Disclaimer: This page contains links to examples of tools that can be used to help identify issues with your email setup. Please note 17hats does not endorse, warranty, or support third party products or services unless explicitly stated otherwise; inclusion of a link in this article does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or offer of support for that external service.
If you're concerned that your Outgoing Email connection on your 17hats Email Settings page is broken, or that your emails are being sorted into "Spam" or rejected from your customers' inboxes entirely, you can run a simple test using a tool like https://mail-tester.com; this test will show where the email originated and which servers it was sent through, and highlight any factors that could be sending your emails to spam or cause them to be rejected outright.
Running The Test
To run the test, please:
Go to https://mail-tester.com and copy the email address you see (don't close the tab! You'll need it later):
Create a new Contact in 17hats using that email address:
Create a Project in your new Contact:
Send an email to the test address, ideally using a Template you'd send to a client.
Important: Please be sure there is no attachment on the email; the tester cannot read attachments:
Go back to https://mail-tester.com and click the dark blue "Then check your score" button:
Interpreting The Results
The results will be displayed on a page like this:
If the connection worked, you will see your email address in the Bounce address section. If not, you will instead see a semi-random @17hats.com email (and also a perfect 10/10):
Each "down arrow" (to the left of the section title) can be clicked to expand the section:
Meanwhile the icon on the right of each section will indicate any problems with your email, domain, or email server:
If you see any points deducted, it is most likely to be in the above sections. If you see points deducted in the You're not fully authenticated section, there are issues with your "DNS" or "Domain Name System" records for your domain. To read more about how to remedy this, please see the following guide (please note the disclaimer at the beginning of this article still applies): https://dmarcly.com/blog/how-to-implement-dmarc-dkim-spf-to-stop-email-spoofing-phishing-the-definitive-guide
The other most likely place to see points deducted is in the "You're listed in 2 blacklists" section as you see above. This is nothing to worry about!
Things To Not Worry About
Reverse DNS (rDNS)
Reverse DNS or "rDNS" maps your email server IP address(es) to your domain name, opposite to how your MX records map your domain name to your email server IP address(es). This is an old metric and most large email providers cannot provide consistent rDNS; as a result, spam filters do not give it much weight and a yellow check mark here is nothing to worry about:
List-Unsubscribe header
17hats does not offer mailing lists, so we do not include a "List-Unsubscribe" link in our email headers because there is nothing to unsubscribe from. Emails sent from marketing email platforms that do offer mailing lists should have a green tick in this section:
IP Blacklists
As you can see, this section does not match your domain (the part of your email address after the @ symbol) - it matches the email server IP address:
This means that it's your email provider's problem to solve, and their IT team is most likely "on it". Don't worry even if you see yourself listed here, though, especially if you're on either SORBS list as in the screenshot. SORBS stands for "Spam and Open-Relay Blocking System", and because many of the world's largest email providers provide free email accounts, they are frequently abused by spammers, and even most legitimate senders of email end up on this list at some point.
If you have further questions please don't hesitate to write in to our friendly support team via live chat on our site or by email to support@17hats.com; we're online to assist from 7am-4pm Pacific Time, Monday through Friday (excluding certain public holidays).