Cold Email Campaign Readiness Checker
Answer 20 launch checks across authentication, inbox, list, campaign and compliance. Get a 100-point readiness score and an ordered fix plan before the first email goes out.
Authentication
25 ptsSelf-reportedAnswers here are self-reported, not a live DNS lookup. Confirm each record with the free deliverability test before trusting a Yes. Run the live DNS test
SPF is configured and aligned for the sending domain7 ptsCriticalSelf-reported
DKIM signing is active and aligned7 ptsCriticalSelf-reported
A DMARC record is published7 ptsCriticalSelf-reported
Mail is delivered over TLS4 ptsSelf-reported
Inbox readiness
20 ptsSending volume matches mailbox age and warmup state5 pts
A daily capacity plan exists across mailboxes and domains5 pts
Someone owns bounce and complaint monitoring during launch5 ptsCritical
A pause and recovery process is documented5 pts
List quality
25 ptsDuplicates, syntax errors and role addresses are removed5 pts
The list is checked against your suppression list7 ptsCritical
Every address passed verification under an approved policy7 ptsCritical
A sample was checked for ICP and role relevance6 pts
Campaign design
20 ptsEach segment has an owner, an angle and a template5 pts
All variables and fallbacks were tested on real rows5 ptsCritical
Follow-up stop rules are configured5 ptsCritical
A test send and render QA are complete5 ptsCritical
Compliance
10 ptsThese are operational controls, not legal advice. Requirements vary by country; check current official sources or counsel for your markets.
Sender identity is accurate3 ptsCritical
A required postal or business address is present2 ptsCritical
A functional opt-out is present in every email3 ptsCritical
Opt-out processing and suppression ownership are documented2 ptsCritical
Answer all 20 checks to unlock your result and the ordered remediation plan. 20 to go.
★ Trustpilot★★★★★4.0 Great · 224 reviews
G4.6on G2Rated by outbound teams
Member ofGoogle for Startups
Trusted byYC-backed founders and 5,000+ outbound teams
Replaced Apollo overnight. Reply rate went from 2% to 14% in week one. Wish I found this sooner.
I sent 300 emails on day one. By week 2 I had a closed deal. The verification alone is worth it.
47 demos booked in 30 days. The unlimited sending is a game changer, I used to pay $300/mo for half this.
Guide
Campaign readiness checker explained
How the 100-point score is built
The checker mirrors how deliverability teams audit a campaign before the first send. Points follow risk, not effort:
- Authentication (25): SPF, DKIM and DMARC at 7 points each, TLS at 4. These decide whether receivers trust your domain at all.
- List quality (25): suppression and verification at 7 each, because bad recipients create bounces and complaints no template can fix.
- Inbox readiness (20): ramp, capacity, monitoring and recovery, the operational side of not overwhelming young mailboxes.
- Campaign design (20): segments, variables, stop rules and test sends, where most visible launch failures happen.
- Compliance (10): identity, postal address and opt-out. Low points, but every one of them is a critical blocker.
If you want the operational detail behind these numbers, start with the campaign launch guide and the list cleaning guide.
Why a critical blocker overrides the score
A score is additive; risk is not. A campaign with perfect copy, a clean list and a documented ramp plan still fails if DMARC is missing or opt-outs are ignored, because those failures are absolute:
- Missing authentication gets filtered by Gmail and Yahoo regardless of everything else you did right.
- Emailing a suppressed contact is a legal exposure per message, not a quality deduction.
- One broken variable or missing stop rule damages every recipient it touches.
So the checker resolves blockers first. Any critical check answered No, or Not sure, forces Do Not Launch even at 95 points. Not sure counts as unmet on purpose: if nobody on the team can confirm a critical control, it is not in place. The fix plan then orders work the same way: compliance and suppression first, authentication second, then verification, campaign mechanics, and capacity. The volume planner and bulk email verifier cover the two most common gaps.
Self-reported answers have limits
This tool scores what you declare, not what your DNS actually says. That distinction matters most for authentication, where teams often believe a record exists that was never published, or was published on the wrong domain. Two rules keep the result honest:
- Treat every authentication Yes as provisional until the live deliverability test confirms it against real DNS records.
- Treat Ready as clearance for a small monitored pilot, not proof of inbox placement. Placement depends on reputation and engagement signals no checklist can see.
Before the pilot, it is also worth pressure-testing your targeting with the segmentation guide, since relevance drives the reply and complaint rates that decide how the pilot ends.
Get started
Replace your whole lead gen stack
Lead scraping, a 177M+ B2B database, email verification and cold email sending in one subscription. No credits, no seat pricing, cancel anytime.
Cancel anytime, no contract