How to Do Your Email Deliverability Audit & Troubleshoot Issues

The purpose of an email outreach is to reach new audiences, build connections and eventually educate them about our products and services. 

Once they read our emails, our recipients take actions like checking our websites, signing up for demos, or simply show curiosity by replying. 

But what if our recipients never open our emails?

That’s when you have to rethink your entire strategy and do an audit. An email delivery audit is a technical method to increase open rates of your emails.  

In this blog, we will tell you what is and how to do an email audit, examine various factors like infrastructure, content and sender reputation.

What Is an Email Delivery Audit? 

An email delivery audit is a review of how you're sending emails and how it's being received, designed. You do to identify why they may be landing in the spam folder or failing to reach inboxes. 

Apart from it, an email audit also helps you to evaluate the technical health and reputation of your sending domain, including authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. 

It also helps you to check whether your domain or IP address has been blacklisted, and analyzes engagement metrics that influence spam filtering. 

You can also review email content, list hygiene, bounce rates, and complaint levels to determine what might be harming deliverability by performing an audit. 

Overall, an email delivery audit helps to protect your sender reputation, reduce spam placement, and improve overall inbox performance.

How to Perform an Email Deliverability Audit

An email deliverability audit helps you to see where your email program stands today and what needs to improve. 

So it helps you look at your domain setup, sending habits, content quality, and overall email deliverability. Once you’re done with your audit, you can keep emails out of the spam folder and inside the inbox.

Below is a simple step-by-step way to run a strong email deliverability audit without feeling overwhelmed.

1. Define Your Goals

First, be clear about what you want to fix or improve. 

Are your emails going to spam? 

Are open rates dropping? 

Or are you launching a new domain or warming up a new IP address? 

A clear goal will help you to focus your audit.

For example, your goal might be to improve inbox placement by 15%, and reduce bounce rate below 2%. 

Or it can also be to fix authentication errors tied to your domain, and prepare for scaling your email marketing campaigns.

If you are doing an email deliverability audit before a big launch, your goal may be to protect your sender reputation and avoid blacklists. 

On the other hand, if you recently changed platforms, you may want to check if your IP address and DNS records are properly set up.

When you define your goals first, you avoid guessing. Instead, you measure the right things and fix the real problems.

2. Select Metrics You Want to Asses

Next, decide which numbers matter most. Good metrics will give you a clear picture of email deliverability health.

Important metrics include inbox placement rate, bounce rate, spam complaint rate, and open and click rates. These metrics can also include, unsubscribe rate, sender reputation score, and blacklist status.

Now you need the right email deliverability health audit tools to measure these metrics.

Helpful tools to audit email deliverability health include:

• Email tester tools to check how your email content scores against spam filters.
• An email checker to validate addresses and remove invalid contacts.
• A ping tester to confirm your mail server responds correctly.
• MXLookup to review your domain’s MX records and authentication setup.
• Blacklist monitoring tools to check if your IP address is flagged.
• Inbox placement testing tools to see where your email lands across providers.

These tools show you how mailbox providers see your domain and IP address. Moreover, they also help you to find technical issues before they damage your sender reputation.

Using multiple tools for a single audit might become lengthy and a complicated process. So you can also use a cold email tool as its done-for-you model comes with MX, and SPF setup, DMARC policy and DKIM authentication. 

These tools also come with warmup activation facilities that can help you to prepare your inbox before starting your campaign.

3. Setup Your Infrastructure Run Tests

Now it’s time to test everything.

Start with authentication, and check that SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are correctly set for your domain. Also ensure that your DNS and reverse DNS are configured properly. 

After that, set up your IP strategy. If your sending volume is less in number, shared IPs will suffice. But if your sending volume is high make sure you have a dedicated IP.

After that focus on your email campaign and its personalization. A successful email campaign primarily depends on your email content and its personalization. 

For this at first know your target audience really well, and craft an email that addresses their pain point. After that use your cold email tool’s variables and spintags options to add the personal touch in your email. 

