What audit results measure
Your audit scans your campaign for common issues that could hurt performance or deliverability. It checks things like:
- Email list quality and engagement
- Campaign design and content problems
- Compliance and authentication settings
- Sending practices and reputation risks
Each issue gets flagged with a status: Pass, Warning, or Fail. These tell you how urgent the problem is.
Understanding the statuses
Pass
Your campaign meets best practices for this check. No action needed. Keep doing what you're doing.
Warning
Something could be better, but it won't stop your campaign from sending. These are opportunities to improve performance or reduce risk. Review them before sending — they often point to quick wins.
Examples:
- List has low engagement over the past 6 months
- Subject line is unusually short
- Missing authentication records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
Fail
This is a blocker. Either Campaignly won't let you send, or sending will likely damage your reputation and results.
Examples:
- Unverified sender email address
- List contains invalid or known bad addresses
- Campaign violates CAN-SPAM requirements (missing unsubscribe link)
- Obvious spam triggers in subject or body copy
You must fix Fails before sending.
How to review and act on results
- Open your campaign and scroll to the Audit section.
- Sort by status (Fails first, then Warnings, then Passes) to prioritize fixes.
- Click each result to see the specific issue and recommended fix.
- Make changes in your campaign — update content, verify your email, clean your list, etc.
- Re-run the audit by clicking the refresh button. Campaignly rescans automatically after major edits.
- Send only when Fails are cleared. Warnings are optional to fix, but addressing them improves deliverability.
Common gotchas
Audit results change when you edit. If you remove subscribers or update your subject line, some warnings may clear automatically on the next scan.
Authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC) issues are Warnings, not Fails. However, they significantly impact inbox placement. Set these up in your domain settings before sending important campaigns. See Setting Up SPF and DKIM for steps.
List warnings don't block sending. A "low engagement" flag means some addresses haven't opened your emails in months. You can still send to them, but consider removing cold contacts first to protect your sender reputation.
Warnings disappear if you ignore them. They don't. Fix them or accept the risk. If you send anyway, track bounce and complaint rates closely.
What to do if you're stuck
The audit description explains what failed and why. If you need specific help:
- Content issues — check the Fail/Warning message for the exact phrase flagged
- List problems — export your list and run it through a validation tool outside Campaignly
- Authentication issues — contact your email service provider or domain registrar for SPF/DKIM records
- Still unclear? Reach out to support with a screenshot of the audit result