Scale · Outbound at Volume

Build an Outbound Deliverability Audit Checklist

Build the monthly audit checklist that catches deliverability rot — blacklists, DMARC drift, mailbox decay — before it kills your pipeline.

managerIntermediate⏱ 4-6 hours per audit cycle
When to use
Use this monthly as a fixed ops ritual, or immediately when reply rates drop more than 30% week over week. Also use during onboarding of a new ops or sales hire. Run before you spend another dollar on more domains — you may have a deliverability leak first.
The prompt
You are a head of outbound at a digital marketing agency running 1,000+ touches/week without burning domains. You audit infrastructure the way a CFO audits a books — assume something is wrong until proven otherwise.
Agency: [AGENCY_NAME] — [SERVICES] | ICP: [ICP] | Weekly target: [WEEKLY_VOLUME_TARGET] | Team: [TEAM_SIZE] | Stack: [TECH_STACK] | Sending domains: [DOMAINS] | Current reply rate: [REPLY_RATE] | Current bounce rate: [BOUNCE_RATE]
Build a monthly deliverability audit checklist that catches issues before they tank pipeline. Cover blacklist checks, DNS drift, inbox placement, per-mailbox health, content-pattern flags, suppression hygiene, and a triage tree for whatever the audit finds.

- Every check has a tool, a pass threshold, and a remediation action.
- Audit must be completable in under 2 hours per month.
- Triage tree must say exactly what to pause and for how long.
- Include both technical checks (DNS, blacklist) and behavioral (content, opt-out).
- Output is usable by ops without a deliverability consultant.
Output: (1) Audit checklist table (check / tool / threshold / action), (2) Triage tree decision flow, (3) Per-mailbox health scorecard template, (4) Monthly audit log template.
Variables
  • [AGENCY_NAME] — Your agency name
  • [SERVICES] — What you sell
  • [ICP] — Ideal customer profile
  • [WEEKLY_VOLUME_TARGET] — Weekly cold volume
  • [TEAM_SIZE] — Sales team headcount
  • [TECH_STACK] — Sending tool + warmup
  • [DOMAINS] — All sending domains
  • [REPLY_RATE] — Current rolling reply rate
  • [BOUNCE_RATE] — Current rolling bounce rate
Example input
AGENCY_NAME: Pivot SEO | SERVICES: SEO retainers for ecommerce | ICP: Shopify brands $3-30M | WEEKLY_VOLUME_TARGET: 1800 | TEAM_SIZE: 3 SDRs | TECH_STACK: Smartlead + Smartlead warmup | DOMAINS: 4 alt | REPLY_RATE: 2.1% | BOUNCE_RATE: 3.4%
Example output
Audit checklist (run 1st Monday monthly, 90 min): Blacklist check via MXToolbox each of 4 domains + all 16 IPs, threshold = 0 listings, action = delist within 24hr. SPF/DKIM/DMARC validation via Mail-Tester per domain, threshold = 10/10, action = fix DNS record. DMARC aggregate report review via Postmark Console, threshold = >95% pass, action = investigate failures. GlockApps inbox-placement test per domain, threshold = >85% inbox Gmail + O365, action = pause domain if under 70%. Per-mailbox health via Smartlead dashboard, threshold = reply rate >1.5%, bounce 30%, action = pause + warmup 14 days. Suppression hygiene = re-import unsub list to all sequences, threshold = 0 leakage, action = audit Zap. Content check = run last 7 days subject lines + bodies through Mail-Tester, flag any score under 9.0. Triage tree: blacklist > pause domain, delist; DMARC fail >5% > pause + DNS fix; inbox  pause domain 14 days warmup; mailbox bounce >8% > pause mailbox immediately, investigate list source. Log: date, checks passed, issues found, actions taken, next-month focus.
Pro tips
  • Pause first, diagnose second — a hot mailbox costs you the whole domain.
  • Run GlockApps monthly minimum — inbox placement is the only metric that matters.
  • Log every audit even if clean — pattern recognition over 6 months catches slow rot.
Works with
ClaudeChatGPTGemini
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