Even the best copy fails if your emails land in spam. Use this checklist before every outbound campaign.
Domain and authentication
- Use a separate sending domain for cold outreach, such as a variation of your main domain, so your primary domain's reputation stays protected.
- SPF: publish one SPF record listing every service that sends email for the domain. More than one SPF record breaks authentication.
- DKIM: turn on DKIM signing with your email provider.
- DMARC: publish a DMARC record. Start with
p=noneto monitor, then tighten it once your reports look clean. - Custom tracking domain: if you track clicks, use your own tracking domain rather than a shared one.
Warm-up
- Start new mailboxes with a small daily volume and increase gradually over two to four weeks.
- Keep daily volume per mailbox modest. Spread larger campaigns across several mailboxes rather than pushing one hard.
List quality
- Verify every address before sending and remove invalid ones.
- Remove role addresses such as info@ and admin@ from cold campaigns.
- Suppress anyone who has unsubscribed, bounced or complained before.
- Aim to keep bounce rates very low. A high bounce rate is one of the fastest ways to damage reputation.
Content
- Write plain, personal emails. Heavy images, attachments and many links look like marketing blasts.
- Keep subject lines honest and specific. Avoid all caps and spammy phrases.
- Include your company name, a postal address and a clear way to opt out.
- Personalise beyond the first name: mention the company, role or a relevant trigger.
Sending and monitoring
- Send during the recipient's working hours, in their time zone.
- Watch bounce, complaint and reply rates daily during the first week.
- Read your DMARC reports to spot anyone sending as your domain without permission.
- Pause and investigate if bounces or complaints spike.
Need help?
Our email campaign team handles domain setup, warm-up, list verification and sending for you, and our data cleansing service can clean an existing list before launch.