Email deliverability audit checklist with evidence and owners

Define the decision

An audit should explain why sending is safe to continue or which stream needs intervention. A collection of green DNS checks misses recipient selection, broken opt-outs and a disconnected receiving mailbox.

Work through the procedure

1. List each sending service, From domain, mailbox and campaign owner.
2. Capture fresh authentication results from each distinct path.
3. Test send, reply, unsubscribe and suppression with controlled contacts.
4. Review recent rejection text, complaints and audience sources by provider.
5. Assign every failed check an owner, correction and retest condition.

Worked example

The following is a synthetic example for this procedure, not a customer result or performance benchmark.

Finding: reply arrives in webmail but not Zintara
Evidence: message remains in Archive, outside current INBOX sync
Owner: mailbox administrator
Correction: review routing rule
Retest: controlled reply remains in INBOX and appears in the application

Read the result

A finding is closed when the failure is no longer reproducible on the affected path. A screenshot of a connected account alone cannot close a reply-ingestion finding. Keep unresolved items visible instead of averaging them into a score.

Check before moving on

1. Record audit date and the exact configuration reviewed.
2. Reopen relevant checks after a provider migration or identity change.

Limits and next action

This is an operational audit, not a certification of compliance or future inbox placement. Prioritize failures that can cause repeated unwanted contact or uncertain duplicate sends.

Source: Google: sender requirements as an audit reference