Weekly deliverability checklist: a Friday routine that works

Why deliverability issues seem to come out of nowhere

Deliverability problems usually show up the same way: everything looks fine until it doesn't. One week you're getting steady replies, and the next week outreach goes quiet, meetings slow down, and you start questioning your offer.

The early signs are often subtle:

• Open and reply rates dip across multiple campaigns, not just one.
• Interested replies slow down while not interested stays about the same.
• Bounces creep up, especially on new prospect batches.
• Test emails start landing in spam.
• Unsubscribes tick up after you increased volume.

It feels sudden because inbox placement is a lagging indicator. Small changes stack up: a bit more sending, slightly worse lists, a few extra spam complaints, a DNS change, or warm-up that didn't keep pace. Each one might be survivable alone. Together, they push your sender reputation past a tipping point.

A simple weekly routine helps because it catches drift before it becomes a fire. The goal isn't deep troubleshooting. It's noticing trends early: volume rising faster than engagement, bounces climbing on one domain, or reply quality shifting in a way that suggests your targeting slipped.

This matters most for small teams, SDRs, and solopreneurs who don't have time to watch dashboards every day. If you sent 20% more emails this week but replies stayed flat, that's a warning sign even if you haven't seen obvious spam placement yet.

Set your baseline and thresholds before you start

A weekly deliverability checklist only works if you know what normal looks like. Pick one fixed review time, like Friday afternoon, and keep it consistent. Checking at the same point each week makes patterns easier to spot and helps you ignore random daily noise.

You don't need fancy dashboards. You need the same inputs every time:

• Total emails sent (overall and per mailbox, if you run multiple)
• Bounce rate (separate hard vs soft if you can)
• Reply rate (positive and negative combined is fine for baseline)
• Spam complaint signals (even if it's just a count)
• Unsubscribe rate

Set a baseline using the last 4 to 8 weeks. Keep it simple: write down the average for each metric, plus your typical sending range (for example, 3,000 to 4,000 emails per week).

Then define thresholds that trigger action. Avoid vague decisions like we'll watch it.

• If hard bounces or complaint signals jump above baseline, pause new sends and reduce volume on active sequences until you find the cause.
• If reply rate drops sharply while bounces stay normal, slow down and review targeting and the first email before you burn reputation pushing the wrong list.

Write these as plain sentences so you can follow them on a tired Friday.

The Friday routine: 15 to 30 minutes, step by step

A weekly deliverability check works best when it feels boring. Same day, same order, same decisions. Block 15 to 30 minutes every Friday and you'll catch small problems before they turn into a bad week.

The 5 checks (in order)

Start with numbers, then look for causes, then pick one action.

1. Trends vs last Friday: sending volume, bounce rate, reply rate, and any sudden dips by mailbox or domain.
2. Domain setup sanity check: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC still passing, and no new sending domain added without warm-up.
3. Complaint indicators: unsubscribes, stop replies, angry replies, and a sudden shift toward not interested.
4. List quality: new imports, duplicates, role accounts (info@, support@), and whether one segment is driving most bounces.
5. One decision: keep pace, slow down, pause a mailbox, fix authentication, or remove a risky segment.

Afterward, write a one-line status for each sending domain: Green, Yellow, or Red and why. That tiny log makes next Friday faster.

Domain and authentication checks (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

Domain setup can break quietly, then hurt deliverability all at once. A quick SPF, DKIM, and DMARC review belongs in any Friday email maintenance routine because it catches problems like overwritten DNS records or mismatched configuration.

First, confirm alignment. The domain recipients see in the From address should match the domain that's authenticated. If you send from [email protected] but the technical sending is tied to a different domain, some providers treat it as higher risk.

A practical weekly check:

• SPF exists and includes only the senders you actually use.
• DKIM is enabled for every sending source.
• DMARC exists and the policy matches what you expect (monitoring is still better than nothing).
• The From domain in your sequences is the domain you intended to warm up and protect.
• You note recent changes: renewals, mailbox provider switches, new subdomains, new tools.

DNS changes often happen during renewals, website changes, provider switches, or when new tools add their own SPF include. One extra include isn't always bad, but multiple SPF records or conflicting entries can cause failures.

Keep a simple inventory you can glance at quickly: domains, mailboxes, purpose (prospecting, support, founder), and status (warming, active, paused).

Example: you renew a sending domain, DNS resets, and DKIM disappears. On Friday you notice replies drop and bounces tick up. Fixing DKIM the same day is a small repair. Waiting can turn it into a reputation issue.

Sender performance: bounces, engagement, and volume drift

Sender performance is where deliverability problems usually show up first. Focus on patterns, not one-off bad days.

