Illustration for Email & lifecycle marketing skills
Email & lifecycle skill · v0.1.0

Email deliverability skill

Check that opted-in marketing email reaches the inbox: authentication, unsubscribe headers, bounces and suppression, sender reputation and list hygiene, with fixes in order.

Free · MIT licence · Copy needs a free sign-in

Category
Email & lifecycle
Works with
Claude, Codex, Cursor, any agent
Format
SKILL.md · 1,815 words
Version
v0.1.0
Price
Free · MIT

The Email deliverability skill file

cmo-email-deliverability/SKILL.md1,815 words · MIT
---
name: cmo-email-deliverability
description: Check that opted-in marketing email reaches the inbox: authentication, unsubscribe headers, bounces and suppression, sender reputation and list hygiene, with fixes in order.
---

Makes sure the email people asked for actually reaches their inbox. It checks the sending domain's authentication, the unsubscribe and bulk-sender basics, bounce and complaint handling, sender reputation, the next email's content risks and the health of the list, then orders the fixes so the user knows what to do before the next big send. It covers opted-in marketing email (newsletters, sequences, promotions); the copy itself belongs to cmo-newsletter and cmo-email-sequences.

When to use

  • Before a first send, a send to the whole list, or a move to a new platform, domain or IP.
  • Emails landing in spam, a sudden drop in clicks, bounces or complaints rising.
  • "Check our SPF/DKIM/DMARC", "are we compliant with the bulk sender rules", "clean our list".
  • Designing the unsubscribe page, preference centre and suppression rules.

Not for: cold outbound to people who never opted in, including its separate domains and mailbox warm-up (cmo-cold-email); writing issues (cmo-newsletter) or sequences (cmo-email-sequences); text messages (cmo-sms-whatsapp).

Sign in to see, copy and download the whole skillIt's free. Copying also upvotes and saves it, so you'll find it again under Saved.
Preview: the workflow, output, example, quality bar and guardrails unlock when you sign in.

Adapts open work by postalserver/postal (MIT), resend/react-email (MIT), knadh/listmonk (AGPL-3.0), phpList/phplist3 (AGPL-3.0-or-later), Notifuse/notifuse (BUSL-1.1), Mailtrain-org/mailtrain (GPL-3.0), SuiteCRM/SuiteCRM (AGPL-3.0), espocrm/espocrm (AGPL-3.0), twentyhq/twenty (AGPL-3.0), mautic/mautic (GPL-3.0), dittofeed/dittofeed (MIT).

Everyday usage

How people use Email deliverability day to day

Ask in plain words. The agent picks this skill, asks for anything it needs and hands back the result. Words in a highlight are yours to change.

Most common · also on the Email & lifecycle page

Land in the inbox, not spam

A check of authentication, unsubscribe headers and sending habits, with the fixes.

Ask your agentWhy are my emails going to spam? Check my setup.
  • A pre-send check: each item pass / partial / fail / unknown, with evidence and the fix
  • An authentication fix list (records to add or change) for whoever manages DNS
  • Suppression and bounce rules, and a list hygiene plan by engagement cohort
  • A preference and opt-down design so fewer people unsubscribe outright

More things to ask

  • Why are our emails going to spam?
  • Check our SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • We're about to send to the whole list, is it safe?
  • Our click rates dropped suddenly
  • Do we meet the Gmail and Yahoo bulk sender rules?
  • Clean up our email list
How it works

From input to output

  1. 1You give it
    • Sending domain(s) and the email platform used
    • SPF, DKIM and DMARC records (pasted by the user or read from public DNS)
    • The platform's deliverability report: bounce and complaint rates, recent sends, its domain verification status
    • Optional: mailbox-provider postmaster data, a seed inbox-placement test, the HTML of the next email
    • List size and engagement counts by last click date (counts only, no addresses)
  2. 2It works through the method
    • Asks what's missing, one question at a time
    • Follows the workflow step by step
    • Checks the result against its quality bar and guardrails
  3. 3You get
    • A pre-send check: each item pass / partial / fail / unknown, with evidence and the fix
    • An authentication fix list (records to add or change) for whoever manages DNS
    • Suppression and bounce rules, and a list hygiene plan by engagement cohort
    • A preference and opt-down design so fewer people unsubscribe outright
Why a skill

The skill against the alternatives

Do it yourselfHire helpEmail deliverability skill
CostYour own timeAgency or freelancer feesFree, MIT licence
Time to a first resultHours, every timeDays to weeks, plus revisionsMinutes, in your agent
ConsistencyDepends on remembering every stepAs long as the retainer lastsSame steps and checks every run
The methodIn your headTheir process, often hiddenWritten down: read it, change it
Who does the workYou, from scratchSomeone learning your businessYour agent, following the skill
FAQ

Questions about the Email deliverability skill

What it does, what it needs and how to use it with your agent.

