Email Marketing Platforms

I've sent over 20 million cold emails since launching Flowd 5 years ago. These are the 5 best OUTBOUND EMAIL TOOLS for sales teams (and why) 1. Instantly.ai → Unlimited sending at a fixed price → AI-powered deliverability tracking → Powerful built-in email warm-up Pricing: One of the best-value options for high-volume teams Best for: Scalability. At Flowd we send 1000s of emails daily — Instantly gives us the sending power we need. Unlimited sending alone makes it a no-brainer for teams scaling outbound. 2. Smartlead → Smart AI-based warm-up → Combines email with LinkedIn outreach → Supports multiple inboxes under one account Pricing: More expensive but powerful for multi-channel prospecting Best for: Teams that want to mix LinkedIn and email outreach without juggling multiple tools 3. Woodpecker.co → Easy-to-use interface → Great for small teams & agencies → Strong email personalisation options Pricing: Higher cost per email sent compared to Instantly Best for: Sales teams prioritising high deliverability without complexity 4. Outreach → Full sales engagement platform (not just email) → Integrates deeply with CRMs → AI-powered insights & analytics Pricing: Premium (best for larger sales teams with a budget) Best for: Enterprise teams needing a full sales engagement suite — not just cold email 5. lemlist → Image & video personalisation features → Multi-channel sequences (LinkedIn, Calls, Email) → Good automation capabilities Pricing: Mid-range but can get pricey at scale Best for: Sales teams focused on highly personalised outreach 💬 Curious — what are you using for outbound right now? Would love to hear what’s working (or not working) for your team.

If you’re a brand switching email or SMS providers before BFCM, here’s how to avoid a disaster. Changing platforms this close to the biggest sales period of the year is high risk. I am not going to sugar coat this or be a hype girl, it doesn't benefit me either way. Get it wrong, and you could lose deliverability, segment accuracy, or key automations when you need them most. Your BFCM transition checklist: Warm your sending domain early Gradually ramp up send volumes to protect deliverability Maintain engagement by starting with your most active subscribers. Audit and rebuild key automations Ensure welcome, abandonment, and post-purchase flows are recreated exactly as they were performing before Test triggers and timing in the new platform Migrate your segments and tags accurately Double-check that engagement windows, purchase history filters, and suppression lists are identical Preserve historical data where possible Export campaign, flow, and customer engagement data before the switch for benchmarking and audience targeting Run a side-by-side test before switching off the old provider Send small campaigns from both systems to verify deliverability and reporting match expectations Bottom line: Don’t just ‘switch and send’. Treat your ESP/SMS migration like a product launch - test, measure, and phase it in. Your Black Friday sales depend on it.

Are your cold emails landing in the spam folder? Here’s how you can solve this issue: You need a little “Email warm-up.” Think of it like preheating your oven. Here’s the recipe: 1. Start small: → Send emails to trusted contacts first. → Think of it like a “Hi” to your favorite barista. 2. Ramp up slowly: → Increase the volume of sending gradually. → It’s like easing into a workout routine. 3. Engage & respond: → Build a rapport with those who open/reply. → Think of them like your gym buddies. 4. Maintain your reputation: → Keep your sender reputation in check. → Monitor bounce rates, review content. → Also use authentication protocols. → Check open rates, click-throughs, responses. 5. Stay consistent: → Be a reliable friend, don’t post & ghost. → And never disappear for weeks at once. Email warm-up helps build your reputation. One audience member at a time. It also helps your emails stand out of the crowd.

High-Volume Email (HVE) in Microsoft 365 – Ideal for Internal Mass Communication 🚀 Did you know? #Microsoft365 now offers the High-Volume Email (HVE) service, currently in #PublicPreview, designed for organizations to send large volumes of #emails. However, HVE is primarily intended for internal communication, with a limit of 2,000 external recipients per 24 hours. The Problem with #BulkEmailing Until Now Organizations needing to send bulk emails – like internal notifications or automated reports – often had to rely on #thirdparty email #relays. 💸 These relays not only required separate integration but also came with monthly costs. With HVE, this changes: ✅ No additional licensing costs for HVE accounts. ✅ Direct integration into your Microsoft 365 tenant. ✅ Simplified email sending with built-in management and analytics. When Should You Use HVE? HVE is perfect for: 🔹 Internal Notifications: Company-wide alerts, announcements, or newsletters. 🔹 Automated Reports: Alerts and updates sent from applications. 🔹 Transactional Emails: Invoices, order confirmations, and status updates, as long as the 2,000 external recipient limit isn’t exceeded. Pro Tips for Using HVE Effectively: 📭 No Replies Allowed: HVE sender addresses cannot receive replies. Plan communication accordingly to avoid confusion. 🔒 Configuration Prerequisites: Ensure #SecurityDefaults are disabled and ##SMTPAuthentication is enabled for the HVE account to send emails successfully. 🛡️ Secure Your HVE Account: Use Conditional Access policies to: -> Prevent unauthorized usage. -> Ensure the account doesn’t require constant MFA reauthentication, which could disrupt automated processes. Why Consider HVE for Your Organization? ✔️ Integrated Solution: No need for external services; HVE works seamlessly within Microsoft 365. ✔️ #CostEfficiency: Save money by avoiding third-party relays and their associated fees. ✔️ Simplified Management: Manage bulk email sending directly within the #Exchange Admin Center. ✔️ Enhanced Security: Leverage Microsoft’s built-in tools like Conditional Access to protect HVE accounts. Have you already tried the High-Volume Email service, or do you have any questions about implementing it? Let’s discuss in the comments – I’d love to hear your thoughts! 💬 📝 Detailed instructions and insights are available on our blog at SecureCloud Experts. Wishing you a Happy New Year and a successful 2025! 🎉✨🥂 #Microsoft365 #HighVolumeEmail #HVE #ITSecurity #CloudSecurity #ExchangeOnline #EmailManagement #ConditionalAccess #Relay #SMTPRelay #MassEmail #BulkMail

