Bulk email server setup checklist

It’s official: email best practices are no longer best — they’re required. Here’s why... Microsoft recently announced new bulk sender requirements that mirror the ones Google and Yahoo rolled out last year. And they aren’t just doing this for fun, promise. They’re doing it because too many senders ignored best practices when they were optional. So, now they’re mandatory. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Starting May 5th, if you’re sending more than 5,000 emails a day and not following the rules, Microsoft’s going to start rejecting your mail. Not junking it. Rejecting it. And I wanna be clear here: this isn’t coming out of nowhere. The writing’s been on the wall for a while... and mail has been silently filtered away from the inbox all this time. Now it's just that the rules aren't written in invisible ink! So, what are these rules I speak of? 💌 Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) Yes, we’re still talkin’ about this… get used to it. Microsoft wants the same setup Google and Yahoo asked for. If your domains aren’t properly authenticated and aligned, your deliverability will suffer. 💌 Valid “From” and “Reply-To” Addresses Microsoft wants to make sure that when someone replies to your message, there’s someone on the other end. No more sending from a “noreply@brand.com” black hole. 💌 One-Click Unsubscribe (RFC 8058) They’re cracking down on bad unsubscribe flows. Make it easy. No weird hoops or loops or “oops, we need 10 days to process your request.” Just a simple unsubscribe option that actually works. If you’re already sending it right (ahem, compliant with Google and Yahoo’s requirements), this is mostly a “cool, cool, carry on” moment. But you’ll need a whole lotta margaritas and tacos to overcome your sorrow if you’ve been dragging your feet. May 5th (ahem, cinco de mayo!) is not the day to find out Microsoft doesn’t play. What happens if you’re not ready? If you need help figuring out where you stand, here are a few fast checks: ✅ SPF, DKIM, and DMARC passing in headers? ✅ “Reply-To” address monitored and functioning? ✅ One-click unsubscribe live and working? ✅ Lists clean and bounce/spam complaint rates under control? If not, now’s the time to fix it. Not next week. Not next quarter. Now. TLDR: if you’re not sending responsibly, you’re not sending at all. Because come Monday — yes, THIS Monday — non-compliant mail will be rejected at the door. No inbox. No spam folder. Just blocked. So, get it together, you (not so) filthy animals! LinkedIn says I’m outta characters, but if you need tool recommendations or a second set of eyes on your setup, I'm happy to help. Reach out, email scout. 💌

Email marketers, it's time to mark your calendars. On February 1st, 2024, Google and Yahoo will require bulk senders to authenticate their emails, make unsubscribing easy, and stay under a spam rate limit. Let's walk through the new standards: ✅ Email Authentication: Senders need DMARC, SPF, and DKIM verification. 🚫 Easy Unsubscription: One-click unsubscribe with a two-day honor period. 🙅 Low User-Reported Spam: Under 0.3% spam rate threshold. These new requirements are a good thing! Less spam in inboxes means your legitimate emails are more likely to be seen. Authenticated emails are also essential for security reasons, making phishing attempts easier to squash. Emails also look more reputable and on-brand from your organization's domain than your technology provider's. (The same guidance applies to URLs.) For nonprofits, these rules take effect after the EOY fundraising season. That said, February 1st will be here before you know it. Here are some steps to take: EMAIL AUTHENTICATION There are two ways to verify if you have DMARC, SPF, and DKIM records in place. 1. Find an email from your organization sent to your personal Gmail address. Click the three dots and select "Show Original." Each record should be marked as "PASS." 2. Use a web tool such as EasyDMARC's domain scanner. Enter each domain you use to send bulk emails, and it will show you whether DMARC, SPF, and DKIM records are in place. If you don't have all three in place, check with your tech provider for a how-to guide. EASY UNSUBSCRIPTION To meet the new "one-click" unsubscribe requirements, emails must include a List-Unsubscribe header. Email services use this to add unsubscribe links directly to their interfaces, so readers don't need to dig through the fine print to find the link. Look for an underlined "Unsubscribe" link in Gmail next to the email sender. In Yahoo's interface, click the three dots next to the spam button and look for an "Unsubscribe" option. Most modern email platforms have this covered, but contact yours if it is not in place. Honoring unsubscribes within two days means ensuring you have your email tool(s) set up correctly to exempt opt-outs. This should be instant, but watch out if you send from multiple platforms. When someone asks to unsubscribe from one tool, make sure their choice is respected in all the others. This is all the more reason to integrate your tech stack and have a centralized system for collecting consent, sending emails, and managing opt-outs. LOW USER-REPORTED SPAM With the right tools, the 0.3% threshold is easy to manage. First off, enable Google's Postmaster Tools to see where you stand. Secondly, make sure you only send to engaged contacts. This will reduce your spam rate and increase your engagement rates. Email deliverability doesn't need to be a mysterious process! Familiarize yourself with the terminology, get your house in order, and commit to better email practices.

