Deliverability Triage Sequence (QA)
A sequence with 7 steps: Pull the last 30 days of bounce, complaint, and unsubscribe rates per sending domain before touching any creative.
By InnovaAI ResearchPublished
What are the steps?
Deliverability Triage Sequence (QA)
- 01
Pull the last 30 days of bounce, complaint, and unsubscribe rates per sending domain before touching any creative
Segment by domain and by campaign type so a single promotional blast does not mask a healthy lifecycle stream. Flag any domain above a 2% bounce rate or 0.1% complaint rate for immediate review.
- 02
Separate hard bounces from soft bounces and suppress hard bounces permanently
A soft bounce on a full inbox is a timing problem; a hard bounce on a closed account is a list hygiene problem. Only the second category should trigger permanent suppression, and it should happen before the next send, not after.
- 03
Check authentication records on every sending domain the client uses
Confirm SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are present and aligned. A missing DMARC record on a subdomain is a common cause of bulk-folder placement that looks like a content problem but is not.
- 04
Inspect the most recent template for link shorteners, image-only layouts, and single-word subject lines
These three patterns correlate with spam filtering across most major mailbox providers. Rebuild the template with a plain-text fallback and a text-to-image ratio above 60/40 before resending.
- 05
Review engagement segments and remove subscribers with zero opens across the last 180 days
Sending to dormant addresses drags down sender reputation for the entire list. Move them to a re-engagement sequence first, then suppress anyone who does not open within 14 days of that sequence.
- 06
Re-send the affected campaign to non-openers only after the fixes are live, using a new subject line
Sending the identical message to the same segment within 48 hours compounds complaint risk. Wait at least 72 hours and change the subject line so mailbox providers do not treat it as a duplicate.
- 07
Log the root cause and the fix in the client's account record with a dated note
Deliverability incidents repeat when the cause is not written down. Note which domain, which template, and which authentication record was involved so the next audit starts from evidence rather than guesswork.