Email deliverability problems don't fix themselves.
Your messages are going to spam at Gmail or Microsoft. Delivery rates are dropping and the data isn’t telling you why. A smaller mailbox provider has issued a block with an error message that doesn’t point to anything actionable. You may have already tried something that didn’t help. The problem is costing you, and the cause isn’t clear yet.
That’s what an email deliverability assessment is for.
This is the right engagement if you have an active delivery problem
You’re sending mail that was reaching inboxes and now isn’t. Bounce rates are climbing. Complaint rates are up. A major provider is filtering your messages and you don’t know whether the problem is in your authentication configuration, your sending reputation, your list practices, or something else entirely. You may have a technical team, or you may be handling this yourself. Either way, you need a clear picture of what’s wrong with your email deliverability before it becomes a crisis.
A focused email deliverability assessment, delivered in five business days
I review your authentication records, sending infrastructure, and available delivery data, then produce a written findings document that identifies what is causing the problem and ranks each issue by severity. Each finding comes with specific recommended actions — not a list of things to Google, but actual guidance on what to change and why it matters.
The assessment covers SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configuration; SMTP and sending infrastructure; ESP setup and domain alignment; bounce and complaint patterns; and any DNSBL listings or provider-specific filtering issues visible from the outside. If the problem has a technical cause, this assessment will find it.
Delivered five business days from the date I receive your prerequisite materials.
What the Email Deliverability Diagnostic includes
A written findings document with every identified issue ranked by severity. For each finding, you get a plain-language explanation of what is wrong and specific recommended actions to address it: the actual configuration change, the exact record that needs to be corrected, the specific pattern that triggered the problem.
A 30-minute review call to walk through the findings, answer questions, and make sure the recommendations are clear enough to act on.
A clear picture of what to do next. That might be a set of straightforward fixes your team can implement directly. It might point toward a more sustained recovery effort if the problem runs deeper. Either way, you’ll know what you’re dealing with and what the path forward looks like.
Scope and boundaries
This engagement covers assessment and recommendations only. Implementing the changes is your team’s responsibility. I identify the problem and tell you how to fix it. I don’t make the changes for you.
This is not a guarantee of specific delivery rates or inbox placement. Delivery outcomes depend on factors that extend beyond any single engagement.
This is not legal advice. If the assessment surfaces findings with legal implications, I’ll flag them and refer you to qualified legal counsel. Whizardries is a technical consulting practice, not a law firm.
What you need to bring
Before the engagement starts, I’ll need your current DNS records or a current export of them, ESP account documentation or configuration details, available bounce and complaint rate data, and a technical contact who can answer questions during the five-day window. You don’t need a dedicated deliverability team. You do need someone who can pull records and respond if I have a question.
If you’re not certain this is the right engagement for your situation, a free 30-minute assessment call is the right place to start.