Cold Email Deliverability: 7 Ways to Avoid Spam
Cold emails must reach the inbox - not the spam box. Here's how to make sure your emails get there:
- Set Up Email Proof: Use SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to show your emails are real and safe.
- Warm Up Your Domain and IPs: Begin slow and slowly send more emails to make email hosts trust you.
- Write Spam-Free Text: Skip words that set off spam alerts, too many links, or too much style.
- Use a Clear Email Setup: Have your own IPs and domains to keep your sender name good.
- Keep Email Lists Clean: Often check addresses and take off ones that do not work or are old.
- Watch Your Email Stats: Keep an eye on how many open, bounce, and get to the inbox to spot and fix issues fast.
- Make Emails Feel Personal: Change emails for the person to keep them reading and stop spam notes.
Quick Facts:
- Only 81% of emails make it to inboxes, and 85% may be seen as spam.
- A good, clean cold email plan can give up to a 40:1 ROI in tech jobs.
Pro Tip: Tools like Infraforge help set up, watch, and keep emails right, letting you get inbox rates of 85% or more. Start with these moves to help your emails go far and get good results.
The ONLY Email Deliverability Checklist You’ll EVER Need
1. Start Email Safety Steps
Email safety steps are like your web ID, showing mail servers you are a safe sender. Without these steps, your emails might look bad and end up in spam. Here's what each key step does: SPF checks who is allowed to send mails for you, DKIM makes sure no one changed the mail, and DMARC decides what to do with mails that fail SPF or DKIM tests.
New facts tell us that email safety blocks 46% of mails from getting to inboxes. By 2024, mail services will ask all senders to use these safety steps, and those who send lots of mails must use SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Put in SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
To add these steps, you need to set up some DNS records for your site. Here is a short look at each step and what it does:
| Protocol | Purpose | How It Works | Security Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPF | Checks if sender is okay. | Puts allowed IPs and domains in a public DNS list. | Stops fake sender names. |
| DKIM | Proves who sent the mail. | Uses secret and open keys in the DNS to add a tag. | Keeps email safe from changes and fakes. |
| DMARC | Sets rules if emails do not pass SPF/DKIM. | Lays out steps in the DNS for emails that fail. | Makes sure sender and message are real and right. |
To check your SPF record now, use tools like MxToolbox or Google Apps Toolbox. Then, make an SPF record that lists all the apps that can send emails for your domain. For example:
v=spf1 a mx include:_spf.example.com -all
Put this as a TXT entry in your domain's DNS settings.
For DKIM, make a public key through your email provider's admin spot. Add this key as a TXT record in your DNS settings, and turn on email signing so all sent emails are signed.
To set up DMARC, start with a watch policy using a record like this:
v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:your_email@example.com;
Add this as a TXT entry in your DNS settings. When it's up, use tools like Postmark or dmarcian to watch DMARC reports and see how your emails are handled. As time goes, move your policy from "none" to "quarantine" and then to "reject."
With these steps done, focus on fitting your domain settings to help your sender fame more.
Fit Your Domain Settings
It's key that your domain settings line up well to help email reach its spot. DMARC fitting means the domain in the "From" line matches the domain checked by SPF and/or DKIM. You can pick strict fitting (a full match) or easy fitting (a match at the group level). For cold email drives, especially with subdomains for each one, easy fitting is good for safety and move space.
To make this easy, think about using tools that do it for you.
Use Infraforge for Easy DNS Work
Doing DNS records by hand can be slow and full of goofs, more when you could hold other domains. Infraforge makes this easy by automating the setup for DMARC, SPF, and DKIM by what’s best. With just a few taps, the program fixes DNS records, tracking custom domains too. This auto work cuts slips and makes sure your check setups stay fresh as email rules change. It's a top tool for big cold email drives fast and well.
2. Grow and Keep Your Sender Fame
After you set up email checks, your next task is to work on growing and keeping your sender fame. This fame is key if you want your emails to end up in the inbox and not in the spam folder. Email services watch what you do, looking closely at things like bounce rates, spam reports, and how much people look at your emails. If your fame falls, your new email plans might not even start.
To build a strong sender fame needs time and real effort. You can’t just start by sending loads of emails right away. You must start slow, watch your numbers, and fix any problems that pop up.
