DELIVERABILITY, IN FULL
The full checklist behind every send
Deliverability isn't one setting; it's dozens of small, unglamorous things done right, continuously, for the life of every campaign. This is the actual list.
65 checks · 4 categories
Category 1 of 4
Sending Infrastructure & Authentication
- Multi-week inbox warm-up before any domain goes live, ramped gradually rather than switched on at full volume.
- Fresh, purpose-built sending domains, so cold outreach never touches your primary company domain.
- SPF configured on every sending domain, authorizing exactly which servers can send as you.
- DKIM signing on every message, proving it wasn't altered in transit.
- DMARC enforced in stages: monitor-only first, tightened to full enforcement as confidence builds, not flipped to strict on day one.
- Only pre-warmed accounts enter live sending; no cold, unwarmed inbox ever gets real volume.
- Simulated human engagement during warm-up, including rescuing anything that lands in spam, not just idle inbox time.
- Sending rotated across the full inbox pool, so no single account carries a disproportionate share of volume.
- IP paths rotated where applicable, rather than one static IP absorbing all the reputation risk.
- Ongoing reputation monitoring per inbox and domain, with underperformers pulled before they drag down the rest.
- Daily send caps per inbox, sized to what a real human account would plausibly send.
- Sender platform matched to the recipient's mail server, where it measurably improves inbox placement.
- Tracking pixels and open-tracking disabled by default (a well-documented spam trigger).
- First-touch messages sent as plain text, not HTML, to avoid tripping template-based spam filters.
- Any tracking links used run through a clean, custom-branded domain, never a shared or generic redirect.
- Every message copy-checked for spam-trigger language before it ships.
- Rendering checked across major mail clients and on mobile, not just one inbox view.
- Sending run through mainstream mail providers (Google- or Microsoft-backed), not obscure private mail servers.
- Warm-up doesn't stop at launch; it continues in the background for the life of the account.
- No outreach ever comes from a no-reply address (an instant trust red flag on both ends).
- DNS changes (SPF, DKIM, CNAME) confirmed fully propagated with an outside checking tool before a domain ever sends.
- MX records configured properly, so a domain can reliably send and receive, not just send.
- Outreach domains redirect back to the real company site, so a curious prospect lands somewhere legitimate.
- SSL certificates on every sending domain (an unsecured domain is an easy spam-filter flag).
- BIMI and ARC support layered on where supported, for additional brand and authentication signal.
- Nothing goes live until every DNS record has actually finished propagating, confirmed rather than assumed.
- Domains given time to age before first use where feasible, rather than registered and sent from the same day.
Category 2 of 4
List Hygiene & Compliance
- Every address verified before it's ever contacted, not checked after the fact.
- Stale or long-dormant addresses cleared out before a list goes live.
- New emails validated the moment they're added, not batch-checked later.
- List cleaning runs on an ongoing automatic schedule, not just once at the start.
- Duplicate contacts removed so nobody gets contacted twice from the same list.
- Address formatting checked for basic validity before use.
- Domains confirmed to have real, working mail records behind them.
- Server-level checks run to confirm an address is actually deliverable.
- Catch-all domains flagged and handled more cautiously than verified addresses.
- Free consumer email providers tagged and segmented differently from business domains.
- Generic role addresses (info@, admin@, and similar) filtered out before sending.
- Common domain typos corrected automatically where possible.
- Temporarily bounced (greylisted) addresses retried later rather than written off immediately.
- A permanent suppression list: anyone who unsubscribes, hard-bounces, or complains is never re-contacted, on any future list or campaign.
- Sender and domain reputation checked against blacklists on an ongoing basis, with any flagged account replaced.
- Lead data refreshed on a regular cycle rather than run against a stale, one-time pull.
- A one-time re-engagement nudge before permanent suppression, not just silence (a real last chance rather than being written off outright).
- A visible, working opt-out link on every single message, not just handled reactively on request.
Category 3 of 4
Campaign Operations
- Multi-step sequences with genuinely varied follow-ups, not one message repeated.
- Sends timed to the recipient's actual business hours, not the sender's.
- Volume spread across the full inbox pool instead of funneled through a few accounts.
- Open tracking off across the board, consistent with the infrastructure practices above.
- Underperforming campaigns paused and reworked, not left running on autopilot.
- Sequences stop automatically the moment someone replies; no further touches after that.
- Bounce-rate thresholds monitored, with sending paused if they spike.
- Inbox placement checked regularly with seed-testing tools, not just assumed to be fine.
- Sending volume ramped up gradually, mirroring how a real, organic sender would scale.
- Contacts never hit from more than one campaign or domain at the same time.
- Multiple sender identities in rotation, each with its own name and signature.
- Replies handled from the same account the original message came from, for continuity.
- Sends scheduled on weekdays only, since weekend cold email reads as automated and gets flagged more.
- Consent and opt-out handling built to meet GDPR and equivalent regional rules, not just U.S. practice.
Category 4 of 4
Copy & Message Design
- Heavy on personalization: each message references something specific and real about the recipient, not a generic mail-merge field.
- Written in a natural, conversational voice, not obviously templated language.
- Subject lines and body copy varied across sends, so no two messages look identical to a filter.
- Minimal links and images per message: the more tracking-heavy an email looks, the more it reads as bulk.
- Sending accounts carry real profile photos, so they look like an actual person, not a faceless inbox.
- Reply patterns varied too, so follow-ups don't all read like the same script running on autopilot.
This is the same list referenced in the proposal deck; nothing here is client-specific configuration, it's the baseline every campaign runs on.