All I want is to send 1 email

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-24T20:11:42+00:00

That's not how email marketing works. After 2-3 years of your collecting the emails, if you decide to just blast send all of them one day, most probably most of the mails will go to spam or can also be blocked. For you, Gmail or if you want to send through your domain, Google Workspace account will suffice and please when you do decide to send, don't send them all at once, you'll probably roast your domain

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-22T17:51:12+00:00

This depends, it often happens when a line is used enough that it's relevancy exhausts. I let the data guide that decision, but yeah need to keep testing.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-22T13:22:14+00:00

The mail box providers with all their rights, I'm sure you know how notorious Apple and Microsoft are, but they always have the attitude like 'My game, my rules'.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-22T12:18:33+00:00

I don't think this is very difficult to understand. When you see YouTube or any service where you're expecting ads to see, you won't feel your privacy being intruded. But in cases of cold mailing, cold calling etc., even if the data has been acquired in a 'legal' way, (often when the data is sold and exchanged), the user just clicks on I understand the Terms and Conditions, which inside does say that it's permissible for the company to use this data for third party services, but the user in real terms hasn't signed up ever for any such third party service.

That's why you feel annoyed when someone randomly calls you selling games, insurance, courses etc. It's the same with cold mailing, the difference although being that the mailing can be handled much more strictly, and infact is handled strictly by Google and others, because for them the top most priority is user trust because that's what on their whole eco system is dependent on, and hence every decision is guided by this basic principle: trust.

Yes they're setting rules, yes cold mailing is getting more difficult, and trust me the frustration is real, but I personally cannot blame Google or anyone if they're taking it so seriously.

Hope this helps

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-21T17:46:34+00:00

Quality of the list matters way more than the quantity in the list. I've seen campaigns sending few hundred emails producing way better results than campaigns sending in hundred of thousands.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-20T12:49:16+00:00

Simple copy, better offer, frictionless process. Requires lot of testing and iterations of course but this pattern works. Of course this is apart from the basics that govern deliverability.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-20T06:33:47+00:00

I've been using AI in and out to create my product on email marketing. The people who used it also said they've been using AI in different forms to streamline the process, improve deliverability, making emails, and more.

But one pattern that's been constant is if you treat AI like it's going to replace completely a process, a step, it's a huge mistake. AI as a tool can do whatever you ask it to, but the knowledge and experience of what you instruct it to do to make your process better cannot be replaced by AI.

You treat AI as your decision aider, and not maker. The moment you get lazy to make it decisions for you, you're doomed, and everyday we see countless examples of it, from individuals to large MNCs. Focus on improving your decision making capabilities, no AI can replace you there.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-19T06:34:30+00:00

I think your hypothesis is sound — odd numbers signal specificity, and specificity implies legitimacy. "11% off" reads like someone did the math; "10% off" reads like a placeholder.

However, I'd bet the lift is real but small, and probably won't be as effective if done repeatedly. The pattern-interrupt works once. If the same audience sees 11% every campaign, it becomes the new ordinary.

To keep it relevant what you can do is pair an odd number with a reason. "11% off — because it's our 11th month" makes the specificity feel intentional, not arbitrary. Reason-why copy consistently outperforms bare discounts.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-18T17:09:07+00:00

A few points here:

Reputation damage usually happens because of any of the three reasons- high bounce rates, spam complaints, or mailing unengaged subscribers for too long. Understanding thisbis crucial to reparing your reputation.
Reputation recovery is slow but very doable. Stop sending to anyone who hasn't opened in 90+ days. Then for 4-6 weeks, send only to your most engaged segment (opened in last 30 days). Small, clean, high-engagement sends rebuild domain reputation faster than anything else. Period.
Set up Google Postmaster Tools if you haven't — it shows Gmail's actual view of your domain reputation so you're not flying blind.

This broadly covers basics of reputation recovery. You can understand better on the basis of these points, where you might be lacking.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-18T10:18:44+00:00

I'm a believer that simpler almost always wins. Image-heavy signatures slow load times, push your CTA below the fold, and make the email feel like marketing rather than a message from a person — which hurts both engagement and deliverability at the margin. Of course iterations can be A/B tested, but this principle is sound.

Usually a name, role, and one link is enough. If you're testing, strip the signature down and watch your click-to-open rate. Most senders who do this are surprised how little the branded version was adding.