Warm Up Your Mailboxes and IPs
When you begin with a new domain or IP, email services need to see you send emails well and steadily before they trust you. This warming up means slowly upping your email count over a few weeks. It usually takes 3–6 weeks to get trusty delivery.
Expert Justin Foulk, in August 2024, said to start with no more than 50 emails per IP in the start. For instance, if you have three IPs, you send 150 emails on the first day. Then, raise this amount by 1.5 to 2 times each day, based on the email type. Marketing emails, which change more, should stick to a 1.5 to 1.8 jump, while other emails can go up faster.
Start with your most active users first. These are the ones more likely to open and use your emails, helping your fame grow quick. Begin with small groups and add more as your fame gets better. Keep it steady - if you send 50 emails on Monday, don’t shoot up to 500 on Tuesday. Big jumps can alarm email services.
Keep in mind that most mailbox providers judge your past 30 days of activity. If you pause emails for 30 days, your IP "cools" and you must start warming up again.
Check Bounce Rates and Complaints
Your sender fame is closely linked to your email numbers. To keep a good fame, make sure your hard bounce rate is under 5% and your spam reports are less than 0.08%. Hard bounces happen when emails go to bad addresses, showing bad list keeping. Spam reports mean people didn’t want your email.
"Email deliverability metrics are like vital signs that show the health of your email efforts." - Anjali Nair
Watch the rates of getting there, being seen, and being clicked to know how well you are doing. Delivery rate tells if your emails are making it to servers. A fall in this area could mean tech problems or bad rep. Open rates, which should be around 15% to 25% based on your work field, show if your name and title look good. On the other hand, click-through rates show if your email content grips people. If both opening and clicking rates are low, it might show there are issues in getting your emails delivered.
If you see a drop in getting your emails delivered, cut down how many you send by 25-30%, until things look normal again. It's much better to send fewer emails that get to where they should, than to just send lots that don't get through.
Use Infraforge's Tools to Keep a Good Name
Infraforge makes it simple to keep your name good with tools that do what was said before. The setup gives you your own IP addresses, so you have full say over your rep. Unlike shared IPs, where others could mess up your name, having your own means you can keep it safe.
The Masterbox feature puts all your email spots in one place, showing how your emails are doing, live. This helps you spot and fix things like too many rejections or little interest before they get bad.
Infraforge also has auto safety to keep your name safe. Set things like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are there to make sure your emails clear security tests. Stuff like SSL and domain hiding stop blocks linked to domains and keep email rerouting safe.
"During my time at a Fortune 500 company and now across all our products, Infraforge has been my go-to solution for Email Infrastructure. Its deliverability and impact are unmatched. If you're serious about outreach and want the best tool in the market, Infraforge is the only choice." - Rahul Lakhaney, Former VP, Gartner, now CEO @ Enrich.so and Maximise
With Infraforge, you can hit inbox rates of 85% or more, and rates over 90% are seen as top-level. Always check how often your emails are opened and replied to. This helps you keep an eye on your email reach. If few people are engaging, your emails might be going to spam. Use tools like Google Postmaster to follow your domain and IP status over time. Being active with these details can help you fix problems early, making sure your cold email plans go well.
3. Write Spam-OK Email Text
How your email is made plays a big part in if it ends up in an inbox or seen as spam. Even perfect tricks in set up won't save a bad email from spam filters. Since 160 billion spam emails are sent each day and about 20% of emails don’t make it through, making good, clear email text is key to get your first emails read.
Spam filters look at more than just words - they check the whole form and feel of your email. Too much styling, lots of links, bad words, or text that seems fake can all make it seem like spam. So, try to make emails that are true and add real worth. Shaping up your words and avoiding common spam traps is a good first step.
Skip Spam Trigger Words
While some words can be a problem, where and how you use them matters. A few "trigger words" used right won’t mess up your email’s chances, but using many, mixing them with too much styling, or not getting enough reads can cause issues.
Be careful with words that promise too much (like "100% free" or "instant results"), push too hard (like "act now" or "limited time"), or seem off (like "hidden" or "secret"). Also, don't fill your emails with hard tech talk.
For example, instead of saying, "FREE for a short time only! Act NOW before this GREAT deal ends!", try a more down-to-earth style: "I saw your new blog on sales automation and thought our study might help your team." This way feels more valued and personal rather than pushy.
Also, how you format counts. Don’t use ALL CAPS, too many “!!”, bright colors, or stuff your email with too many links. These, with spammy words, can get your email marked.
