Cold outreach is a marketing strategy where brands contact potential customers who have not previously interacted with the brand's products/services and have not given prior consent to be contacted. The primary goal is to introduce your business, product, or service to potential clients.
Does it work? Yes, cold outreach can be effective, but it is tricky to get right.
Can you do it? Of course, anybody can, but it is crucial to identify the right audience, clearly explain how the client can benefit from your product/service, and ensure you are not breaking any regulations (like CAN-SPAM or GDPR).
I have little marketing experience; I am a software engineer by trade. This thread will be a learning experience for me, and there will be many trials and errors, but I hope we all get to the other side with some knowledge.
We are in the EU, where the GDPR law is rather strict and we are reaching out to legal professionals, so we employed a legal advisor to help us understand how to limit our legal exposure. Out of this conversation, here are the most important points:
1. You should never send commercial communications, only informational ones. Especially in the first email, never send offers, discounts, or anything like that.
2. Provide clear opt-out options: always include an easy way for recipients to unsubscribe from your emails. Don't hide your unsubscribe link with small font at the bottom of the email. Make it as easy to find as possible. In the end, an unsubscribe is much better than a "mark as spam".
3. Be transparent: clearly identify your organization and the purpose of your email.
4. Respect the recipients' privacy, handle their data carefully, in compliance with privacy laws, and if they don't engage in any way for a period of time, stop badgering them.
5. Try not to send bulk emails. If you have a small list, send them one by one. If you have a large list, try to stagger the sending, one email every 2-3 minutes.
I have no idea how you can collect contact information, and that is beyond the scope of this thread. Let's assume that you have a list of email addresses and you're ready to start sending. How do you actually send emails without ending up in recipients' spam folders?
The first thing I did was look for a service that can do this. Something like MailCheat(Chimp) or ActiveCampaign. But, it turns out none of the big players allow you to send emails without prior consent. Amazon, Postmark, Mailgun, Sendgrid, ActiveCampaign, Sendinblue, HubSpot, MailCheat(Chimp) - none of them allow it. And I can understand why: because people would abuse their services and drop their IPs' reputation and they would be opened to litigation. I started to look for cold email dedicated tools but there aren't many out there. The ones I found are actually sales/marketing platforms that allow you to get a campaign ready and then send it through another SMTP relay (like Amazon, Gmail, Mailgun, etc., which don't allow cold email). In the end, I went with Namecheap business email (which is my domain registrar). They allow cold emailing, but their IPs' reputation is not fantastic and their outgoing spam filters are pretty good. I also found a local service that I'm trying out.
1.1 you don't want to use your main domain to send cold emails. You want the emails from your main domain to always reach their recipients. If your service sends transactional emails - emails triggered by a user's action, like order confirmation, password recovery and so on - you want those emails to reach their destination. And cold emailing will surely damage your domain reputation
1.2 you can use a subdomain and that will separate the domain reputation, but still something can bleed to your main domain. Plus, the setup is more complicated. So it's better to just buy separate domains for cold emails. For example, I owned the .com domain and opted to buy the .es, .org and .net ones. You can buy something like "yourbrandemails.com" or something that resembles your main domain. There might be some brand dilution, but it's better than destroying your main domain reputation and ending up in spam blacklists.
1.3 Add redirect rules. In case someone lands on your new domains you want them to be redirected to your main domain.
- go to the Namecheap Dashboard -> Sidebar/Domain List, find your new domain and click "manage" and then "Advanced DNS"
- you might find a CNAME DNS record there, remove it and add your rules as seen in the screenshot
- I bought 2 mailboxes for each of the domains, with the cheapest plan. So I have in total 4 mailboxes
Mailboxes setup:
2.1 in namecheap go to Dashboard -> Sidebar/Private Email, find your new domain and click "manage"
2.2 create as many inboxes as you bought. Use names that are not misleading or spammy, make them professional, friendly and with a clear purpose. I went with info@ and hola@
2.3 assuming this is a newly purchased domain, you haven't touched the emails related DNS settings before, so let's do that now:
- go to Dashboard -> Sidebar/Domain List, find your new domain, click "manage" then "Advanced DNS"
2.3.1 the Mail Settings (MX records) you don't need to update, namecheap has them configured
2.3.2 you need to add an SPF record - the SPF (Sender Policy Framework) record is a type of DNS record that identifies which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of your domain.