Every sales team doing outbound needs to know this about email deliverability in 2024: No EXCEPTIONS. Email deliverability is a “death by a thousands paper cuts” type of situation. Stop stacking paper cuts. ✅ Set up secondary domains. If you are still cold emailing off your primary email domain you may be in big trouble. The last thing you want (especially if you aren’t a reputable company) is to burn your primary domain. This doesn’t just affect your sales team. It affects everybody at your company. ✅ Set up your DNS (DMARC, SPF & DKIM) records for ALL of your secondary domains. ✅ Secondary domains should link to your primary. You want to make sure your prospects are being directed to your actual company domain if they are curious and click. ✅ Instantly.ai recommends limiting yourself to 3 email addresses per domain. ✅. Email Warmup - Domains should be “warmed up” for 14 days before cold emailing. Send at least 20-40 warm up emails per day per email account, with a 40% reply rate. This builds your domain reputation. NEVER switch off email warm-up. ✅ Email Volume - do NOT send more than 30 emails per day per email account. ✅ Keep your email signature plain text. No Links. AT ALL. Add your address in your signature and make sure you put a picture in your Outlook or Gmail profile. ✅ Vary your cold email copy. Sending the same template to every prospect signals that you are a spammer. Take the time to personalize emails. For emails further in your sequence, use Spintax. Use alternate phrases “Hi, Hey, Hello”. ✅ Understand that your domain gets TORCHED when people mark your email as spam. Good and relevant copy matter. Also, don’t run 7+ email step sequences. It’s okay to have sequences that are 15 steps. But make them multi-channel (Calls, LinkedIn, Email). ✅ Constantly monitor your email deliverability. Highly recommend using Instantly.ai to make this all easier. Maintaining good deliverability over time is key in the success of outbound. Curious - what else should I have mentioned here?

We send >2,000,000 cold emails/mo for >200 active clients. Each campaign goes through the exact same 21-question QA checklist (steal this): INFRASTRUCTURE 1. Do you have Microsoft and Google Email Infrastructure?  2. Have you run through the two-week warm-up process?  3. Did your inbox placement test with the same inboxes with the same copy come back clean? 4. Are the domains redirecting properly? LEAD LIST 5. Is everyone with email security at the bottom of the list? 6. Are leads scored and are best fits at the top of the list? 7. Is everyone on the list in the ICP, and is the offer relevant to them? 8. Are verified catch-alls separated into their own campaign? 9. Did you format the company name and titles properly? 10. Did you run the lead list through a 3rd party validation tool like MillionVerifier? 11. Is there some sort of unique personalization / research done on each indivual lead that we can leverage in the copy? COPY 12. Does the subject line look like it's internal? 13. Is there spintax? 14. Is the copy under 100 words? 15. Is it free of links and attachments? 16. Is it free of all spam words? 17. Is there a two-step sequence with some form of value being communicated? 18. Is there at least one layer of personalization? 19. Would you say this in person to someone? 20. Can you send this email to any other industry and still have it make sense? If yes, don't send. 21. Is the signature void of all links, images, and phone numbers? CAMPAIGN SETTINGS 22. Are all emails being sent in the recipient's time zone? 23. Is volume per inbox as low as you can get it? 24. Is open tracking turned off? 25. Is ESP matching turned off? 26. Is plain text sending on? 27. Are you set up to rotate campaign start times daily? I know that was a lot, but it's valuable, and you should definitely save it for your next campaign.

The biggest mistake 90% of people still make with outbound: (We send 500,000+ emails/month at ColdIQ) Most people spend hours writing subject lines and hooks. But here’s what we learned after sending half a million emails every month: Deliverability beats copy. Your message means nothing if it lands in spam. If you want to win at cold email in 2025, you need a real system. Here’s our exact 8-step setup: 1️⃣ Never send from your main domain Secondary domains protect your brand and main site. 2️⃣ Build strong infrastructure Multiple domains and mailboxes. Keep volume low. Spread the risk. 3️⃣ List and relevance still matter Even perfect deliverability won’t save a bad message or weak list. One spam report can ruin your work. 4️⃣ Cap sending No more than 100 emails per day per domain. 5️⃣ Set up SPF, DKIM, DMARC No authentication? You will be flagged as suspicious by default. 6️⃣ Patience beats speed Warm up your inbox. Take your time. Use warm-up tools to build trust with email providers. 7️⃣ Tracking limits Disable tracking links or use a custom tracking name. Too much tracking = higher spam risk. 8️⃣ List + messaging matter If your list is off and your message is weak, you’ll still land in spam. Getting in the inbox takes work and a real plan. Clean infra. Smart delivery. Relevant messaging. What’s your tip to get more emails landing in the primary?