Still not sure?Try it free on your own website and see the first posts before you decide.
Start free
What is the Email deliverability skill?

Check that opted-in marketing email reaches the inbox: authentication, unsubscribe headers, bounces and suppression, sender reputation and list hygiene, with fixes in order.

It's one of cmo.so's open Email & lifecycle skills: a SKILL.md file that tells an AI agent when to use it, what to ask you first, the steps to follow, the checks to pass and what to hand back, so the job is done the same careful way every time.

When should I use it?

Reach for it when you'd otherwise say something like “Why are our emails going to spam?”, “Check our SPF, DKIM and DMARC”, “We're about to send to the whole list, is it safe?”. Your agent reads the skill's description and picks it for requests like these, so you don't need to name it.

If a request is close but not quite right, the skill says so and points to the related skill that fits better, instead of forcing a poor answer.

What do I need to give it?

It works best with sending domain(s) and the email platform used; sPF, DKIM and DMARC records (pasted by the user or read from public DNS); the platform's deliverability report: bounce and complaint rates, recent sends, its domain verification status; optional: mailbox-provider postmaster data, a seed inbox-placement test, the HTML of the next email; and list size and engagement counts by last click date (counts only, no addresses).

You don't have to prepare everything up front. The skill asks for missing pieces one at a time and says plainly when it's working from an assumption instead of your data.

What do I get back?

You get a pre-send check: each item pass / partial / fail / unknown, with evidence and the fix; an authentication fix list (records to add or change) for whoever manages DNS; suppression and bounce rules, and a list hygiene plan by engagement cohort; and a preference and opt-down design so fewer people unsubscribe outright.

Every result comes from a written method with a quality bar, so numbers name their source, claims are checked and the output is ready to use or share rather than a rough draft.

Is it free?

Yes. The skill is open source under the MIT licence, so you can use it, change it and share it, including for client work.

Seeing, copying and downloading the whole file on cmo.so needs a free sign-in. Copying also upvotes and saves it, so you can find it again under Saved on the skills page.

Which AI agents can use it?

Claude Code installs it from the cmo.so marketplace. Any agent that reads SKILL.md folders, such as Codex or Cursor, can use it once the folder is in its skills directory.

You can also paste the copied skill into ChatGPT, Claude or any assistant at the start of a conversation and ask it to follow the skill.

How do I install it?

In Claude Code, run /plugin marketplace add AI-Marketing-OS-LTD/cmo-so-skills, then /plugin install cmo-so-email@cmo-so. That installs this skill together with the rest of the Email & lifecycle group.

For other agents, sign in, press Copy or Download above and put the file in your agent's skills folder as SKILL.md inside a folder named after the skill.

Do I need a cmo.so account to use it?

No. The skill works on its own with whatever your agent can already see and do: your files, the pages you share and the data you paste in.

A free cmo.so account only matters if you also want Maggie to plan, write and publish your marketing every day.

Which skills work well with it?

It pairs well with Email newsletter; Email sequences; and Cold email & outbound. The agent can hand over from one to the next in the same conversation, for example research first, then the plan, then the writing.

Each of them has its own page with what it needs and what it returns, linked below.

Can I change it to fit my business?

Yes. It's a plain Markdown file, so you can edit the steps, add your own checks and examples, and keep your version in your own repo. The MIT licence allows it.

If your change would help others too, suggest it on the skills page or open a pull request on GitHub, and it may be folded into the library for everyone.

Where does the method come from?

It's written by cmo.so and adapts open work by others, credited on this page: postalserver/postal (MIT); resend/react-email (MIT); and knadh/listmonk (AGPL-3.0).

Only permissively licensed work is adapted; copyleft repos are used for ideas only and repos without a licence aren't used at all.

Is my data sent to cmo.so when the agent uses it?

No. The skill only guides your own agent; your files, documents and data stay wherever your agent and its tools keep them.

cmo.so only sees what you connect to cmo.so. Your votes and saves on this page are stored against your cmo.so sign-in.

Ready when you are!

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  • Cancel any time

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