- record type: "TXT"
- host: "@" (this signifies the root/naked domain)
- value: "v=spf1 include:spf.privateemail.com ~all"
2.3.3 you need a DKIM record - the DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) record is a type of DNS record that helps ensure the authenticity and integrity of email messages sent from your domain. When you create the first mailbox, a DKIM record is generated for you automatically. If it's not, you can generate it from the Namecheap Dashboard -> Sidebar/Private Email -> "manage" domain
- go back the Advanced DNS section and copy the DKIM record in.
2.3.4 you need a DMARC record - the DMARC record allow senders to indicate their emails are protected by SPF and/or DKIM, and give instruction if neither of those authentication methods passes. Please be sure you have SPF and DKIM records set up before using DMARC. The DMARC reports are hard to read and understand, so I'm using the free DMARC reporting tool from DMARC Weekly Digests by Postmark which turns them into human readable form. Fill in your email and domain and they will give you the DMARC DNS record to copy in. Then you get a report every week.
2.4. sign into each of the mailboxes and test them.
- go to the Namecheap Dashboard -> Sidebar/Private Email, find your new domain and click "manage" and at the bottom, "Open Webmail"
- change the mailbox name, profile image and anything else you want to personalize
- send an email and another address you control. Reply to that email to ensure receiving emails is working. If you managed to send and receive an email, you're all set up! If not, start from the top
2.5 Optional - email account icon.
- one thing I like is to have an icon to the emails I send, even when they are sent from my custom domain. For that you need to signup to Gravatar - Globally Recognized Avatars. But not all clients respect that.
- for Gmail to show your icon, create a separate GMail account for your business (@gmail.com is ok). Then go to "Manage your Google Account" and add the name and icon of your business. From the sidebar, go to "Personal Info" -> "Email" -> "Manage alternate emails" and add your custom mailboxes as alternate emails. After some time (can be hours) when a gmail user opens your email, they will see your icon \o/
2.6 Optional - managing the inboxes
- if you're like me and don't want to have to log in every mailbox to monitor replies, you can add them to the gmail account as incoming and outgoing (I can explain how if anyone is interested). Or you can use something like Thunderbird to manage all the inboxes
Phew, that was a lot! OK, so now you are set up and ready to send, but nope, not yet
You can use a dedicated service or a sales/marketing platform that have email warmup included. Gmail changed the warmup rules this year and they now disallow warming up inboxes through their API, so if you're looking for a service, make sure they are using SMTP-IMAP/POP for warmup. I tried Instantly.ai - Cold Email Software and MailFlow.io but I can't say I was impressed, so I just started to do it manually:
- every day send emails to addresses you control. Yours, your friends and family
- start slow and slowly ramp up
- subscribe to some newsletters to mimic real behaviour
- ask your recipients to interact with your email. They should
- open it and click a link to get to your website.
- mark the email as important
- reply to it
- if it ended up in the spam folder, they should "mark it as not-spam" and bring it to the inbox
- if it ended up in the promotions tab, they should drag it to the inbox
Do this for about 2 weeks before starting to send out to potential clients. With potential clients, again you should start slow and slowly ramp up.
Ok, this is it for this post. Next, I will talk about the email content, emails list quality and more on domain reputation.
Does it work? Yes, cold outreach can be effective, but it is tricky to get right.
Can you do it? Of course, anybody can, but it is crucial to identify the right audience, clearly explain how the client can benefit from your product/service, and ensure you are not breaking any regulations (like CAN-SPAM or GDPR).