Then test your email content, by sending warmup emails through your platform. Review spam trigger words, image-to-text ratio, broken links, and missing unsubscribe links. Even small formatting errors can push emails into spam.

Next, to test inbox placement, by sending warmup emails to seed lists that include Gmail, Outlook, and other business inboxes. 

See whether your email goes to the inbox, promotions tab, or spam folder.

Finally, check your list quality. Run an email checker to remove invalid or risky addresses. High bounce rates can damage your email marketing reputation quickly.

Running these tests gives you real data instead of assumptions.

4. Prioritize Necessary Solution 

Once you gather the results, you will find many issues. However, you should not fix everything at once. Instead, now is the time you should prioritize.

So first start with high-risk problems like missing or broken authentication, blacklisted IP addresses, high spam complaint rate and bounce rates.

Next, you have to address medium-risk problems like poor engagement, inactive subscribers, and weak segmentation.

Finally, focus on the lower-impact areas, and work on them. These areas include subject line optimization, design improvements, and personalization tweaks.

Once you fix these critical issues first, it protects your domain and stops further damage. Then you can improve your performance step by step.

5. Prepare the Implementation plan

Now it’s time to create a simple action plan. To make sure your plan succeeds, it  should include what to fix, who will fix it, required tools, a timeline, and follow-up testing dates.

If you are wondering how long an email deliverability audit takes, the answer depends on your program size. 

A small business may complete it in one to two weeks. However, email outreach teams with complex infrastructure may take four to six weeks, especially if technical updates are needed.

After implementing fixes, re-test everything. Deliverability is not a one-time task, so it will need ongoing monitoring and adjustments

Should You Do it Yourself or Outsource?

Now comes an important question: should you run your email deliverability audit by yourself or hire experts?

The answer is simple though; it all depends on your experience, budget, and risk level.

When DIY makes sense

You can do it yourself if you have to send a low to moderate volume email, basic technical knowledge, and understanding of domain authentication. 

Along with it, if you have access to reliable email deliverability health audit tools,you can perform the audit yourself. Apart from it, if your issues are small, like list cleanup or subject line improvements, you can do the audit yourself.

DIY audits can save money. They also help your team to learn more about how email systems work.

However, you must be comfortable reviewing DNS settings, checking your IP address health, and interpreting spam complaint data.

When Outsourcing is Better

Outsourcing makes sense if you send a high email volume, manage multiple domains or lack technical expertise. You can also outsource if you recently experienced major spam placement, or if your IP address is blacklisted.

Along with it, you can outsource auditing if your revenue depends heavily on email marketing.

Deliverability experts know how mailbox providers evaluate senders. They also understand deeper issues like reputation scoring models and ISP filtering behavior. 

So they can diagnose complex domain misalignment, spam traps, or reputation damage faster than most internal teams.

Outsourcing may cost more, but it can also prevent revenue loss caused by poor email deliverability.

Hybrid Approach

Many businesses choose a hybrid approach, and you can choose this mode too. You can handle list hygiene and content optimization internally. At the same time you can bring in experts for infrastructure reviews or when problems arise.

In short, if your email program drives serious revenue, outsourcing at least part of the audit may be a smart investment.

How to fix your Deliverability Issues

Once you complete your review, you need to fix what is broken. Most email deliverability problems fall into a few common categories.

Let’s break them down.

Poor Authentication Protocols

Authentication builds trust between your domain and mailbox providers.

If SPF, DKIM, or DMARC are missing or misconfigured, your email may fail validation., your domain may look suspicious, and emails can land in spam.

So first, verify your DNS records, and use MXLookup to confirm correct entries. At the same time, make sure that the SPF includes all sending sources. Apart from that also confirm DKIM keys are properly published. 

After that check DMARC policy and alignment. Once you fix these records, test again through your cold email platform.

Strong authentication improves trust and protects your domain from spoofing attacks.