Make it Personal with Smart Bits
Making it personal turns standard emails into ones that match and matter to the person reading it. It’s more than just using their name - it’s about making emails that hit on their specific needs and likes. This not only keeps you away from spam filters but also gets more reads. Start with smart bits (like {{First_Name}} or {{Company}}) and add references to recent work or news in their field.
For instance, personal subject lines can raise your open rates by 26% and greatly increase clicks. In January 2025, Woodpecker.co found that deeper personal touches - like noting a specific blog post or a fresh tweet - got much more attention compared to basic emails. An email that talks about a blog owner’s newest post on "how to set up a sales funnel for SaaS" and offers a linked study will do way better than just an email asking for a guest post.
Active lines that speak right to the reader's needs work best, not just talk about what you are trying to sell. Group your targets into small packs and make a plan for each by their work type, company size, or job can help your emails hit the mark. This kind of one-on-one touch not only boosts how much people interact but also ups the chances your email stays out of the spam box.
See Content with Infraforge's Tools
Before you send it off, test your email with Infraforge's tools to keep your sender score good and help your email get where it should go. These tools look over your email for spam red flags, making sure your messages end up in the inbox not the spam box.
Infraforge's checks look at things that could hurt your spam score. They watch for risky words in your email's top and middle, make sure your HTML and plain text are the same, and see if there's a good mix of text and pictures. These tests help you find out problems sooner.
More than just finding spammy words, Infraforge checks how your email is put together, how many links you have, and how it's set up. They spot issues like too much big letters, too many marks, or too many links compared to words. This makes sure your emails are easy and right to talk to, which is key for reaching out cold.
Testing what you send often stops small troubles from becoming big as you send more. Infraforge's tests let you fix things fast, helping you keep a good spot in inboxes even when you send lots of emails. Plus, with easy set-up with common email tools, you can get your content just right without messing up your usual steps.
sbb-itb-b73f58f
4. Use Your Own Email Set-Up
If you want to send better emails, changing your email set-up is key. Your email set-up is big in how well your cold emails work. While shared email services might cost less, they have downsides - your good name can be linked to what other users do. Using your own email set-up lets you own your sender name and get better results. Strong sender name and right content can make more of your emails end up in the inbox.
For instance, Gmail gets 78.17% of emails to the inbox and 11.92% go to spam, while Outlook puts 52.71% in the inbox and 44.86% in spam. With your own set-up, you can fit what you do to match what these services like, getting past the limits of shared systems.
Pick Your Own IPs Over Shared Ones
Using your own IPs means you control your sender name and avoid trouble from other folks. Shared IPs can pull your email success down if other users act spammy. By picking your own IPs, any issues are yours to fix.
Email service folks often push shared IPs for those who send less than 100,000 emails. Yet, even those who send fewer emails can use the good points of your own IPs, like better email checks and sending options. Your own IPs also let you get a Sender Cert, which can help your emails get to the inbox. While your own IPs may cost more than shared ones, putting money in often helps by cutting down issues and bettering inbox rates.
For example, Infraforge charges $99 per IP each month (paid every three months) for your own IPs. This not only puts you in charge of your sender name but also sets up the tech side for you, letting you make better outreach campaigns. To build more trust, think about adding SSL certs and hiding your domain name.
Add SSL and Hide Your Domain for Safety
SSL certs and hiding your domain help keep your brand safe while making users trust you more. Hiding your domain covers your real URL by sending traffic to your real site through SSL and other services. This way, you control your brand, look more true, and stop bad folks from using your main domain for spam.
Infraforge makes this easy by setting it all up for you. They charge $2 per domain each month (paid every three months or yearly). With Infraforge's EmailGuard, setting up is easy: go to "Domain Masking Proxy", add a new proxy, copy the IP they give, change your DNS records, and write the domain info you need. The right SSL set-up keeps all email traffic hidden, guarding your data and keeping your users' info safe.
Set Up Many IPs for Big Sends
When you send out lots of cold emails, it's key to use many IPs to keep emails going through. IP rotation - using different IPs to send emails - cuts down the chance of any one IP getting blocked. This way, you keep your email sends smooth.
To do this right, you need to slowly get new IPs ready to build up a good standing, keep an eye on how each IP does, and share out your sending work well. Things that shape an IP's standing are its past, tied domains, block listing, and how much mail it sends. Handling many IPs lets you deal with risks and keep things running well, even if one IP hits a snag.