Updated bulk email requirements by Google and Yahoo. I would imagine Microsoft won’t be far behind. Yahoogle will begin enforcing these requirements beginning in Feb. So only 26 days left to get this done or risk your emails being blocked/denied by Yahoo, AOL, and Google. I’ve color coded the screenshot to make it super easy to know what *you* are responsible for. ‣ RED: Set up your SPF and DKIM Records ‣ ORANGE: Install Google Postmaster Tools and monitor your spam rate. It should be kept under 0.1%. Spam complaints are calculated on a daily basis. If your complaint rate gets close to or over 0.3% - you’re at risk of burning your sending domain/email. ‣ BLUE: Use your own domain - you’ll no longer be able to send from email addresses like tyler@gmail(.)com from your ESP. This is because Google themselves are implementing their own DMARC policy and if you’re sending from a gmail(.)com email address, that will fail Google’s DMARC and none of your emails will be delivered. ‣ PINK: Set up a DMARC policy. Here’s a copy/paste example DMARC Record for you ----- Record Type: TXT Name: _dmarc Value: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:email+dmarc@yourdomain(.)com; sp=none; adkim=r; aspf=r ----- ***update that RUA tag to *your* email. I recommend putting the “+dmarc” to make these reports easy to filter since dmarc reports are generated daily. So my email tyler@hypermediamarketing(.)net would look like this tyler+dmarc@hypermediamarketing(.)net. Then in gmail I would create a filter for any emails to the email address “tyler+dmarc@hypermediamarketing(.)net” to go into a dmarc folder. Or there are DMARC monitoring services you can have those reports sent too. Which I would also recommend so you're actively monitoring your DMARC reports. ----- Last, this is something that needs to be done for every software you're using for emailing. If you're using Google Workspace for 1:1 emails - ensure all authentication measures have been set up. If you're using ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, Keap, MailChimp, etc - SPF and DKIM records need to be set up for those *as well as* Google Workspace. If you're using a help desk - SPF and DKIM records need to be set up. Hit me up with questions if you have them! #emailmarketing #emailmarketingtips

Here’s how we get our B2B clients’s cold emails out of spam & into the inbox: 1. We run their domains through a deliverability tool like MXToolbox 2. We make sure their domain’s DMARC, SPF, and DKIM are properly set up. 3. We clean & validating their lead lists 4. We analyze their cold email scripts (clear offer, no blacklisted keywords, short & concise) 5. We put a system in place to make it easier to test new email scripts (spintax etc). 6. We regularly update their campaigns with fresh lead data to prevent bounces We’ve booked 1,000s of meetings so far in 2024 largely because of good deliverability. If your emails don’t land in the inbox = your prospect won’t see it = you won’t book the meeting. With B2B cold outreach getting more competitive as we get closer to 2025… It’s important to have good cold email practices within your B2B company asap. That includes doing things that improve your cold email deliverability. If your emails are landing in spam at the moment - the above checklist is a good starting point.

We book 15-20 qualified meetings/mo with cold email. Here’s how we make sure our emails hit inboxes: Deliverability fell off a cliff this summer. Anyone who sends cold emails knows that. You have two choices for reaction: 1. Give up 2. Figure out how to land in primary If you choose number 2 – read on. 3 critical setups most miss: 1) Authentication You need all 3: → SPF Records → DMARC policy → DKIM signatures Without these, the providers won’t trust your domain. And you’ll be left wondering why your emails land in spam. 2) Domain Warming A huge (and common) cold email mistake: Blasting 1000s of emails from day one. Our approach: → Start with 2/day → Increase steadily until 8-10/day → Make sure bounce rate stays below <1.5% It may seem like a slow crawl, but it will save you time in the long run. Nothing delays a campaign like a burnt domain. 3) Infrastructure THIS is the game-changer that nobody talks aboutL → Proper DNS setup → Splitting inboxes among Google/MS → Keeping extra inboxes warming-up → Properly cleaning our lead lists → Using dedicated sending domains The thing that most people miss: The best copy in the world means nothing if you’re hitting spam. Dial in your technical setup first.

