claybook

Domain Deliverability Check

Stop hurting your deliverability — flag risky domains before you hit send

What we used
  • Clay account to manage and automate domain analysis workflows
  • Domain list or emails with extractable domains
  • API keys (optional, for custom WHOIS or DNS tools)

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Before you begin

Cold email deliverability issues don’t usually come from bad messaging—they come from bad data. Risky domains with no inboxes, recent registrations, or spam traps can quietly wreck your sender reputation before your campaign even gets off the ground.

This Claybook helps you stop that at the source.

But first, here’s a quick refresher on some key technical terms you’ll see throughout this workflow:

  • MX Records (Mail Exchange): These DNS records determine if a domain is capable of receiving emails. No MX = no inbox.
  • TTL (Time to Live): A DNS metric that can indicate how secure or stable a domain’s setup is. Very low TTLs can be a red flag.
  • WHOIS Data: Public records about domain registration—like when a domain was created, who owns it, and when it expires.
  • Trap Domains: Domains set up specifically to catch and block spammers. Emailing them hurts your reputation.
  • Catch-All Domains: Domains that accept emails sent to any address (even invalid ones). They’re risky because they hide bounces.

For RevOps, Demand Gen, and Deliverability teams, the challenge is always the same: how do you catch these risks before the damage is done?

So we created this Claybook to automate domain risk detection before you press send.

It’s a modular workflow that transforms raw domain lists into clean, enriched, and fully risk-assessed records—so you can protect your sender score and filter with confidence.

Here’s how it works:

1. Domain Intake: Start with any list of emails or domains—Clay parses and normalizes them automatically.

2. Email Config Check: Confirm valid MX records and assess TTL to gauge email readiness and potential red flags.

3. WHOIS Metadata: Pull domain age, expiration timing, and change history to spot sketchy or disposable domains.

4. Risk Detection: Use tools like Hunter.io to flag trap domains, catch-alls, and other high-risk patterns.

5. Aggregated Scoring: Combine all risk signals into a simple “Domain Red Flags” column to make fast decisions.

With this Claybook, you can avoid three of the most common outbound killers:

Silent Deliverability Decay: Catch dangerous domains early—before they degrade your sender reputation.

  • Mystery Bounce Spikes: Know which domains are likely to fail before launch.
  • Wasted Effort: Stop chasing unreachable leads that never had valid inboxes to begin with.
  • Watch the full walkthrough below, or skip to the step-by-step setup.

Steps

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Step 1:

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Step 1: Base Table Setup

  • Make a Copy of this template
  • Create a new Clay table
  • Add / Upload your list of company domains as the primary column
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Step 2: Add Email Configuration Enrichment

  • Use the Google MX Records enrichment to check for:
    • Whether the domain has email inboxes configured (MX records)
    • TTL (Time to Live), which loosely reflects email security processing time

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Step 3: Add WHOIS or domain metadata enrichments

Add WHOIS or domain metadata enrichments to pull:

  • Days since domain registration
  • Days until domain expiration
  • Days since last update or change
  • Enrich domain security events (e.g., clientDeleteProhibited, clientTransferProhibited)
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Step 4: Add Email Risk Enrichment

Use Hunter.io (or similar) to check for:

  • Catch-all domains
  • Trap domains
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Step 5: Output or Sync

  • Filter your table to show only domains without red flags
  • Export or sync clean contacts into your CRM or outbound tool
  • For flagged domains, optionally create a second flow (e.g., waterfall validation for catch-alls)
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🚀 Get Started

Start identifying, analyzing, and cleaning risky email domains to improve your deliverability and protect your sender reputation.

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Need help?

Ask for help in Slack or schedule time with a Clay expert.

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Check out Clay University, read our GTM blog, or try out our top templates to transform your growth ideas into outreach in minutes.

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