An email deliverability audit is three rates worked from a period's counts: bounces over sent, complaints over sent and unsubscribes over sent, because those are the figures Google's sender guidelines and the other mailbox providers judge a sender on. An email deliverability platform or email deliverability software monitors the same three from the provider's side and adds the authentication checks, the blocklist lookups and the inbox placement tests a small business rarely runs. This page is the audit as arithmetic, and the free list health sheet on this site works the three rates and the engaged list from the business's own counts with no account.
The three rates
300 bounces, 6 complaints and 40 unsubscribes over 20,000 sent are 1.5%, 0.03% and 0.2% on the worked example. The mailbox providers publish the thresholds and change them; this site publishes none, and the list health sheet works the rates so the business reads them against the current guideline itself.
What the platform adds
SPF, DKIM and DMARC checked, blocklists watched, seed inboxes tested and the sending domain's reputation read from the providers' tools. A small business can do the first with its DNS host and the last with Google's own postmaster tools; deliverability software does it every day and alerts.
The list behind the rates
1,500 inactive of 5,000 contacts is a 30% inactive share and 3,500 engaged on the worked example; sends to the inactive raise the complaint rate and lower the opens. The audit ends at the engaged list, and the paid plan on this site keeps the last open and click per contact so the engaged list is a lookup.
Questions people ask about email deliverability audit
What is an email deliverability audit?
Bounce, complaint and unsubscribe rates over sent, plus the authentication and reputation checks; the free list health sheet works the rates from the period's counts.
Do I need email deliverability software?
When the three rates need watching daily or the domain's reputation needs alerts; the sheet and the providers' own tools cover a small list between audits.
Which contacts should I stop sending to?
The inactive share: 30% of the list on the worked example; the paid plan keeps the last open and click per contact.