AI isn’t just a buzzword anymore—it’s changing the game in cold email outreach. Here’s how smart automation is making personalization and targeting sharper than ever: 1. Behavior-Based Segmentation AI tracks what your prospects are doing—website visits, social media activity, content downloads—and groups them based on shared interests. The result? Messages that hit closer to home. 2. Predictive Analytics Not all leads are created equal. AI predicts which ones are most likely to respond, helping you focus on the prospects that matter most. 3. Dynamic Templates Forget cookie-cutter emails. AI fills templates with personalized details like a recipient’s name, company, and industry—instantly. Every email feels tailor-made. 4.Behavioral Customization AI adjusts your outreach in real-time based on how prospects engage. Didn’t click the link in your email? AI can follow up with fresh content or a more personal touch to re-engage them. Here’s the catch: Automation doesn’t replace the human touch. It’s a tool to help you build authentic connections—not a substitute for them. Want more insights like this? 📧 Subscribe to our newsletter today! #EmailMarketing #AIinSales #Personalization

📉 When was the last time you checked engagement from Yahoo or AOL subscribers? You could be losing thousands in email revenue without even realizing it. Starting in April 2025, Yahoo made a quiet but brutal shift: 🛑 Full enforcement of bulk-sender standards 🛑 Domain-based reputation over IP-based 🛑 New filtering rules targeting affiliate-style content 🛑 One-click unsub is no longer optional 🛑 Engagement metrics now rule the inbox Many brands saw open rates drop from 20% to under 5%, without a single bounce. This also includes some of my customers, whose engagement dropped - despite following my deliverability recommendations. So even I, as other deliverability aficionados, were caught by surprise. The culprit? Spam folder delivery. Or worse: fingerprinting that puts your entire domain in permanent bulk purgatory. And this isn’t just about Yahoo. Gmail and Microsoft are already following suit. I’ve written a full breakdown of what happened, how to recover if you were affected, and what long-term deliverability hygiene now really looks like. Spoiler: clean IPs and good intentions aren’t enough anymore! https://lnkd.in/d2w4mKAn

One of the biggest hurdles in cold email outreach? Getting into the primary inbox. We send cold emails hoping for replies, but the reality is—it’s nearly impossible to get responses if your emails are landing in spam. I’ve faced this issue myself until I realized there are key steps you can’t ignore to boost deliverability. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞: ▪️𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 Using secondary domains is crucial for two reasons: → It protects your main domain from being flagged. → It helps distribute the load when sending a high volume of emails. ▪️𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 Without setting up proper authentication, you’re likely to be blocked. Make sure you configure: → DMARC → DKIM → SPF → MX These might sound technical, but they’re essential for ensuring your emails land in the right place. ▪️𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐔𝐩 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐛𝐨𝐱𝐞𝐬 Warming up new mailboxes gradually by sending smaller batches is key. Over time, this builds your sending reputation and helps you avoid the spam folder. Since using Maildoso, I’ve seen firsthand how these steps can be simplified. It automates these processes and ensures that my cold email outreach is efficient and impactful. The 99.9% inbox rate means my emails actually get seen, and my outreach efforts are more productive. How are you solving email deliverability challenges in your campaigns? #ColdEmail #EmailMarketing #Deliverability #BusinessGrowth #Maildoso #MarketingStrategy

