Why cold email lands in spam (and how to fix it)
Three DNS records decide whether your email reaches the inbox: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. SPF lists which servers are allowed to send for your domain. DKIM cryptographically signs your mail so receivers know it was not tampered with. DMARC tells inbox providers what to do with mail that fails those checks, and gives you reporting on anyone spoofing you.
If any of the three is missing or misconfigured, Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo are far more likely to route your messages to spam or reject them outright. For founders running their own cold outreach, this is the most common, and most fixable, reason replies dry up.
How to read your score
A score of 90+ means your sending domain is set up the way inbox providers expect. 60 to 89 means you have the basics but a gap, often DMARC stuck on p=none, which only monitors and does not protect. Under 60 means mail from your domain is likely landing in spam: fix the flagged records before you send another campaign.
This tool reads only public DNS, so it works on any domain, including a competitor's. It probes common DKIM selectors; if you use a custom selector we may not detect it, which does not necessarily mean DKIM is missing.