The Ultimate Lifecycle Marketing Audit Checklist

Is your lifecycle marketing program leaking money? Most are—and the culprit isn't poor content or bad timing. It's the hidden technical gaps undermining your automation.

This 5-minute audit will help you identify critical issues across your marketing stack that could be costing you conversions, deliverability, and revenue.

1. Platform & System Setup

Your foundation determines everything else. Check these mission-critical elements first.

☐ Integration Integrity: Verify your marketing platform connects properly with all systems (CRM, website, e-commerce) so customer data flows correctly.

☐ Domain Authentication and Reputation: Confirm email sending domains have proper SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to prevent deliverability issues.

☐ Access Control: Audit user permissions to ensure only appropriate team members can modify critical automations or settings.

☐ Naming Conventions: Check that campaigns, lists, and segments follow consistent naming patterns for easier management and auditing.

☐ Compliance Fundamentals: Verify that unsubscribe mechanisms work, privacy settings align with regulations (GDPR/CCPA), and consent is properly tracked.

2. Data Layer & Event Tracking

Without reliable data, your automations are flying blind. Ensure these tracking elements are working.

☐ Event Schema Coverage: Confirm all critical user actions (signup, purchase, cart abandon) are tracked with a consistent schema in your platform.

☐ Trigger Testing: Simulate key customer actions to verify events fire correctly and trigger intended workflows.

☐ Data Quality: Check that events include proper attributes (a "Purchase" event should have order value, product details, etc.) without duplicate or missing fields.

☐ Profile Completeness: Audit customer profiles to ensure key attributes like name, location, and preferences are populated for personalization.

☐ Suppression Handling: Verify that unsubscribe events and bounces automatically remove contacts from future sends.

3. Segmentation & Targeting

Your segments determine who receives what message. Ensure they accurately reflect your lifecycle stages.

☐ Lifecycle Definitions: Verify segment criteria properly identify users at each stage (new users, active customers, at-risk, churned).

☐ Dynamic Updates: Confirm segments refresh automatically when user data changes (e.g., a prospect becomes a customer after purchase).

☐ Segment Exclusivity: Check for unintended overlap between segments that could cause conflicting messages.

☐ Suppression Logic: Ensure global suppression lists exclude unsubscribed users, bounced emails, and chronically inactive contacts.

☐ Preference Respect: Verify that channel preferences (email vs. SMS) and frequency caps are honored in your targeting.

4. Journey/Flow Structure & Logic

The automation engine of your program must run smoothly. Check these workflow elements.

☐ Entry Triggers: Review each journey's starting conditions to ensure they activate at the right moment (e.g., welcome flow triggers immediately after signup).

☐ Timing & Cadence: Inspect delays between journey steps to confirm messages aren't too frequent or too sparse.

☐ Branch Logic: Walk through decision rules that determine which path users take through your flows.

☐ Exit Conditions: Confirm each workflow has clear criteria for when users should exit (e.g., after making a purchase or completing all steps).

☐ Conflict Prevention: Check how multiple journeys interact to prevent message overload for users in several flows simultaneously.

5. Performance Measurement & Analytics

What gets measured gets improved. Ensure your metrics tell the true story.

☐ KPI Definition: Verify that each lifecycle stage has clear success metrics (conversion rates, retention rates, revenue).

☐ Tracking Parameters: Confirm all outbound links carry proper UTM parameters so conversions can be attributed to specific campaigns.

☐ Conversion Tracking: Test end-to-end analytics by performing sample conversions and confirming they're properly recorded.

☐ Reporting Access: Ensure dashboards provide both high-level KPIs for executives and detailed metrics for marketers.

☐ Deliverability Monitoring: Check bounce rates, spam complaints, and sender reputation to maintain high inbox placement.

Your 3 Immediate Wins

After completing this audit:

1. Fix your most critical trigger - The one automation that impacts revenue most directly.

2. Clean up your tracking - Ensure events fire correctly for your main conversion points.

3. Optimize one underperforming segment - Refine criteria for better targeting.

This checklist is a living document. Access the latest version anytime here. Bookmark the URL if you like.