What should you check before the first send?
Separate technical readiness from email copy. Your domain should lead to a working website or a clear holding page with contact details, and the sender address should look like a person or department, not a string of characters. Then check SPF, DKIM and DMARC, mailbox condition, and whether each address belongs to a target company. See our guide to SPF, DKIM and DMARC setup.
| Area | What to check | Stop signal |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | A website opens and contact details are available | An empty domain or a redirect to an unrelated resource |
| DNS | SPF, DKIM and DMARC are published | A record is missing or fails validation |
| Mailbox | It has a history of normal correspondence | A new mailbox is immediately used for bulk sending |
| List | Each address is connected to a target company | An old export with no validation |
A checklist score is a readiness indicator based on the information you enter. It does not replace checking live DNS records or validating a sample of addresses.
How does the checklist produce its result?
The tool measures whether your sending system is ready for its first wave, not the likelihood of a sale. Every answer belongs to one of four areas. Critical items carry more weight: a strong subject line cannot compensate for missing DKIM, and a polished signature cannot compensate for an unverified list.
- Confirm that SPF, DKIM and DMARC are configured, and that the sender address matches its sending domain.
- Confirm that domains and mailboxes are prepared for the planned volume rather than placing the entire list on one mailbox.
- Confirm that the list has been checked for obvious errors, duplicates and addresses unrelated to a company.
- Review the email manually: links work, the signature offers a simple way to reply, and the text does not disguise a commercial offer as personal correspondence.
A result below the threshold means do not send yet. Fix the flagged areas and run the check again. If capacity is the issue, use our guide on how many domains and mailboxes outreach needs and assess each mailbox on its actual condition.
What does a low list or email score mean?
A low list score does not mean your ICP is wrong. It means the addresses should not enter a sending workflow without checking. A list gathered from directories some time ago may still contain active companies, while individual employees' addresses no longer exist; those bounces provide no useful answer and weaken the launch. For a separate address check, see email list verification.
A low email score usually points to a mismatch between sender and message. “We offer mutually beneficial cooperation for your company” gives the recipient neither a subject nor a reason for the email. A more useful check is whether the opening refers to an observable fact about the company and makes the next reply easy: “We saw that you are opening a warehouse in Tula. Who should receive a pallet-labelling estimate?”
- The subject line does not promise something absent from the email.
- The first line relates to a specific company or segment.
- The email has one next step, not a link, a presentation and several questions at once.
- The recipient can reply to the same address without looking for another contact.
When will this checklist not help?
It will not predict demand or repair an offer that gives the reader no reason to respond. It is also not a diagnostic for a domain that is already blocked or has an established reputation problem; that requires investigation of the cause, not a readiness score. If a live campaign has stopped reaching inboxes, consider a cold outreach and deliverability audit.
Do not launch a campaign solely because the result is high. A technically sound email can still be declined because the decision-maker has no current need, the offer does not match their task, or the contact is wrong. Deliverability creates the opportunity for a touchpoint; response qualification is a separate process.
What should you do after the check?
Record the result as a launch snapshot: the check date, domains, mailboxes, planned first-wave volume and notes. Do not change the domain, copy and segment at the same time, or you will not know what affected the result. Once technical readiness is confirmed, move to B2B email outreach for Russia and CIS or run your own small control wave and review bounces and replies every day.