Check bounce rate two ways: by mailbox and by campaign.

• If one mailbox spikes while others look normal, it's usually an outlier (new inbox, recent list upload, or a single offer pulling in bad addresses).
• If one campaign is the outlier across all mailboxes, the list or targeting is the likely cause.

Separate hard bounces from soft bounces and watch direction week over week.

• Hard bounces (no such user, invalid domain) usually point to list quality.
• Soft bounces (temporary issues, mailbox full, rate limits) often point to sending too fast, sudden volume increases, or an inbox that needs a break.

Engagement should be compared to your own baseline, not someone else's numbers. A sharp drop in replies (or opens, if you track them), especially alongside rising soft bounces, is a warning sign.

Also watch volume drift. If you quietly increased daily sends or added steps to a sequence, you can push a mailbox past what it can handle.

New mailboxes should behave differently than established ones. If a new mailbox underperforms while older ones are stable, slow down its early campaigns and extend warm-up.

What to do when numbers move

Match the action to the symptom:

• One mailbox is the outlier: cool it down for a few days and lower daily volume.
• Hard bounces rise: tighten list sourcing and remove risky segments quickly.
• Soft bounces rise: reduce send rate and avoid big day-to-day volume jumps.
• Replies drop suddenly: review targeting and the first email, then A/B test one change.
• A new mailbox struggles: keep early sends small, consistent, and warm-up longer.

A quick example: if Mailbox A jumps from 2% to 8% soft bounces after you doubled daily sends, roll back volume and let it recover. Fixing it on Friday can prevent a Monday-wide inbox placement crash.

Complaint indicators you can spot without special tools

You don't need complex tooling to catch trouble early. Deliverability problems often show up first as human reactions: people opting out, replying with frustration, or saying they never asked for this.

Start with unsubscribes. A steady trickle is normal. A sudden spike right after one step usually means that message crossed a line: too pushy, too frequent, or mismatched to the audience.

Then scan negative replies. Even if you never see a formal spam complaint, messages like stop emailing me, reporting this, or remove me now are early warnings. Treat them like real signals, not edge cases.

Patterns worth checking each Friday:

• Unsubscribes concentrated on one step, not evenly across the sequence
• Angry replies clustered in one segment (job title, industry, geography)
• Wrong person replies increasing (often a sign your list got too broad)
• Prospects asking basic questions your email should already answer
• Pushback after you increased volume or introduced a new offer

If one step is clearly causing pushback, pause that step first. Then tighten the audience or rewrite the value proposition so it's specific again.

List quality and targeting hygiene

Bad deliverability often starts with list quality, not the mail system. On Fridays, look at how this week's new leads were sourced and what changed. A new provider, broader filters, or a rushed import can quietly add low-fit contacts that trigger bounces and complaints.

Scan the newest records for common risk patterns: role accounts (info@, support@), generic inboxes, and obvious catch-all style addresses. Outdated roles are another warning sign. If your targeting says Head of Growth but the person changed roles two years ago, replies drop and negative signals rise.

Do a quick manual spot check: open 20 to 50 of the newest leads and ask two questions:

• Is this person real and reachable?
• Is this offer actually relevant to their job?

If you see lots of mismatches, pause new uploads until you fix your filters.

Also clean the easy stuff that should never be contacted: duplicates, competitors, existing customers, and anyone on a no-contact list (unsubscribed, bounced, or complained before). This is one of the highest-impact parts of email list hygiene because it prevents you from re-triggering old negatives.

Simple acceptance rules for imports

Keep the rules strict:

• Require: first name, company, role, and a verified email (or a recent validation date)
• Exclude: role accounts and generic inboxes
• Block: any record previously marked bounce, unsubscribe, or no-contact
• Cap: new batches to a size your sending volume can absorb

Sequence and copy quick review

Deliverability issues often start as small copy problems that change how people react. A quick scan of active sequences helps you catch the stuff that pushes you toward deletes, complaints, or low engagement.

Start with subject lines. If you see ALL CAPS, heavy punctuation (!!!, $$$), or bait words like urgent or guaranteed, rewrite them. Simple usually wins: a short subject that matches the first line.

Next, open a few recent sends and scheduled steps to check personalization. Look for variable failures (Hi {first_name}), wrong company names, or awkward merges. One bad merge can trigger fast deletes and spam reports.

Then read each step and find the ask. If one email contains two or three asks (book a call, answer a question, review a doc), cut it down to one. The best cold emails make a single decision easy: yes, no, or a short reply.

Timing matters, too. If follow-ups stack too close (for example, 24 hours apart for several steps), you create annoyance spikes that raise unsubscribes. Tighten timing only after someone shows interest.

