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Cold Email Deliverability
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20 questions across five categories. Takes 3 minutes. Instant score tells you exactly what is hurting your deliverability and what to fix first.

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1
Domain and DNS Infrastructure
The technical foundation. Problems here make every other optimization useless.
Your sending domains have a valid SPF record (with no duplicate SPF records on the same domain)

Multiple SPF records on one domain will cause authentication failures regardless of whether the content is correct.

DKIM is configured using a 2048-bit key (not 1024-bit)

1024-bit keys are considered outdated by major inbox providers as of 2024. A 2048-bit key significantly improves authentication reputation.

DMARC is configured with at least p=none and a working rua reporting address

Even a monitoring-only DMARC record signals to inbox providers that you are actively managing your domain's email authentication.

Your cold email sending domains are completely separate from your main company domain

Sending cold outreach from your primary domain (company.com) puts your entire email infrastructure at risk if reputation degrades.

2
Inbox Warmup Protocol
How you introduce new inboxes determines whether they land or sink from day one.
New Gmail or Google Workspace inboxes start at 10 or fewer sends per day during week one of warmup

Google's sending reputation system is highly sensitive in the first 7 to 14 days. Starting above 10 sends per day on a new Gmail inbox accelerates reputation flags.

Modern GTM standard: 10/day week 1, double every 5 days
You use a dedicated warmup tool (Instantly warmup, Mailreach, or Lemwarm) and not just manual sending

Warmup tools generate positive engagement signals (opens, replies, removes from spam) that manual sending cannot replicate at the required frequency.

Sending domains have been aged for at least 21 days before any cold outreach begins

Brand new domains have zero sending history. Inbox providers treat them as high-risk by default. A minimum 21-day aging period with DNS properly propagated is the current standard.

Warmup is still running actively on all inboxes, even ones that are already sending live campaigns

Warmup is not a phase you complete. Running warmup alongside live campaigns continuously maintains a baseline of positive engagement signals.

3
List Quality Standards
Bad data is the single most common cause of deliverability collapse. One dirty campaign can take months to recover from.
Every list goes through at least one dedicated email verification tool before any send

Even lists sourced from premium databases like Apollo contain a percentage of invalid addresses. Unverified lists routinely carry 5 to 10 percent invalid rates.

You run a second verification layer using a different tool (for example, BounceBan after MillionVerifier)

No single verification tool catches everything. A second-pass tool using different validation methods can reduce remaining invalid emails by 40 to 60 percent further.

Catch-all email addresses are excluded from cold sequences (not just flagged)

Catch-all domains accept all incoming email regardless of whether the address exists. They are unpredictable and can silently inflate bounce metrics without triggering standard bounces.

Bounce rates stay consistently below 2% across all active campaigns

Google and Microsoft begin degrading sender reputation above 2% bounce rate. Sustained bounce rates above 5% can result in permanent deliverability penalties on a domain.

4
Sending Behavior
Volume patterns and inbox rotation are how you scale without triggering automated spam filters.
Each inbox sends fewer than 50 cold outreach emails per day (fully warmed accounts)

Even fully warmed Google Workspace accounts should stay at or below 50 cold sends per day to maintain a healthy positive-to-negative engagement ratio.

Gmail limit is 500/day total but cold email best practice is under 50/inbox/day
Campaigns rotate across multiple inboxes (not all sends from one or two addresses)

Single-inbox campaigns concentrate all negative signals on one address. Rotating across 5 or more inboxes distributes risk and allows individual inboxes to recover between send windows.

Random time delays are enabled between sends (not batch sending at fixed intervals)

Sending 200 emails in a 2-minute window is a clear automated behavior signal. Human-mimicking random delays of 2 to 8 minutes between sends significantly reduce automated filtering.

Your sequences avoid sending to multiple contacts at the same company on the same day

If five people at company.com receive your email on the same day, the chances of an internal spam flag or admin block increase substantially. Spread domain contacts across multiple days.

5
Email Content and Formatting
How your email is structured determines whether spam filters read it as human or automated before a single recipient opens it.
Cold emails are sent in plain text or minimal HTML (no heavy branded templates with multiple images or divs)

Branded HTML email templates are designed for newsletters and transactional emails. In cold outreach, they trigger nearly every commercial email filter because they look automated.

Cold emails contain one link or fewer (not multiple links to different pages, social profiles, or calendars)

Each additional link in a cold email multiplies the probability of spam filter flagging. One focused CTA outperforms three links in both deliverability and conversion.

You use a custom click-tracking domain rather than the default shared tracking domain from your sending platform

Shared tracking domains (like trk.instantlyapp.com or similar) are used by thousands of senders simultaneously. If any of them send spam, your emails share their reputation penalty.

You have run an inbox placement test in the last 30 days using a tool like GlockApps or Mail-Tester

Deliverability problems are often invisible until significant damage is done. Placement tests show exactly what percentage of your emails land in primary, promotions, or spam across major providers.

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We build and manage the entire infrastructure. Most clients go from broken deliverability to sub-2% bounce rates and inbox placement above 90% within 21 days.