Definitive Outbound Email Guide

• Definitive Outbound Email Guide
• TLDR;
• 1. Domain Setup
• 2. Email Service Provider
• 3. Authentication
• 4. Multiple Domains vs. Subdomains
• 5. Email Accounts
• 6. Email Warming
• In Conclusion
• What’s Next?

TLDR;

• Reserve primary domain for essential business communications; avoid using it for cold emailing.
• Recommended domain registrars: Google Domains, GoDaddy, Namecheap (Google Domains preferred).
• Use Google Workspace as Email Service Provider for high deliverability and ease of setup.
• Authenticate emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC (Google Domains + Google Workspace simplifies this process).
• Avoid subdomains for cold outreach; use multiple domains instead to protect the main domain's reputation.
• Start with 3-5 email accounts per domain for cold emailing; send 50-100 emails per account daily.
• Aim for >90% open rate and >10% reply rate to maintain reputation.
• Warm up new email accounts before starting cold email campaigns; use services like MailReach, MailToaster, Warmbox, Lemlist, or Warmup Inbox.
• Use Mail Tester and MailReach's free spam test to check domain setup, authentication, reputation, and deliverability.

Part I: Domains, Subdomains, and Accounts

• Domain: $5-$60 / year; example.com
• Subdomain: free; blog.example.com; search engines treat subdomains as separate entities and don't share the main domain's authority or backlinks.
• Email Account: $7.2 / account / month; dna@example.com; has its own mailbox and sending reputation. You pay per email account created.
• Alias: free; doug@example.com; an alternative email address for the above account that forwards messages to it. Does not cost extra since it's not a separate email account. Daily email limits of an account include all emails sent from an alias.

1. Domain Setup

• My recommendation: Google Domains — the most streamlined setup, especially if you want to use it with Google Workspace.
• Google Domains: Pros: Seamless integration with other Google services. Cons: slightly higher prices.
• GoDaddy: Pros: 24/7 support, easy management. Cons: upsells, higher renewal prices.
• Namecheap: Pros: competitive pricing, free privacy protection. Cons: Less intuitive interface.

2. Email Service Provider

• GoDaddy (https://support.google.com/a/answer/33353)
• Namecheap (https://support.google.com/a/answer/87127)
• A-Z list of all supported providers (https://support.google.com/a/topic/1611273).

3. Authentication

1. SPF: A method to specify authorized email senders for a domain, helping prevent spoofing. Something to note here is that by default Google Workspace will only add a record authenticating email sent from Google's Gmail client. You must add a DNS record if you are using Superhuman, Outlook, or anything else (https://support.google.com/a/answer/10684623). By not doing this, the receiving server can mark your email as suspicious.
2. DKIM: Adds a digital signature to emails, ensuring they haven't been tampered with and confirming the sender's identity. The default setup provided by Google Domains is good enough. Nothing to do here.
3. DMARC: A policy that instructs how to handle emails failing SPF and DKIM checks, improving email security and trust. Setup on Google Workspace (https://support.google.com/a/answer/2466563) is straightforward and needs you to add a DNS TXT record. You can set up an alias (dmarc-reports) for your main email to receive DMARC reports. You can use this DMARC record to start: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc-reports@example.com

4. Multiple Domains vs. Subdomains

• Multiple Domains: Recommended for cold emailing. Separates cold outreach from your primary domain, protecting its reputation. Either acquire multiple TLDs (example.io, example.co, example.xyz) or word-adjacent domains on the same TLD (example-mail.com or example-relay.com).
• Subdomains: Not ideal for outbound email marketing. Sharing a root domain can harm its reputation. There are always domain risks involved when creating a large outbound email funnel. You don't want your primary domain to get blacklisted and/or blocked. This is not the area to save money on — gotta spend money to make money :)

5. Email Accounts

• Number of Email Accounts: Start with 3-5 accounts per domain for cold emailing. Scale as and when ceilings are hit.
• Email Volume: Send 50-100 emails per account daily, gradually increasing volume. Target a >90% open rate and a >10% reply rate to maintain reputation. Sometimes this can be a tall order, so keep A/B testing.

6. Email Warming

• Gradual Process: Your primary email address typically warms up organically. However, you should gradually increase the email volume for new accounts for 2 weeks or more before starting outreach.
• Warming Services: Utilize warmers to automate the process. A good warmer will simulate real-world email exchanges. Sending and receiving realistic-looking emails across its network of accounts. They also move any emails that land in spam to the primary inbox. Most warming services also monitor deliverability and reputation.
• My recommendation: MailReach ($25); I've tried most of the tools below, which are very comparable. I find this to be the most no-nonsense.
• Other comparable good tools: MailToaster ($29), Warmbox ($26), Lemlist ($29), Warmup Inbox ($15)

In Conclusion

🎉 You now have an cold emailing domain with a Google workspace setup, email accounts with full authentication, and a warm up service that is making your new accounts ready to go, while keeping your old email addresses in the good graces of our AI overlords :)

What’s Next?

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Outbound Emails: Part II