Sending to Invalid Email Addresses

Invalid addresses increase the chances of your bounce rates, and high bounce rates damage your sender reputation and may lead to blocking.

So always use an email checker regularly, and remove:

• Hard bounces.
• Typo domains.
• Role-based addresses if they are inactive.
• Old contacts who never engage.

Also remember never to buy lists, as purchased lists often contain spam traps. Hitting spam traps can severely damage your IP address and domain reputation.

Clean lists will always protect your email marketing efforts.

Irregular Email Sending Patterns

Mailbox providers always prefer consistency. So if you send 5,000 emails one week and 200,000 the next, it looks suspicious, as sudden spikes can trigger spam filters.

Instead warm up new IP addresses gradually, and keep a steady sending frequency. It’s best to keep sending volume at 25 emails per day.

Along with it, avoid long silent periods followed by large blasts, as regular sending patterns build trust over time.

Lack of List Segmentation and Personalization

Sending the same email to everyone lowers engagement. Low engagement signals poor quality to mailbox providers.

Segment your list based on:

• Purchase behavior.
• Engagement level.
• Location.
• Interests.

Always make sure to personalize your subject lines and content, and A/B test them when possible. Even simple personalization will improve your open rates.

Higher engagement will improve your email deliverability naturally.

Maintain Great Deliverability With Best Practices

Deliverability is ongoing, and it requires attention, monitoring, and smart habits. When you follow these best practices, you reduce the need for major audits later.

Here are the core pillars to ensure great deliverability.

1. Infrastructure

Your technical setup is the foundation. So keep SPF, DKIM, and DMARC updated, and monitor your IP address reputation. At the same time, use dedicated IPs for large email marketing programs, and check blacklist status regularly.

You can use a ping tester too to ensure server availability. Along with it, review MX records through MXLookup.

A good infrastructure protects your domain and ensures stable email delivery.

2. Email Content

As I mentioned before, content affects your deliverability and spam filtering more than many people might think.

So avoid excessive capital letters, too many images with little text, misleading subject lines, and spam trigger words.

At the same time, always include a clear unsubscribe link, a valid physical address, proper HTML formatting, and mobile-friendly design.

Use an email tester before sending major campaigns, as it helps you to fix issues before they reach subscribers.

3. Sender Reputation

Sender reputation is extremely important, as it reflects how mailbox providers perceive your account.

So you can improve it by:

• Removing inactive subscribers.
• Encouraging replies and clicks.
• Keeping complaint rates low.
• Sending only to opted-in contacts.

Always monitor your reputation scores regularly, as a strong reputation ensures better inbox placement and protects your email marketing performance.

FAQs

1. How long does email deliverability audit take?

The timeline depends on your email volume and technical complexity. Small programs may complete an audit in one to two weeks. Larger email marketing systems may take four to six weeks, especially if domain authentication and IP address changes are needed.

2. What are the best tools to audit email deliverability health?

Useful tools include email tester platforms, email checker services, ping tester tools, MXLookup for DNS review, and blacklist monitoring services. These tools help assess domain setup, spam risk, and overall email deliverability.

3. Can poor email content really cause spam placement?

Yes. Spam filters analyze subject lines, formatting, links, and engagement. Poor structure or misleading messaging can push your email into spam even if your domain authentication is correct.

4. Why is my IP address reputation important?

Mailbox providers track IP address behavior. High bounce rates, spam complaints, or sudden volume spikes can harm reputation and reduce inbox placement.

5. Should small businesses run an email marketing deliverability audit?

Yes, even small senders can face spam issues. Regular reviews protect your domain, improve engagement, and maintain strong email deliverability over time.

Conclusion

An Email Delivery Audit is not just a technical check, it is a full review of your domain setup, IP address health, list quality, email content, and overall sending behavior. 

When you do it correctly, it protects your sender reputation, reduces spam placement, and strengthens your email marketing results. 

When you use the right tools, set clear goals, and follow best practices, you can maintain strong email deliverability with mailbox providers.

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