A repeatable Friday pass:

• Skim subject lines for spammy patterns and tone mismatches
• Open 3 to 5 messages to confirm personalization renders correctly
• Confirm each step has one clear ask and one next action
• Review spacing between steps and adjust if it feels pushy
• For A/B tests, change one thing at a time

Common mistakes that quietly hurt inbox placement

Most inbox placement problems start as small, survivable signals. If your routine looks clean but results dip, it's often because one quiet mistake piled up over a few weeks.

Ramping volume after a good week is a classic. A low bounce rate on Monday doesn't guarantee Friday will look the same, especially if you introduced new data sources or broadened targeting. Volume increases should follow bounce trends, not vibes.

Another issue is mixing very different audiences in the same mailbox and sequence. When one group ignores you and another replies, the mailbox gets mixed engagement signals, which can drag down deliverability for everyone.

Don't ignore repeated negative replies. If a segment keeps responding with stop, wrong person, or not relevant, treat that as targeting feedback. Continuing to send to that slice raises complaints and unsubscribes.

Warm-up also isn't a one-time task. If you stop warm-up when campaigns start, then later spike volume or change patterns, reputation can wobble.

A quick gut-check you can do fast:

• Did you increase volume without checking bounce trends first?
• Are you sending very different audiences from the same mailbox?
• Is any segment producing repeated negative replies?
• Did warm-up drop off or change suddenly?
• Did you see authentication or DNS warnings and postpone them?

Your Friday deliverability checklist (copy and reuse)

Set a 15-minute timer and look for changes, not perfection. If something looks off compared to last week, write it down and act before Monday volume hits.

• Domains and DNS: Confirm SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are passing and nothing changed unexpectedly. Note upcoming renewals so an expiration doesn't kill sending.
• Mailboxes and warm-up: Check bounce trends and delivery failures you can see. Make sure warm-up is still running and you didn't ramp a fresh mailbox too fast.
• Sending volume and pacing: Compare daily sends to last week. Watch for spikes caused by new sequences, added steps, or a new segment.
• Campaign health: Scan unsubscribes and negative replies by step. Fix the step causing most damage first.
• List quality: Sample new imports before you blast them. Remove obvious risks and de-duplicate.

Then make one decision and write it down:

• Keep sending if metrics are stable.
• Slow down if bounces, unsubscribes, or negatives creep up.
• Pause and fix if failures or complaint signals jump.
• Split segments if one audience is dragging down results.

Example: catching a problem before it becomes a full outage

On Wednesday, a small SDR team notices something feels off: fewer replies than usual, even though they sent the same number of emails. They wait for Friday and run their check.

The first clue shows up fast. Bounces are up, mostly from a new list source tested on Monday. At the same time, the reply mix looks worse: more not interested and a few more unsubscribes than normal.

They also spot a copy issue. A new follow-up step added on Tuesday is too pushy and goes out to everyone, including people who never opened the first email. That mismatch turns a targeting problem into a reputation problem.

They make three changes before it spreads:

• Pause the new segment from the untested list source.
• Clean the list and tighten targeting.
• Edit the follow-up, reduce send volume for a few days, and avoid sending aggressive copy to cold, unengaged contacts.

Next week, bounce rate returns to normal, unsubscribes drop, and replies recover. They keep volume slightly lower until things look steady.

They also document what happened so it doesn't repeat: where the list came from, the thresholds that trigger a pause, and a rule to test new sources on a small batch first.

Next steps to make this routine stick

Consistency beats intensity. Make the Friday check quick, predictable, and hard to skip.

Keep a simple weekly log that answers three things: what changed, what you checked, and what you decided. Over time, that log becomes your best clue when something drifts.

Template:

• Changes since last Friday (domains, mailboxes, copy, targeting, volume)
• Numbers checked (bounces, unsubscribes, negative replies, replies)
• What looked off (one sentence)
• Decision (pause, reduce volume, clean list, tweak copy)
• Owner and next check date

Don't rely on memory for threshold breaks. Set basic alerts for bounces, unsubscribes, and negative replies. If you don't have alerts, even a calendar reminder to glance at those numbers midweek helps.

If you want fewer moving parts, it helps to keep core outbound pieces together. LeadTrain (leadtrain.app) combines domains, mailboxes, warm-up, multi-step sequences, and AI-powered reply classification in one place, which makes this weekly review easier to run without bouncing between tools.

Book next Friday's 15 to 30 minutes now, and add a midweek 5-minute glance. That midweek look is often where you catch a bounce spike early, before it turns into a full sending pause.