I've said this before and I'll say it again — we've been struggling.. with cold email deliverability. Cold email infrastructure is frustrating - even when following best practices, deliverability remains inconsistent. I researched everything to solve this problem once & for all. Let me break down what actually works: 1) Infrastructure & Setup: -> Domains & inboxes - Never send cold from your primary domain - Use 3-5 sibling domains, 3-5 inboxes each - Keep branding believable; avoid spammy TLDs (.tk, .ml) - Set up Google Workspace or M365 for legitimacy -> Authentication - SPF covers every sender, DKIM at 2048-bit minimum - DMARC from p=none → quarantine once stable (never jump to reject) - Alignment across From/Return-Path is non-negotiable - Test with mail-tester.com weekly -> Compliance - Clear opt-out, real physical address, legitimate interest docs (EU) - Honor opt-outs within 24 hrs max 2) Sending Strategy: -> Warm-up - New domains need 8-12 weeks minimum - Simulate real engagement (opens/replies/forwards) - Use warmup tools like mailwarm, lemwarm or Instantly.ai -> Volume & Pacing - Start 10-20/day per inbox, add +20-50 weekly if metrics stay green - Randomize send windows; 60-120s gaps b/w sends - Respect recipient time zones (9am-5pm local) -> Timing - B2B sweet spots: Tue-Thu late morning & early afternoon - Avoid Mondays (inbox overload) & Fridays (weekend mode) 3) Content & Copy: -> Subject lines - 6-10 words, human and specific - Personalized context beats cleverness every time - Avoid fake urgency, ALL CAPS, excessive punctuation!!! - Test: "Quick question about [specific company pain point]" -> Body - Short, skimmable, 1 idea + 1 ask maximum - Personalize in layers: hyper-custom for top 10%, segment-level for rest - Use natural language, avoid marketing speak - Images and links kill deliverability - use sparingly -> CTA - Make next step tiny (15-min scan, 1-question reply, "worth a chat?") - Single CTA only - multiple options confuse and reduce response 4) List & Data: -> Sourcing - Prioritize intent and fit over volume always - Dedupe domains (max 1-2 people per company per campaign) - Use Apollo, ZoomInfo or Clay for verified contacts -> Hygiene - Verify syntax + domain + mailbox before sending - Remove hard bounces instantly (never retry) - Prune unengaged cohorts quarterly - Never recycle unsubscribed contacts -> Segmentation - Hot/Warm/Cold bands by recency + engagement - Throttle "Cold" segments heavily 5) Monitoring & KPIs: - Delivery rate ≥98%; investigate anything <95% - Bounce rate <2% (≤1% is excellent) - Spam complaints <0.1% absolute ceiling - Track domain/IP reputation, blacklist status weekly - Use seed accounts & inbox tests ps. Have a response/POA for objections like “not the right person” / “not decision maker” / “No longer at company” / “have in-house team already” / “please contact john from abc” You can also use Valley on LinkedIn - book 2 demos/week for every seat.

Shout out to all the sales teams doing outbound in 2024. But I still see folks overlooking their email deliverability. Email deliverability is the plague that will destroy your cold outreach. (even if you think your copy is amazing, targeting on point and brand has a strong rep) Here’s 12 quick pieces of advice to make sure your cold emails get delivered: 1. Before you do anything I list next...STOP emailing off your primary email domain. Setup multiple secondary domains to use and keep multiple more all warming up in the background ready to tag in if one of your active domains fails. 2. Setup DMARC, SPF and DKIM (DNS) records. 3. Warm your emails up for at least 2-3 weeks before you start sending cold emails. 4. A domain goes to die if you get marked spam too many times. It’s unavoidable but shouldn’t be happening at high rates and you should be monitoring this activity. 5. Run your copy through a tool like Mail Meteor so you avoid words that trigger spam (guess which word triggers spam in this CTA: “Open to learning more?”) 6. Keep on top of your IP health, domain reputation and sender scores. Don’t just forget about it. Track these stats. 7. Rotate your secondary domains based on performance. 8.Turn off open tracking - open data is rubbish and those open tracking pixels hurt your deliverability. 9. Consider using alternatives to Google or Microsoft for sending. This will allow you to safely send higher volumes per mailbox/subdomain/domain. 10. Double verify all your data. 11. Do not copy and paste the same exact template to all your prospects. It says you are spam (which you are if you do this). Use Spintax or custom variables. 12. Always update your copy. Your email ‘pipes’ could be perfect - but if your copy isn’t engaging and garnering replies, it’s time to shift. Use this as a checklist. Anything you’d add?