Email Deliverability Audit Checklist
Audit your cold email deliverability using this comprehensive checklist. Check domain health, sender reputation, list quality, and content to maximize inbox placement.
Overview
If your cold emails are not getting replies, they might not be reaching the inbox. This checklist walks you through a complete deliverability audit covering domain configuration, sender reputation, list quality, and content. Fix the issues found here before scaling your outbound volume.
Domain and DNS Configuration
Verify your SPF record is correctly configured and includes your email sending service. Confirm DKIM is properly set up and passing authentication. Check that your DMARC policy is published and set to at least p=none for monitoring. Ensure your sending domain has a valid MX record. If using a separate domain for cold outreach, verify it has been warmed up for at least two weeks.
Sender Reputation Check
Check your domain reputation using Google Postmaster Tools. Review your IP reputation if using a dedicated sending IP. Look up your domain on major blacklists and request removal if listed. Check that your sending volume has been gradually ramped up rather than spiked suddenly. Review your bounce rate history and ensure it stays below 3 percent.
List Quality with Scrapine
Run your entire active email list through Scrapine’s verification engine. Remove all invalid emails immediately. Quarantine risky emails and send to them in small test batches. Calculate your verified rate, which should be above 95 percent. Check for spam trap indicators and honeypot addresses. Remove contacts who have not engaged with any email in the last 90 days.
Email Content Review
Check your email templates for spam trigger words and phrases. Ensure every email includes a plain text version alongside HTML. Verify that your unsubscribe link works correctly. Test your emails through spam scoring tools before sending. Keep HTML to text ratio reasonable by avoiding image-heavy templates.
Sending Practices
Confirm your daily send volume is within safe limits for your domain age and reputation. Verify that send times are distributed throughout the day rather than blasted all at once. Check that you are not sending identical content to large batches. Ensure your warmup routine is still running on newer mailboxes. Review your suppression list for completeness.
Ongoing Monitoring
Set up alerts for bounce rate spikes above 3 percent. Monitor reply rates as a leading indicator of deliverability issues. Track inbox placement rates if using a deliverability monitoring tool. Schedule this full audit monthly to catch issues before they damage your sender reputation permanently.