The sales stack that runs our $4.4M+ agency: CONTEXT We run outbound campaigns for > 70 B2B organisations. We need to be flexible because our clients are: - in different niches - targeting various personas - at different stages (enterprise, scaleups, SMBs) Some platforms overlap, since we adapt to clients' existing software stack. TOOLS 1/ Data "The list is the strategy" The first step in a successful outbound campaign is to build an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) list. We can do this in several ways: - exporting data from b2b databases - scraping websites to find custom data - leveraging ai agents to research data at scale - uncovering buying intent by using monitoring signals Depending on the use case, we'll leverage: - AI Agents: Relevance AI, Claygent - Enrichment Platforms: Prospeo.io, FullEnrich, Icypeas, LeadMagic - Intent Data: Common Room, Trigify.io, LoneScale, Unify, Vector 👻 - Data Scrapers: Instant Data Scraper, PhantomBuster, ZenRows, Serper - Data Sources: Openmart (local data) DiscoLike (ai lookalikes) TheirStack (technology data) LinkedIn, Apollo, Ocean (b2b databases) To validate this data, we use 1 out of Instantly.ai, BounceBan, LeadMagic or NeverBounce. 2/ Outreach "The right message, in front of the right person, at the right time" The right message is easier to write when you have the right person. That said, you can get some extra help with platforms like Octave for ICP research, Twain for copywriting or Grammarly for spelling. To send these "right" messages, we use Instantly.ai (best at email outreach) & lemlist (best at multichannel outreach) Depending on projects, other platforms we'll use include: - Woodpecker.co, Unify, Smartlead (for email sending). - HeyReach.io (for LinkedIn outreach) - Salesfinity (for cold calling) 3/ Workflow Orchestration To bridge the gap between outreach & data, we use workflow builders that let us add conditions around how data should interact with sales engagement platforms. In practice, that means that platforms like Relevance AI, Default, Clay or n8n allow you to automate: - receiving enriched contact data - creating conditions for whether someone shall be contacted - routing leads to the appropriate campaign - reaching out The best way to think about 'workflow orchestration' is to imagine what you'd do manually if you had all the time in the world. Then, replicate these manual steps using workflow builders. 4/ Deal Closing We use OutboundSync to synchronise leads generated through outbound efforts with our clients' CRM. Plus, we use: - Attio as our CRM. - Breakcold for social selling. - Attention for meeting recording. - Qwilr to send proposals after our prospects' meetings. That's it. Once again... we use way more tools than necessary because we switch from one to another depending on our clients. If you're running outbound for your company... Pick 1 platform max per category. And you'll do just fine. That said... anything you'd add to this stack?

Yahoo just cut free mailbox storage from 1TB → 20GB. So what does that mean for email marketing? Simply... Prepare for bounces. From Aug 27th 2025, users still over quota wont be able to send/receive emails. A quiet wave of dormant Yahoo addresses are about to start bouncing. Which means… deliverability headaches, inflated bounce rates, and potential spam folder drama. So, what can you do? 1. Proactively suppress/clean Look for repeat "over quota" codes from Yahoo users and suppress those profiles 2. Watch your domain reputation Even if you're not doing anything wrong, spikes in bounces can trigger Gmail/Yahoo to throttle your sends. Keep spam complaints low and make sure your domain setup is watertight (SPF, DKIM, DMARC etc) 3. Channel shift where relevant If you’ve got SMS or WhatsApp consent for dormant Yahoo subscribers, now’s the time to push that channel. This one might fly under the radar for a lot of brands. But, it’ll separate the marketers who react from those who prepare. __ __ Want more email news & content? Follow Elliot Scott 🔋 #deliverability #emailmarketing #yahoo #listgrowth #dtc

"Email Doomsday"? Not around here. Just been busy helping clients align with Google & Yahoo's new email deliverability rules! It's been 4 weeks since Google and Yahoo shook things up with their new requirements for bulk email senders. In the midst of it all, I’ve been working with clients to navigate these changes and ensure their #emailmarketing strategies remain on point and effective. This compliance checklist will help you stay on point and effective, too: 🧠Understanding is Key: Understand the nuances of Google and Yahoo's updates as a starting block. Knowledge empowers adaptation. ✅Prioritize Email Authentication: Ensure all outgoing emails are properly authenticated using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols. This isn't just about avoiding the spam folder; it's about building trust with recipients. 🛠️Leverage ZeroBounce's DMARC Management Platform: It provides tools for email authentication and the peace of mind that we're compliant. ZeroBounce provided me with free credits to explore how the solution could help my clients. Real-time notifications on our domain's authentication status have allowed us to quickly adjust as needed. The feedback from my clients? Overwhelmingly positive. 😊 They’re breathing easier and their emails are hitting inboxes like never before. We've turned what felt like a curveball into a home run. This process has highlighted a critical lesson: Stay alert and ready to adapt. Email rules might change, but our readiness? Never. Want to stay ready? Check out the link to learn more about ZeroBounce DMARC Management Platform: https://fas.st/t/bSxxim64 How are you handling the Google and Yahoo email authentication updates?