I have little marketing experience; I am a software engineer by trade. This thread will be a learning experience for me, and there will be many trials and errors, but I hope we all get to the other side with some knowledge.
Is Cold Emailing Legal?
Yes, cold emailing is legal in many places, but it is regulated under specific laws and guidelines designed to protect consumers. You are basically contacting people without their express prior consent, and this can be risky. I highly recommend getting legal advice before doing anything.We are in the EU, where the GDPR law is rather strict and we are reaching out to legal professionals, so we employed a legal advisor to help us understand how to limit our legal exposure. Out of this conversation, here are the most important points:
1. You should never send commercial communications, only informational ones. Especially in the first email, never send offers, discounts, or anything like that.
2. Provide clear opt-out options: always include an easy way for recipients to unsubscribe from your emails. Don't hide your unsubscribe link with small font at the bottom of the email. Make it as easy to find as possible. In the end, an unsubscribe is much better than a "mark as spam".
3. Be transparent: clearly identify your organization and the purpose of your email.
4. Respect the recipients' privacy, handle their data carefully, in compliance with privacy laws, and if they don't engage in any way for a period of time, stop badgering them.
5. Try not to send bulk emails. If you have a small list, send them one by one. If you have a large list, try to stagger the sending, one email every 2-3 minutes.
I have no idea how you can collect contact information, and that is beyond the scope of this thread. Let's assume that you have a list of email addresses and you're ready to start sending. How do you actually send emails without ending up in recipients' spam folders?
The first thing I did was look for a service that can do this. Something like MailCheat(Chimp) or ActiveCampaign. But, it turns out none of the big players allow you to send emails without prior consent. Amazon, Postmark, Mailgun, Sendgrid, ActiveCampaign, Sendinblue, HubSpot, MailCheat(Chimp) - none of them allow it. And I can understand why: because people would abuse their services and drop their IPs' reputation and they would be opened to litigation. I started to look for cold email dedicated tools but there aren't many out there. The ones I found are actually sales/marketing platforms that allow you to get a campaign ready and then send it through another SMTP relay (like Amazon, Gmail, Mailgun, etc., which don't allow cold email). In the end, I went with Namecheap business email (which is my domain registrar). They allow cold emailing, but their IPs' reputation is not fantastic and their outgoing spam filters are pretty good. I also found a local service that I'm trying out.
Let's go through the setup:
1. Domain(s)
I went with namecheap but this would work with many other domain registrars.1.1 you don't want to use your main domain to send cold emails. You want the emails from your main domain to always reach their recipients. If your service sends transactional emails - emails triggered by a user's action, like order confirmation, password recovery and so on - you want those emails to reach their destination. And cold emailing will surely damage your domain reputation
1.2 you can use a subdomain and that will separate the domain reputation, but still something can bleed to your main domain. Plus, the setup is more complicated. So it's better to just buy separate domains for cold emails. For example, I owned the .com domain and opted to buy the .es, .org and .net ones. You can buy something like "yourbrandemails.com" or something that resembles your main domain. There might be some brand dilution, but it's better than destroying your main domain reputation and ending up in spam blacklists.
1.3 Add redirect rules. In case someone lands on your new domains you want them to be redirected to your main domain.
- go to the Namecheap Dashboard -> Sidebar/Domain List, find your new domain and click "manage" and then "Advanced DNS"
- you might find a CNAME DNS record there, remove it and add your rules as seen in the screenshot
2. Mailboxes
- namecheap has a service called business email which allows you to buy custom mailboxes with your domain.- I bought 2 mailboxes for each of the domains, with the cheapest plan. So I have in total 4 mailboxes
Mailboxes setup:
2.1 in namecheap go to Dashboard -> Sidebar/Private Email, find your new domain and click "manage"
2.2 create as many inboxes as you bought. Use names that are not misleading or spammy, make them professional, friendly and with a clear purpose. I went with info@ and hola@
2.3 assuming this is a newly purchased domain, you haven't touched the emails related DNS settings before, so let's do that now:
- go to Dashboard -> Sidebar/Domain List, find your new domain, click "manage" then "Advanced DNS"
2.3.1 the Mail Settings (MX records) you don't need to update, namecheap has them configured
2.3.2 you need to add an SPF record - the SPF (Sender Policy Framework) record is a type of DNS record that identifies which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of your domain.