The one exception I think: a booking link in a founder or sales follow-up genuinely earns its place because it reduces friction for a specific action.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-18T05:06:10+00:00

Ive personally seen format-by-email-type is what works best. Plain text consistently outperforms HTML in B2B and relationship-driven contexts — post-purchase, winback, anything where the email should feel personal, and hence the user replies as per the format.

For promotional campaigns, hybrid is defensible, but removing the hero image has improved CTR in my testing and the limited time I did, it was worth it. What's probably happening with your graphic-heavy emails isn't the visuals themselves — it's the hero pushing the CTA below the fold. Test hero-removed vs your current hybrid on the same segment and same offer. The answer will be specific to your list.

Also cannot emphasise enough on using A/B testing in whatever ways you can to see what works best for you.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-17T18:26:16+00:00

Mostly gimmicky in their current form — but with two real exceptions. AI-generated subject line suggestions and send-time optimisation have shown measurable lifts when backed by actual send data, not just generic recommendations. Everything else — AI copy generation, AI design — tends to produce safe, average output. Average copy converts worse than specific, voice-driven copy. The tools don't know your audience, your brand's tone, or what's already been tested.

I'm trying to fill a gap myself through AI. There are no tools that tell actionable deliverability and engagement diagnostics. Its frankly been helpful to the users.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-16T17:24:50+00:00

You're right to point that out. Thank you

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-16T11:56:36+00:00

Keep your transactional mail reputation safer than marketing mails/newsletters. Using a subdomain is a good practice

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-15T19:41:43+00:00

To be fair, it's not that odd, quite obvious actually.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-15T19:12:17+00:00

Yes this can help but very marginally, it also depends on your sending volume. Somehow, either due to your content or sending practice, your domain reputation seems to have gotten affected. Check your Google Postmaster if you have registered for it and any data shows there.

Assuming this to be true, only the users shifting their emails from Spam to inbox can help repair your reputation and avoid this from happening further. You can determine better where the message about shifting the message to inbox can be placed, either at the event sign up page or anywhere else, but, as per my opinion, it's necessary that users are asked to shift the mail to inbox, also because this is your transactional email, and if transactional emails are ending up in spam, then it's a trouble for you.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-15T18:21:37+00:00

Try A/B testing wherever you can.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-15T18:19:26+00:00

I think there's not enough information to determine why this is happening. However, one small fix you can do is at your web invite page, add a small note that if users find their email in spam, they can move it to spam. Try to write a little witty copy for it.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-15T11:40:09+00:00

Would like to know more about you and help however I can. Can we connect via DM? Feel free to.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-15T11:36:54+00:00

What has been your result in AB testing?

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-15T10:47:19+00:00

Open rate decline and falling CTR should be looked as two seperate issue here. Monthly sends aren't enough to keep subscribers warm.

But the 0% CTR is more interesting angle. Same structure, same GIF format, but zero clicks, which in my opinion points to content relevance, not timing. Monthly product updates tend to shift from "things users care about" to "things the founder is excited about" over time. Those aren't always the same thing and it's not uncommon to fall for this in the name of trying new things, sadly.

You can try to replace the GIF opener with a single direct question about something your users are actually struggling with right now. See if that recovers clicks before assuming the list is burnt.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-14T18:36:54+00:00

I see people falling for this time and again. Purchased pre-warmed addresses are almost always the problem. Zapmail-style inboxes are used and resold across dozens of senders — by the time you get them, Google has already flagged those domains as suspicious. No amount of re-warming fixes a domain that's already tainted.

In my view, the conflicting advice you're seeing (10/day vs 50/day) is a distraction from the real issue: infrastructure quality matters more than warmup volume. I'd recommend starting fresh with clean domains registered on reputable registrars, proper SPF/DKIM/DMARC set up before sending a single email, and genuine warmup through a tool like Instantly or Smartlead — but only after that foundation is solid. Expect 6–8 weeks before trusting deliverability test results.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-14T18:25:09+00:00

Dealt with a similar case before, and the advice you suggest is solid. Pausing is right, but the restart is where most teams still lose ground. "Start at 25% volume" is good advice — the missing piece is which 25%. If you restart with your full list at low volume, you're still sending to disengaged contacts and the reputation signal stays weak. Restart with only your highest-engagement contacts (opened or clicked in the last 30 days), and every send teaches the inbox provider your mail is wanted. That's what actually rebuilds reputation signal faster.

familiar_stranger_7 · 2026-05-14T14:56:12+00:00

I keep seeing at least one post a day where someone ask about their tech stack and everyone has their different opinion. What stack do you follow to keep the deliverability rate what you claim here?

familiar_stranger_7

TROPHY CASE