The 16 steps your B2B company needs to be doing if you want your cold emails to hit your prospects inbox!
Sep 6, 2024
Louis Young
Introduction
Cold emailing is a powerful B2B tool for lead generation and sales. However, even the best campaigns are useless if they never reach your prospect’s inbox. In 2024, email service providers are tightening their anti-spam measures, so it's critical to stay ahead of the curve to ensure deliverability.
Here’s our 16-step Inbox Infiltrator Protocol to guarantee your emails land in the primary inbox, not the spam folder.
Table of Contents
DNS Records
.com Domains
Personalized Emails
Add Profile Pictures
Never Use Main Domain
Diversify Email Accounts
6.1 Turn on Provider MatchingUse Spintax for Email Variability
Warm Your Domains and Accounts for Two Weeks
Limit Emails to 50 Per Day
Eliminate Spam Words from Your Scripts
Always Include an Opt-Out Option
Stop Tracking Open Rates
Verify Your Email Lists (Twice)
No Links in Your Initial Emails
Redirect Secondary Domains to Your Main Website
Limit Emails to Three Per Domain
1. DNS Records: The Foundation of Deliverability
Set up DMARC, SPF, and DKIM records to authenticate your domain and avoid being flagged as spam.
2. Use Only .com Domains
Avoid suspicious-looking extensions like .co or .xyz. Use .com to build trust and avoid filters.
3. Personalized Email Accounts
Generic accounts like info@ are less effective. Use personalized emails like emily@ or jake@ to appear human and credible.
4. Add Profile Pictures to Accounts
It’s a small touch that builds trust and signals legitimacy to email providers.
5. Never Use Your Main Domain for Cold Emailing
Keep your company’s main domain reputation safe. Always use secondary domains for outbound.
6. Diversify Your Sending Accounts
Avoid reliance on a single platform. Use multiple email providers like Outlook, Google, and Mailscale.
6.1 Turn on Provider Matching
Boost deliverability by sending from the same provider type as your recipient (e.g., Gmail to Gmail).
7. Use Spintax for Email Variability
Vary your messages automatically to avoid mass marketing filters. Spintax keeps each message unique.
8. Warm Your Domains and Accounts for Two Weeks
New domains need reputation. Use a warming tool like Instantly before sending campaigns.
9. Limit Emails to 50 Per Day
Stay safe. Aim for 20 campaign + 30 warm-up emails daily per inbox.
10. Eliminate Spam Words from Your Scripts
Words like “guaranteed,” “free,” or “risk-free” hurt deliverability. Use spam checkers to clean your copy.
11. Always Include an Opt-Out Option
Required by law and helps keep your sender reputation intact.
12. Stop Tracking Open Rates
Tracking can trigger spam filters and isn’t reliable due to privacy changes. Focus on reply rates instead.
13. Verify Your Email Lists (Twice)
Run all your leads through a verifier like Neverbounce—once before building campaigns, once before launch.
14. No Links in Your Initial Emails
Links = red flags. Save your Calendly and website URLs for your follow-ups.
15. Redirect Secondary Domains to Your Main Website
Make sure your outreach domains point back to your main site for legitimacy and brand consistency.
16. Limit Emails to Three Per Domain
Max out at 3 inboxes per domain, sending up to 150/day. Want more scale? Add more domains.
Conclusion: The Path to Perfect Deliverability
Follow these 16 steps to dramatically improve your cold email performance and stay out of the spam folder.
Deliverability is half the battle—win it, and your message actually gets seen.
👉 Ready to scale with cold email? Reach out and let’s make it happen.