- record type: "TXT"
- host: "@" (this signifies the root/naked domain)
- value: "v=spf1 include:spf.privateemail.com ~all"
2.3.3 you need a DKIM record - the DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) record is a type of DNS record that helps ensure the authenticity and integrity of email messages sent from your domain. When you create the first mailbox, a DKIM record is generated for you automatically. If it's not, you can generate it from the Namecheap Dashboard -> Sidebar/Private Email -> "manage" domain
- go back the Advanced DNS section and copy the DKIM record in.
2.3.4 you need a DMARC record - the DMARC record allow senders to indicate their emails are protected by SPF and/or DKIM, and give instruction if neither of those authentication methods passes. Please be sure you have SPF and DKIM records set up before using DMARC. The DMARC reports are hard to read and understand, so I'm using the free DMARC reporting tool from DMARC Weekly Digests by Postmark which turns them into human readable form. Fill in your email and domain and they will give you the DMARC DNS record to copy in. Then you get a report every week.
2.4. sign into each of the mailboxes and test them.
- go to the Namecheap Dashboard -> Sidebar/Private Email, find your new domain and click "manage" and at the bottom, "Open Webmail"
- change the mailbox name, profile image and anything else you want to personalize
- send an email and another address you control. Reply to that email to ensure receiving emails is working. If you managed to send and receive an email, you're all set up! If not, start from the top
2.5 Optional - email account icon.
- one thing I like is to have an icon to the emails I send, even when they are sent from my custom domain. For that you need to signup to Gravatar - Globally Recognized Avatars. But not all clients respect that.
- for Gmail to show your icon, create a separate GMail account for your business (@gmail.com is ok). Then go to "Manage your Google Account" and add the name and icon of your business. From the sidebar, go to "Personal Info" -> "Email" -> "Manage alternate emails" and add your custom mailboxes as alternate emails. After some time (can be hours) when a gmail user opens your email, they will see your icon \o/
2.6 Optional - managing the inboxes
- if you're like me and don't want to have to log in every mailbox to monitor replies, you can add them to the gmail account as incoming and outgoing (I can explain how if anyone is interested). Or you can use something like Thunderbird to manage all the inboxes
Phew, that was a lot! OK, so now you are set up and ready to send, but nope, not yet
3. Domain/email/IP warm up
If you start sending bulk emails immediately you will get blacklisted very quick. In fact you will probably not pass the namecheap outgoing spam filters in the first place. Warming-up is a process where you gradually increase the volume of emails sent from your new email account or domain over a period of time to build a positive sender reputation with email service providers (ESPs). This process is crucial when you're starting with a new email address or domain.You can use a dedicated service or a sales/marketing platform that have email warmup included. Gmail changed the warmup rules this year and they now disallow warming up inboxes through their API, so if you're looking for a service, make sure they are using SMTP-IMAP/POP for warmup. I tried Instantly.ai - Cold Email Software and MailFlow.io but I can't say I was impressed, so I just started to do it manually:
- every day send emails to addresses you control. Yours, your friends and family
- start slow and slowly ramp up
- subscribe to some newsletters to mimic real behaviour
- ask your recipients to interact with your email. They should
- open it and click a link to get to your website.
- mark the email as important
- reply to it
- if it ended up in the spam folder, they should "mark it as not-spam" and bring it to the inbox
- if it ended up in the promotions tab, they should drag it to the inbox
Do this for about 2 weeks before starting to send out to potential clients. With potential clients, again you should start slow and slowly ramp up.
Ok, this is it for this post. Next, I will talk about the email content, emails list quality and more on domain reputation.
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum:
Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
