Email Deliverability Scorecard
The best email in the world earns nothing in the spam folder. Score your deliverability foundation across authentication, compliance, list hygiene, and measurement — and find the one fix that will move your inbox placement most.
The deliverability scorecard rates twelve foundations evenly across four dimensions — authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), compliance (one-click unsubscribe and clean consent), list hygiene (a sunset policy and mailing the engaged), and measurement (Postmaster Tools and a sub-0.1% spam rate). It returns a 0–100 score, a tier, and your weakest dimension, so you know exactly where the next gain in inbox placement is. Based on the Gmail and Yahoo sender rules. Runs in your browser.
Email Deliverability Scorecard inputs and result
How to use this tool
- Tick what is genuinely true today.Twelve foundations across authentication, compliance, list hygiene, and measurement. Leave anything you are unsure of unticked.
- Read your score and tier.0–100 with a band from At risk to Inbox-ready, plus the dimension where you are weakest.
- Fix the weakest area first.The analysis names your lowest-scoring dimension — that is where the next deliverability gain is.
- Re-score after changes.Deliverability moves within weeks of fixing authentication or list hygiene. Re-run to confirm.
- Export it.Copy a share link, download the CSV, or print a one-page PDF for the team.
RGM Expert Says
Deliverability problems almost always trace back to one of four foundations, and this scorecard checks all four: are you authenticated, are you compliant with the mailbox-provider rules, is your list clean, and are you measuring the right things. The trap is that brands obsess over subject lines and creative — the visible stuff — while the actual cause of poor inbox placement is an unmonitored DMARC record or a list full of dead weight.
The highest-leverage fix is usually the one people avoid: list hygiene. Mailbox providers judge you on engagement, so a list full of never-opens drags placement down for the customers who do want your email. Suppressing the chronically unengaged feels like deleting money, but it is the fastest way to move inbox placement — often within two to four weeks. If your weakest dimension here is list hygiene, start there.
One modern trap the scorecard guards against: judging deliverability by open rate. Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens, so a “healthy” open rate can hide a deliverability problem. Anchor your monitoring on Postmaster Tools spam rate, clicks, and revenue instead — the signals Apple can’t distort.
How it works
The scorecard scores twelve foundations evenly across four dimensions:
- Authentication — SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, the proof you are who you say you are.
- Compliance — one-click unsubscribe, a visible opt-out, and clean consent, per the Gmail and Yahoo rules.
- List hygiene — sunset policy, fast never-active removal, and mailing the engaged.
- Measurement — Postmaster Tools, a sub-0.1% spam rate, and click/revenue-based reporting.
Based on Google’s sender guidelines and current deliverability practice. The weakest-dimension call points you to the next gain. Runs in your browser.
Why deliverability is the foundation under everything
A 30% improvement on an email that lands in spam is still zero. Inbox placement sits upstream of opens, clicks, and revenue, which is why deliverability is the first thing to fix and the easiest to neglect — it is invisible until it breaks, and by then your reputation is already damaged.
The Gmail and Yahoo bulk-sender rules made the floor explicit: authenticate with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, offer one-click unsubscribe, and keep spam complaints under 0.3% (aim for 0.1%). Enforcement has only tightened. This scorecard turns those requirements, plus the list-hygiene and measurement practices that sustain them, into a single honest number.
Score yourself, fix your weakest dimension, and re-score. Unlike most marketing work, deliverability fixes show up fast — authentication and hygiene improvements often move placement within weeks.
The four foundations of deliverability
A gap in any one drags down the whole program.
| Dimension | Core elements | If neglected |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | SPF, DKIM, DMARC | Spoofed / rejected |
| Compliance | One-click unsub, consent | Complaints rise |
| List hygiene | Sunset, engagement | Placement sinks |
| Measurement | Postmaster, spam rate | Flying blind |
What operators say
Managing engagement levels has become a central pillar to deliverability, which is why no one can afford to have low open rates.
Make unsubscribe easier than the spam button — a complaint hurts your reputation far more than a quiet opt-out.