The Startup Email Checklist
A linkable utility page for founders setting up email infrastructure. Work through it in order; skipping the authentication section is the most expensive mistake.
last updated 2026-08-13 41 items 7 sections
section 01
Domain and authentication (do this first)
- 01.01 Pick a sending subdomain (mail.yourdomain.com or similar) for marketing; keep apex for transactional reputation isolation.
- 01.02 Publish an SPF TXT record listing your provider as authorized.
- 01.03 Enable DKIM signing on your provider; add the public key TXT record.
- 01.04 Publish DMARC at p=none with an rua report address you check.
- 01.05 After two to four weeks of clean DMARC reports, tighten to p=quarantine then p=reject.
- 01.06 Confirm one-click List-Unsubscribe header is configured if you will exceed 5,000 daily sends to Gmail or Yahoo.
- 01.07 Verify the sending domain in your provider dashboard.
- 01.08 Send a test to a Gmail and Outlook address; inspect the headers to confirm SPF, DKIM, and DMARC pass.
section 02
List capture and consent
- 02.01 Use double opt-in if you sell into the EU or any market with stricter consent rules.
- 02.02 Disclose the sending frequency on the signup form.
- 02.03 Capture timestamp, IP, and source for every signup.
- 02.04 Honor unsubscribe within 24 hours; do not require the user to log in.
- 02.05 Suppress hard bounces and complaints automatically.
- 02.06 Maintain a separate suppression list in your CRM in case you switch providers.
section 03
Waitlist sequence
- 03.01 Confirmation email within 5 seconds of signup.
- 03.02 A clear product description and rough timeline in the confirmation.
- 03.03 An optional update cadence (monthly is plenty pre-launch).
- 03.04 A "you are still on the list" reminder if more than 60 days pass without an update.
section 04
Launch sequence
- 04.01 Teaser email 3 to 7 days before launch.
- 04.02 Day-before invite with the access link.
- 04.03 Launch-day founder note.
- 04.04 Product Hunt or HN nudge to your activated segment only.
- 04.05 Follow-up to non-openers 24 hours later.
- 04.06 Post-launch activation nudge to signed-up-but-not-activated users.
section 05
Onboarding sequence
- 05.01 Welcome email immediately after signup with one next action.
- 05.02 Setup-progress nudge if user stalls before key milestone.
- 05.03 Aha-moment confirmation email when user hits the milestone.
- 05.04 Founder reply line on at least the first onboarding email; read every reply.
- 05.05 A 14-day check-in if usage drops to zero.
section 06
Transactional emails
- 06.01 Receipts include itemized charges and a billing-portal link.
- 06.02 Password reset links expire within 60 minutes.
- 06.03 Magic link emails respect rate limits and reuse-protection.
- 06.04 Failed-payment emails state the date access ends if not resolved.
- 06.05 Trial-expiration emails sent at T-3 days and T-1 day, with a clear convert-or-cancel choice.
- 06.06 Email verification links work on mobile in-app browsers.
section 07
Metrics
- 07.01 Track delivery rate per stream (transactional, lifecycle, broadcast).
- 07.02 Track activation rate per cohort, attributed to email-receiving versus not.
- 07.03 Track unsubscribe and complaint rates; act if complaint rate exceeds 0.1%.
- 07.04 Track revenue assist (last-touch is fine for early signal).
- 07.05 Set up DMARC report parsing (Postmark DMARC is free) so you see auth failures.
- 07.06 Audit the metrics monthly. Cut sends that do not move them.
related startup email pages
reading this as developers picking email infrastructure
The question here is which one a backend engineer would rather operate. That means SDK depth in the language already in use, whether a retry can safely be replayed, how much the event log tells you when a customer says the email never arrived, and whether the pricing curve stays sane as volume grows.
Applied to this checklist, that means weighing developer experience, SDK breadth, idempotency keys, and operating track record ahead of the rest, against password resets, receipts, and magic links shipped from application code.