Email Deliverability Checklist

Use this checklist before sending a Patch email campaign. It is designed to help you catch common list, consent, content, and segmentation issues before they affect deliverability.

In this article

• Step 1: Confirm the audience expects your email
• Step 2: Check the age of the list
• Step 3: Exclude risky contacts
• Step 4: Match the message to the segment
• Step 5: Review the subject line and content
• Step 6: Send to engaged contacts first
• Step 7: Review performance after the send

Step 1: Confirm the audience expects your email

Before you send, confirm that the people in your audience have a clear reason to hear from you.

1. Open the segment or audience you plan to use.
2. Review how those contacts entered Patch.
3. Confirm they are customers, members, leads, form submitters, or people who gave permission.
4. Remove contacts with unclear source or consent.

Do not send marketing email to purchased, rented, scraped, or unknown lists.

Step 2: Check the age of the list

Older lists usually perform worse. If the contacts have not heard from you in a long time, start smaller.

• 0–90 days old: Usually safer if consent is clear.
• 3–12 months old: Use an engaged segment first.
• 12+ months old: Validate, clean, and re-engage before sending broadly.

If you are not sure when the list was collected, treat it like an older list.

Step 3: Exclude risky contacts

Before sending, exclude contacts who are likely to hurt deliverability.

• Unsubscribed contacts
• Previously bounced contacts
• Invalid or risky emails
• Contacts with no recent activity
• Contacts who have not opened or clicked recent emails
• Contacts with placeholder emails like test@test.com or noemail@example.com

Use segments to keep these contacts out of broad marketing sends.

Step 4: Match the message to the segment

A good email should feel like it was sent for a reason. Before sending, check that the message fits the audience.

1. Read the subject line.
2. Read the first sentence of the email.
3. Ask: “Would this make sense to this exact group?”
4. If not, narrow the audience or change the message.

For example, a birthday party offer should go to parents, party leads, or past party buyers instead of every contact in the account.

Step 5: Review the subject line and content

Spam filters and recipients both react poorly to misleading or noisy emails.

Before sending, remove:

• ALL CAPS subject lines
• Excessive punctuation such as “!!!”
• Misleading urgency
• Claims that are not true
• Too many images with little text
• Too many links
• Generic AI-written copy that does not sound like your business

Keep the email clear, specific, and easy to act on.

Step 6: Send to engaged contacts first

If you are sending a large campaign, start with the best audience first.

1. Create a segment of recent purchasers, visitors, check-ins, members, or form submissions.
2. Send to that segment first.
3. Review bounces, unsubscribes, clicks, and replies.
4. Expand to a larger segment only if the first send looks healthy.

This is safer than sending to every contact at once.

Step 7: Review performance after the send

After the email sends, review performance before sending the next one.

• If clicks are strong and unsubscribes are low, the audience was likely a good fit.
• If bounces are high, clean or validate the list.
• If unsubscribes are high, check consent, frequency, and relevance.
• If opens/clicks are low, send to a more engaged segment next time.

Use the results to decide the next send, not just the calendar.

Customer Support

If you need help or are not sure which step to take next, contact Patch Customer Support at success@patchretention.com or 888.605.4429.