A 15-minute audit to find where your email & SMS revenue is leaking: the same checklist I run on every account before I touch a single flow.
By Jeanne
How it works: in each of the five checks below, tick all that apply to your program. Each check scores itself out of 10, and your total grade appears at the bottom.
Check 01 · Revenue
Is email & SMS pulling its weight?
Forget universal benchmarks: different verticals, different acquisition mixes, different answers. What matters is direction.
How to check (5 min): In Klaviyo, pull attributed revenue as a share of total store revenue for each of the last two quarters. You're not comparing against someone else's number. You're comparing against your own trajectory.
Email's share of revenue is growing quarter over quarterA run program's share climbs. That's the signature.
If it's flat, your list isn't growing eitherFlat-while-the-list-grows is shrinking in disguise: more people, same revenue.
Nobody has written the channel off as "tapped out"Almost never true. A shrinking share is unrun, not tapped out. That's the most fixable problem in DTC.
You actually know this number without guessingIf you had to estimate it, that's a finding on its own.
0 / 10
Check 02 · Flows
Are your core automations current, or stale?
A flow built in 2022 runs every new subscriber through outdated logic, forever.
How to check: Open each core flow and read the last email as if you were a new customer. Note the last time each was actually edited. Anything untouched in 12+ months is a suspect.
All core flows exist: welcome, abandoned cart, browse abandon, post-purchase, win-back, replenishment, VIPA missing one is a gap; a stale one is a slow leak.
Your welcome flow segments entry (quiz vs. browse vs. buyer) and hands off to real onboardingIts real job: turn the intent you paid for into a first purchase, then hand the new buyer cleanly into onboarding, where the second purchase gets won.
No flow promotes a discontinued product or a discount you no longer want to lead with
Every core flow has been rebuilt or reviewed in the last 6–12 monthsFix order when they're stale: welcome → post-purchase/replenishment → win-back → the rest.
0 / 10
Check 03 · Deliverability
Is your sender reputation slipping before opens fall?
Deliverability doesn't break loudly. It erodes, and by the time opens crater, the damage is done.
How to check: Set up Google Postmaster Tools (free) if you haven't. Look at domain reputation and spam-complaint rate. Send yourself a test and check whether it lands in Primary, Promotions, or Spam.
Spam-complaint rate is under 0.1%Gmail starts penalizing you above 0.3%. You want a wide margin, not a near-miss.
Google Postmaster domain reputation is High, and you check itIf you don't have Postmaster set up, that's the first fix.
Your sends land in Primary, not Promotions or Spam
Opens have not been quietly drifting down for 3+ monthsA slow slide is the classic early warning most brands miss.
SPF, DKIM, and DMARC all pass, and a sunset flow suppresses long-term non-openers
0 / 10
Check 04 · Segments
Is the "everyone" list quietly hurting you?
Blasting the full list burns deliverability and trains your best people to ignore you.
How to check: Look at your last 10 campaigns. How many went to "everyone" or a near-full list? Then check what share of your list has opened anything in the last 90 days.
Most campaigns target a segment with a reason, not the whole list by default
You suppress 90-day non-openers from routine sendsSending to people who've stopped caring is what drags reputation down.
You have working engagement tiers (engaged / lapsed / dormant) and use them
Your top buyers (RFM / VIP) are a defined segment, not lost in the "everyone" blast
0 / 10
Check 05 · Cadence
A real calendar, or "whatever we remember to send"?
Setup is a one-time event. Running is a rhythm that ships every week.
How to check: Ask for the campaign calendar for the next four weeks. If it doesn't exist as a plan, that's the answer.
A planned campaign calendar exists at least 2–4 weeks out
You ship campaigns every week, consistently, not when someone remembers
Each send has a reason: a segment, an angle, an offer with logic behind itA reasonless sitewide "flash sale" just trains people to wait for the next discount.
Cohort LTV gets read monthly, and the next move is made from it
0 / 10
Your score
Where your program actually stands
0/ 50Tick what's true in the five checks above
40–50
Run program. Retention is a real channel doing its share. Keep the discipline; look for the next 10%.
30–39
Strong base, clear gaps. The foundation is there. Two or three fixes turn it into a compounding engine.
20–29
Marketing works, retention leaks. Acquisition is carrying you. The back door is open and LTV is walking out.
10–19
Revenue looks fine, LTV is bleeding. The topline hides how much is left on the table every month.
0–9
Unrun. Not broken. Parked. This is the biggest, cheapest, most fixable opportunity in the business.
Your top 3 moves
Your three lowest-scoring checks appear here automatically. That's your priority order. Fix those first (tap a line to edit it).
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Want a second set of eyes on what you found?
I run this exact teardown as the first step of every engagement. Then Retentionate runs the fixes, week after week, with every decision reviewed, without the headcount it usually takes. If your score surprised you, send it over. I'll tell you where the revenue is hiding and the fastest three moves to get it back.