Hacked BD sends millions of cold emails for companies across a range of industries. We specialize in helping them stop their emails from going to junk folders.
This article will give you quick email deliverability tips to help you stop triggering spam filters.
We created a full guide on how to set up an automated cold email system. That article might be more helpful if you're starting from scratch.
It can be risky to send cold email messages from your primary domain.
All automated email campaigns come with a risk of spam. Email service providers will mark some of your emails as spam if you're sending high volumes.
Using a separate sending domain for cold emails is safe. It does not put your main email address or primary domain at risk.
You should use domain variations that are similar to your main domain name. Our primary domain is hackedbd.com, but we send cold email from other domains like hackedbusinessdevelopment.com.
Do not use your main email address to send automated emails. You risk having important emails go to the spam or junk folder.
Set up new domains and new email addresses under each new domain. You can then forward the replies to your primary inbox.
You can't send thousands of emails a day from a single mailbox and expect to reach the inbox. Email service providers will flag your messages as spam if you send too much volume.
High volume senders need to spread their email marketing volume out.
You should get new domain variations, and set up multiple email inboxes under each. Hacked BD recommends sending a maximum of 25 emails per day per mailbox. This is a safe volume that we've tested and had success with.
Email service providers are less likely to block human sending patterns than robotic sending patterns.
Humans can't send 400 emails in one minute, therefore you shouldn't send 400 emails in a minute. Make your sending patterns look human like. Humans can send one email every 10-20 minutes, so make sure your automated emails have a similar time delay.
You need to have DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records set up for your email sending domain. These policies can help prove to email service providers that you are who you say you are. They make it harder for bad actors to spoof your email account.
The best email subject lines are short, lowercase, and straight to the point. They don't give away the full pitch before your prospect opens your email.
This strategy can help improve your open rates. The more engagement you have, the more likely ESP's will continue to put your emails in the inbox.
We previously wrote about how to optimize your email subject lines.
Prospects are more likely to engage with emails that are personalized to them. People like knowing that you put effort into trying to reach out to them specifically. If prospects notice that you put effort into making emails personal, they will be less likely to mark them as spam.
You can do this manually, or you can use an AI strategy to personalize your messaging.
Email service providers spot automated emails by looking at the copy. They can tell the same person is behind a message even if your emails came from different sending addresses or domains.
Change your email copy when you notice a dip in open or reply rates.
Spintax is a way of making every email that you send unique. Spintax will select variations of words or sentences randomly in each email. This is a way of making sure that every email you send has a bit of variation. It makes it tougher for email service providers to spot senders using different email addresses or domains.
We recommend using a sequencing platform like Smartlead that allows you to add spintax to your email copy. We used to use Apollo.io for cold email sending but they don't offer this feature so we've moved away.
Lots of cold email campaigns fail because they are not targeting the right people. If you have poor engagement you will have poor deliverability. Email service providers want to see that people are engaging with your message.
You used to be able to make a list of CEO's, shotgun a message to them, and book a handful of meetings. Times have changed, and cold email marketing has become more competitive. Emailing people that aren't a good fit will result in increased spam complaints.
The best email marketers make sure that every prospect in their list has a good chance to becoming a buyer. We think the best way to use AI for email marketing is to increase filtering capabilities when building your lists.
You need to go beyond filtering by company size, industry, and job titles. Create your own custom filters that match up with your ICP. Qualtrics wrote a good article about how to create an ICP if you haven't defined yours yet.
How do you know for sure the email address that you have for your prospect is the right one?
You need to be able to answer this question before you begin sending emails to your prospects. Don't sequence a lead until you have confirmation that their email address is legit. Guessing that an email is correct and getting it wrong can have major consequences.
You should understand what spam traps are if you're sending cold email messages. They are the primary reason you need to confirm your prospects email addresses beforehand.
Email verification services are cheap and easy to use.
Hacked BD builds a lot of lists in Apollo.io, and they have a "verified" filter that you can use.
Try an email verification tool if you get your leads from another source or from a virtual assistant. We would recommend using Zerobounce's email validation service.
Use plain text only for cold email messages. Email service providers don't like it when you include rich content in your messages.
The only exception to this is if adding an image, video, or link boosts your response rate. Email service providers will put emails into the inbox if they have high engagement.
Hacked BD has not seen images/videos/links increase response rates enough, so we don't include them.
Email marketers need to understand the CAN-SPAM act. This act is easy to comply with.
Your emails need to include a method of unsubscribing. They need to include an address. Your emails can't be misleading.
Tracking email open rates seems like a logical thing to do. It allows you to optimize your subject line and preview text.
To track email opens you need to include something called a tracking pixel in your message. Including a tracking pixel lets email service providers know that your email is promotional in nature. They don't want promotional emails in the inbox, and will move you to another tab.
Email service providers use phone numbers to identify senders that are using multiple domains. We don't recommend including a phone number in your email signature because of this.
