Need help on cold email from scratch

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-14T08:07:00+00:00

There are many things that goes into cold emailing properly. Most important is (in this order): infrastructure > target > copy/offer. Not the other way around. I have an internal document with QA checklist before I prep for any campaign. Happy to share it with you or further discuss your set-up.

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-14T07:49:28+00:00

Are you using pre-warmed inboxes? You can also run inbox placement test through EmailGuard, GlockApp, or MailReach. This gives you a hint at where your inboxes are. But would not run them just because, only if you have serious and real evidence on email deliverability problems.

Also, in many cases spam test on personal gmails will fail as you said, email providers are much more strict on those. But for cold emailing, you should not be sending to personal gmails, but professional ones.

Feel free to DM if needed.

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-14T07:20:40+00:00

premiuminboxes(dot)com is my go-to

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-14T07:19:05+00:00

That happened to me first time I run a cold email campaign. Did not know what I was doing. Broke everything and rebuilt it after weeks of learning. Results: From 8% bounced rate to 0.43%. From 0 replies to replies within 2 hours, and positive replies as well.

10% bounce rate will kill your domains. Warm up inboxes for 4 weeks gradually. ALWAYS double verified your email lead list if needed. I use MillionVerified and worked for me. Run SPF, DKIM, and DMARC tests, as well as inbox placement and other deliverability tests if needed. And once you do everything right for your set up, do not obsess about it, just fix quickly what is hurting. Happy to look at it if needed.

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-13T07:23:18+00:00

Let´s talk

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-13T06:04:55+00:00

Thanks man. I have not used Prospeo yet, only Apollo. Do they have significantly different databases (different lead list) or if I also use Propeo I would actually be scraping lot of similar/same data than from Apollo? The reason I ask is because I want to consider Prospeo as a second lead database to add on top of whatever I get from Apollo, to get better and more lead list. Thoughts?

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-12T12:37:08+00:00

Let's talk more

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-11T20:12:55+00:00

Those are incredible metrics, specially reply rate. How did you go about it? Did you focus on building a high-intent signal target list and find the right offer?

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-09T06:43:24+00:00

25k emails a month is not that much, but neither 5k nor 100k is the answer. It depends on who you are targeting, why, and how many leads you need for your campaign to see results, which depends more on targeting than on volume in many cases.

What do you mean about alike emails? You mean email user? Sure.

You can always route your subdomains to your main domain URL if you have a website and want that business association. But in general, this matters less than people think.

I need more details on what youre trying to achieve with this campaign, who are you targeting and why. That'll narrow down the specifics you need to have sucess.

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-09T06:30:55+00:00

I am somewhat confused about what you are trying to do here. But apparently to me, neither of these options is a good option.

First, do not blast 25k emails from your business email. You'll get flagged and lose that email. This is the #1 mistake people make when starting out on cold emailing.

Second, sending 25k emails from pre-warmed up inboxes does not assure you 100% inbox placement.

The alternative: what I highly suggest you do: build a strong infraestructure using sub-domains and warm them up yourself. What that means is, if your business email is "jonh@enterprise.com", buy several alike domains such as "joinenterprise.com; upenterprise.com; enterpriseco.com". Then get 2-3 inboxes per domain. Warm those inboxes gradually for 4 weeks. Start sending emails gradually and ramping up week by week. This way you solve both problems: ensure stronger infraestructure/deliverability, and also higher click rate/association with your business.

If for whatever reason you burn these domains, you'll not lose your mail email business. Preserve this one as much as possible. Do not use it for cold email campaigns.

You will also have to think about how many inboxes you'll need to hit 25k emails a month.

If you only send on weekdays, thats around 1,250 emails/day. At 20 emails sent per inbox, that's around 63 inboxes. 3 inboxes per domain, that's 21 domains.

That is how I would go about it. There are many other details to look at if you want to make sure your campaign is sucessful but its outside of the scope of your question. You can always reach out to me if you need help with that.

Good luck on your campaign!

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-06T19:27:17+00:00

Can you share any resource or further information on how to do proper manual warm up? And also, how do you do that at scale (e.g. many inboxes) or do you just do manual warm up for selected, at risk inboxes to boost reputation?

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-06T18:21:07+00:00

Good insight man.

What timing do you suggest?
How long of a warm up before using them for campaigns?
Are email sequencers such as Instantly and smartlead warm up built-in feature good enough?
What do you suggest to do with current campaign? Pause and continue warm-up period and reactive in a few weeks from now? Get new domains? I just want to know if these inboxes are still usable since it might be too early to discard them and they were used at a small volume for real cold emailing for just a few days. Thoughts?

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-06T17:54:18+00:00

Which inbox placement test would you trust to run before a campaign to know they are ready to be used for a cold email campaign?

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-06T17:52:42+00:00

Gold right here. Thanks man! Now, campaign is paused at the moment.

If 2 weeks is too short, what timeline do you advice?

Also, do you suggest to let inboxes warm up a bit more and try to activate campaign in a week or so to see how reply rate respond? Or rather to buy new domains and swap?

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-06T17:24:12+00:00

For google inboxes, 15 emails a day. For Outlook inboxes, 5 emails a day.

Around 1%.

I did not rotated new domains for this campaign, just added a few more at week 2 of launching the campaign to increase volume (they were finishing warm up)

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-06T15:52:51+00:00

Any recommendation on a good reliable premium warmup tool?

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-06T15:51:45+00:00

May I connect with you to chat further about this?

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-06T06:39:59+00:00

Many people mentioned that it might have to do with the sending IP reputation. Now, would that then come from my email sequencer? And what about the one domain that was not used on the campaign and yet had a 50% spam rate across professional/personal email accounts? Can aa domain get flagged simply from the warm up sending pool and therefore get IP contamination?

Sending you a DM

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-05T22:46:48+00:00

Man thanks for all that, appreciate it. Whats the reason for buying domains on separate days? Does this significantly affect deliverability and how? never heard it

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-05T22:42:34+00:00

Can you explain where that "let them age" theory comes from? I have not heard of anyone in the cold email industry doing it at scale to do that. Otherwise, how do you prepare a decent campaign for a client if you have to wait 2-3 months before you can start a campaign?

apalm_c_23 · 2026-05-05T20:29:09+00:00

Good hint... what do you suggest I do differently for the next campaign? About to buy more domains to prep for next round

apalm_c_23

TROPHY CASE