurate.
Step 2: Add the test contacts to your email platform
Now you need to get those addresses into your sending platform so you can send your email to them.
How you do this depends on your provider:
- Mailchimp/Constant Contact: Create a new audience or segment just for the test. Import the Glockapps addresses as contacts.
- SendGrid/Amazon SES/Mailgun: Create a new recipient list or, if you’re sending via API or SMTP, just paste the addresses into your “To” field.
- Campaign Monitor/ActiveCampaign: Same drill—new list or segment, import addresses.
Don’t overthink it. You want these test addresses to receive your real campaign, as close as possible to how you send to your actual subscribers.
What to avoid:
Don’t mix these test addresses into your main mailing list. That’ll mess up your reporting and might annoy your ESP if you blast Glockapps addresses every time.
Step 3: Prep your campaign for the deliverability test
Here’s where people get tripped up: You want your test to reflect what you actually send.
- Use the same subject line, sender name, and content as your real email.
- Don’t add any special “test” words or tweak the message. The more authentic, the more useful the results.
- Exclude personalization if it’s going to break (e.g., “Hi [First Name]” when the test addresses don’t have names).
If your ESP lets you send a “test” version, double-check: Sometimes those don’t go through your regular sending infrastructure. You want to send a real campaign to just the Glockapps addresses.
Shortcut:
Some platforms let you “clone” a campaign and change the recipient list. That’s ideal—less room for error.
Step 4: Send the email to the Glockapps test list
Go ahead and hit send. If your platform throttles or delays sends, just be patient. Glockapps will start picking up results as soon as the emails hit their test inboxes.
- Watch for bounces: If a bunch of the addresses bounce, you probably copied them wrong or waited too long (the test addresses expire).
- Don’t panic about low open rates: These test accounts aren’t humans—they won’t “open” your message unless Glockapps is set to do so for pixel tracking.
What not to do:
Don’t send other content to these addresses, and don’t send them repeatedly. Glockapps test addresses are meant for one test at a time.
Step 5: Review your Glockapps deliverability report
Head back to Glockapps. Within a few minutes (sometimes up to 15-20), you’ll see a report showing:
- How many emails hit the inbox vs. spam or promotions
- Results broken out by provider (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.)
- IP reputation and authentication checks (SPF/DKIM/DMARC)
What to look for:
- Inbox vs. Promotions vs. Spam: Promotions isn’t the end of the world, but if you’re in Spam, you have a problem.
- Consistent issues with one provider: If Gmail is always sending you to Spam, but Outlook is fine, you know where to focus.
- Authentication fails: If Glockapps flags SPF/DKIM/DMARC issues, fix those before anything else. They’re table stakes now.
Ignore:
- Glockapps “score” numbers—focus on the actual placement.
- Minor fluctuations between tests (email filters change daily).
- Open/click data from these accounts—it’s not a real audience.
Step 6: Troubleshoot (if needed)
Seeing Spam or missing inboxes? Don’t freak out—most senders land in Promotions at least some of the time. But if you’re showing up in Spam, here’s what to check:
- Check your sending domain and IP reputation: Use tools like Talos or Google Postmaster.
- Make sure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are passing: Glockapps will highlight any failures.
- Review your content: Spammy words, too many links, or huge images can hurt.
- Look at your recent sending behavior: Big spikes in volume, low engagement, or lots of bounces can trigger filters.
- Test again after making changes: Don’t just fix one thing and hope—you want to see improvement in the next Glockapps report.
Pro tip:
Don’t chase a perfect score. Focus on trends and big issues. Deliverability is always a moving target.
Step 7: Set up ongoing monitoring (optional, but smart)
If you want to track your deliverability over time—not just once—Glockapps offers ongoing monitoring:
- Seed list monitoring: Add the Glockapps test addresses to your main list as a “seed” so they get every campaign. (Just don’t overdo it; 1-2 Glockapps addresses per 1,000 real contacts is plenty.)
- Automated tests: Some ESPs let you trigger Glockapps tests automatically via API or integration.
But here’s the catch: More isn’t always better. Too many test addresses in your list can skew your own stats and look weird to inbox providers. Use ongoing monitoring thoughtfully.
What works, what doesn’t, and what to ignore
What works: - Using Glockapps’ fresh test lists for every major send or after making big changes. - Testing the real email with the real sending infrastructure. - Fixing authentication issues right away.
What doesn’t: - Relying on Glockapps as your only source of truth. Real subscribers behave differently. - Obsessing over small changes between tests. - Sending to test addresses every single time you email—eventually, it just adds noise.
Ignore: - “Inbox placement score” hype. - Minor differences between providers if your main ones are fine. - Any advice that promises to “guarantee inboxing.” No one can.
Keep it simple (and keep testing)
Connecting your ESP to Glockapps isn’t rocket science, but it’s easy to overcomplicate. Stick to the basics: use fresh test lists, send real campaigns, fix the big issues, and don’t chase vanity metrics.
Deliverability is a moving target, so check in regularly, but don’t let testing become the work itself. See something off? Make a tweak, test again, and move on. Simple beats perfect every time.
Happy sending.