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What to check every Monday before you send anything
Come away with a short routine, done the same day every time, that tells you whether your emails are getting through before a customer has to tell you that nothing arrived.
By Yodai · Published on September 6, 2026 · Updated on October 12, 2026
With SPF, DKIM, and DMARC set up, and knowing how to read the report when something fails, the question that's left is more boring and more important: what do you check every week to know if you're doing okay, before a customer tells you nothing ever arrived?
A domain's reputation doesn't break all at once. It wears down: some bounces you don't check, a spam complaint you don't see, an email provider that starts trusting you a little less each week. By the time you notice, because people stop replying to your quotes, you've been sending emails that weren't landing anywhere for weeks.
The routine doesn't need to be long. It needs to be the same one, on the same day, checking the same places.
Three places, not a full dashboard
The report you already know how to read gives you one of the three numbers. The other two don't come from there: they come from your email service's dashboard and your own inbox.
And if you send invoices or automatic notices through a separate email service, that dashboard has its own bounce and complaint numbers. Check them the same way, on the same Monday, not just when something goes wrong.
- 1The report summary
Open the aggregate report, the same one you already know how to read, and check just the aligned percentage. You don't need to open every row: if the aligned rate drops from one week to the next, that's your first clue. - 2Your sending bounce rate
In your email service's dashboard, check how many of this week's emails didn't land anywhere. Compare it to last week, not to some fixed number. - 3Spam complaints
The same dashboard tells you how many recipients marked your email as spam. It's almost always a small number, which is why it's easy to notice when it goes up. - 4A test email to yourself
Send yourself an email from your domain to a real Gmail account and a real Outlook account that you actually use. Check whether it lands in the main inbox, in promotions, or in spam. It's the only step that doesn't depend on any dashboard.
How much is too much
These example numbers are already reason enough to look into something. With bounces, there's no official number that works for everyone: every email service sets its own warnings and limits, so it's worth reading the ones for yours. What always holds true is watching the trend: if bounces climb from one week to the next, check your list: there are probably addresses that don't exist anymore; if they spike, stop sending until you fix it, because continuing hurts the reputation of your whole domain, not just that one send.
With spam complaints, there is a clear benchmark, and the margin is much tighter: Gmail's sender guidelines ask you to keep complaints below 1 in 1,000 (0.1%) and never reach 3 in 1,000 (0.3%). The more complaints your domain racks up, the easier it is for your emails to land in spam, even for people who've never complained about you. The 2 in 100 in the example are way above that.
The costly mistake
- A set Monday to check three places: the aggregate report, your email service's dashboard, and a test email to yourself.
- One rule for deciding when to stop: bounces that spike from one week to the next, or complaints that get close to 3 in 1,000, the cap Gmail sets.
- The same routine covers your regular inbox and the separate invoicing and notifications service, if you have one.
- With this, your domain is set: authenticated, with a report you know how to read, and a routine that warns you before anyone notices.