CRM audit · Checklist

The CRM audit checklist

The questions a CRM audit asks, written down so you can start on your own. Take a month of messages, put them side by side, and work through the list.

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How to use this CRM audit checklist

Go section by section. For anything you can't answer, write it down: that's usually where the problem is. Every message also gets the same three questions: why this, why now and why here?

Journeys

  • List every live journey, automation or flow, and who owns it.
  • For each one: what starts it, who enters, and what happens if people don't do the thing you wanted.
  • Check the welcome, abandoned basket, post-purchase, replenishment and win-back journeys exist where they should.
  • Look for journeys still running for launches or offers that have ended.
  • Check what happens when someone qualifies for two journeys at once.

Segments

  • Write down how “engaged” is defined. If it's opens, remember Apple's Mail Privacy Protection inflates them.
  • Check segments use what customers do (purchases, visits, app use), not just whether they opened something.
  • Find the customers who've gone quiet without unsubscribing: quiet leavers.
  • Check every segment you send to still holds the people you think it does.

Channels and frequency

  • Map every channel: email, SMS, push, in-app, WhatsApp. Give each one a job.
  • Pick one customer and list everything they received last week, across every channel.
  • Look for the same message going out on several channels at once.
  • Before adding a send, work out what it really earns and costs. One More Send does the sums.

Deliverability

  • Check SPF, DKIM and DMARC are set up for every sending domain.
  • Check your spam complaint rate against Gmail and Yahoo's sender rules.
  • Check one-click unsubscribe works in every marketing email.
  • Check what happens to contacts who've been inactive for a long time.
  • Check you can show how and when each person opted in, channel by channel.
  • Check your preference centre gives people a choice short of leaving.
  • Check unsubscribes and preferences reach every platform that sends.
  • Check it all against UK GDPR and PECR.

Data

  • List the fields your segments and personalisation depend on, and where each one comes from.
  • Check what a customer sees when a field is empty. Nobody should get “Hi {{FIRST_NAME}}”.
  • Check purchase and behaviour data arrives in time for the messages that use it.
  • Write down the data you don't have that would change what you send.

Measurement

  • Write down what your reporting counts as revenue from CRM, and what it counts twice.
  • Check there's a control group somewhere, so you can see what the programme adds. The Holdout Calculator works out how big it needs to be.
  • Pick the few numbers that tell you whether it's working.

What's working

  • Write down what's working, so nobody switches it off by accident.

What to do with what you find

Put the findings in order: biggest impact first, quick wins marked. If the list gets long, or you'd like a second pair of eyes, that's what a CRM audit is for.

Checks for your platform:

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