Timing for using new domains in cold emailing

Warming up your domain is the most overlooked step in cold email. Here's the 14-Day Rule that's kept our campaigns out of spam folders: Week 1: Send 5-10 emails per day to friends, colleagues, or team members. Have them reply and engage with your emails. Week 2: Gradually increase to 20-30 emails per day. Mix personal emails with light business outreach. After 14 days: Your domain has established sending history and reputation. You essentially want your warmup process to mimic natural email behavior. It shows email providers you're a legitimate sender (instead of a spammer). Obviously, properly warmed domains consistently achieve higher inbox placement rates. The domains we rushed into cold outreach without warmup landed in spam within days. While the ones we warmed up properly maintained strong deliverability for months. This applies whether you're using Google Workspace, Outlook, or any other email provider.

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?

“Sending from new domains is a deliverability death sentence." That's what everyone says. Yet we launched 17 new domains last month with 93.7% average inbox placement. Why most advice on new domains is wrong: → Myth 1: You need 6+ months of warming Reality: Our 21-day protocol achieves 90%+ deliverability → Myth 2: You can't send cold emails from new domains Reality: You can't send BAD emails from new domains → Myth 3: Volume is the primary factor Reality: Engagement patterns matter more than volume The framework that actually works isn't fancy: - Technical foundation first (proper SPF/DKIM/DMARC, Domain Isolation, Cloudflare DNS) - Gradual volume increase (never more than 3-5 emails per week per account) - Engagement optimization from day one Are you still following outdated deliverability advice?

Debunking cold email myths: stop listening to fake gurus 🤯 Alright, it’s time for some real talk about cold email deliverability. Every week, I hear the same BS "wisdom" from so-called "gurus" who push myths with zero actual data to back it up. These myths not only waste time but also give people an excuse for underperforming campaigns. Let’s bust a few of the most popular ones: 🛑 Myth #1: Never send emails at night, it hurts deliverability. 📊 Truth: Email servers don’t give a damn about your timezone. We've run tests on sending times globally, and it doesn’t matter—what matters is consistency and engagement. However, sending emails during your prospects' working hours increases the likelihood of quick responses—so think strategically, not mythically. 🛑 Myth #2: You need to warm up for 30+ days before sending real emails. 📊 Truth: Stop babysitting your inbox. With a proper warm-up process and an optimized warm-up pool (like we’ve built), you can start sending real emails within 1-2 weeks—if done right. Gradual ramp-up and engagement are key, not arbitrary timelines. 🛑 Myth #3: Adding "Hi, how are you?" or fluff reduces your chances of hitting spam. 📊 Truth: Nope. Spam filters care more about behavioral patterns (engagement, reply rates, bounces) than specific words. "Hi" won’t save you if you’re spamming 5,000 irrelevant leads. 🛑 Myth #4: Domain age is the #1 factor in deliverability. 📊 Truth: It’s one factor, but far from the top. New domains can still achieve killer deliverability if their sending habits are strong. Focus on DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and proper warm-up—not your domain’s age. 🛑 Myth #5: You should always expect <1% reply rates—it’s normal. 📊 Truth: If your campaigns are bombing like this, it’s a strategy issue, not deliverability. You’re likely targeting the wrong ICP, using weak personalization, or offering zero value. 💡 What Really Matters: 1) Strong lead lists. 2) Incremental warm-up based on data, not feelings. 3) High-quality, relevant content that gets replies. 4) Smart tech (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), inbox monitoring, and regular testing. Stop giving excuses to bad outreach and start using data to improve. Deliverability is science, not superstition. 🔥 What’s the worst myth you’ve heard about cold emails? Drop it in the comments! ⬇️