Infraforge makes handling many IPs easy with automatic set-up. Their tool helps you add many IPs and has tools for balancing loads and watching how well you send emails, to help make sure they get where they're going.
5. Keep Your Email Lists Clean and Checked
It's key to keep your email lists clean for better inbox arrival. Bad email addresses can hurt your good name and set off spam traps. Every year, email lists go bad by 22%, but about 40% of email senders hardly ever clean their lists.
Sending mails to bad or bouncing addresses shows email services you might spam, which can drop your chance to get your mails through. A clean list not only makes sure your mails get to inboxes but also builds your good name over time. So, start using check and block tools now.
Check Email Addresses Right Away
Checking emails right when they’re typed in makes sure each is right. It checks the format, makes sure the domain is real, and sees if the email can get mail. It’s better to catch bad addresses when they’re entered than to clean up later.
This check is done right away using APIs or tools that link with your forms or systems. Quick checks find common issues like typing errors (like "gmial.com" not "gmail.com"), throw-away emails, and fake details. Tools like Clearout, ZeroBounce, and NeverBounce smoothly link for quick checks. Plus, this way makes sure your leads can get emails, stays away from spam traps, and lifts lead quality.
After checks, keep your lists neat with block lists for ongoing issues.
Keep Block Lists
Block lists are key for leaving out emails that unsubscribed, bounced, or got flagged. Keeping these lists fresh protects your good name and follows rules like the CAN-SPAM Act.
While most email systems handle block list work, know what should be on the list. A good block list usually has:
- Unsubscribed folks
- Emails marked as spam
- Addresses that bounced
- Addresses blocked often because they fail to get mail
For example, MailPoet took 10,000 inactive people off a list of 38,000. This move raised their open rates from 20% to 40%. Data shows that 25% of folks make up over 80% of mail opens. For smaller lists (under 5,000), about 30% of contacts older than a year are not active. For bigger lists of more than 100,000, the drop can hit 30% in just three months.
Before cutting inactive people, try getting them back. If they don’t answer, it’s best to remove them and focus on those who do open mails to help your mail reach.
Use Infraforge's Big Check Tools
Infraforge has big check tools that link well with your cold mail ways to up your mail reach. Its auto DNS setup makes sure your domains are set right with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, building trust with mail services. Infraforge also makes handling many domains easier with big DNS changes – a must for big cold mail plans using different IP addresses.
"Infraforge quickly helped to solve a challenge regarding email deliverability. What I like about Infraforge is its ease of use and quality of support." - Silver L, CEO
Using clean email lists with their own IPs boosts how well emails get sent. Sending from checked addresses on these IPs puts you in full charge of your sender score. This way, your top list boosts email results on its own, not hit by other senders. Also, Infraforge's watch tools help you keep an eye on IP state and how emails are sent, so you can fix problems early. The platform works well with known tools like Salesforge, making keeping lists clean easy in your work steps.
6. Watch and Boost Email Delivery Scores
Be sure to keep a close look at how well your emails are reaching their target. This acts like an alert system for your plans. It lets you spot trouble - like when your emails go to spam or if people view you less kindly as a sender - before these issues slow you down. You must follow the key stats and change your plan based on what you learn. These stats show how good your emails work and where you need to do better.
Keep an Eye on Main Inbox Hits and Spam Issues
Your inbox placement rate shows how many emails land in the main inbox and not the spam box. A rate of 85% or more is good, while anything over 90% is great. Why care? Because emails in spam seldom get opened or answered.
High rates of spam complaints can hurt how people see you as a sender and keep your future emails from reaching inboxes. You should try to keep these complaints very low.
Open rates give you a quick look at how your subject lines work and how people see you as a sender. For instance, the average open rate fell from 36% in 2023 to 27.7% in 2024. For cold emails, aim for an open rate of 60% or more to make sure you grab attention.
Reply rates are key in cold reaching out. While the average rate of answers is 5.1%, top efforts can get 20% or more. Emails that really speak to the reader often get reply rates as high as 18%.
Bounce rates ought to be less than 3% to keep a good sender reputation. Clean your email list often to keep this rate low and make sure your emails reach real addresses.
| Cold Email Stats | Aim for Success |
|---|---|
| Open Rate | At least 60% |
| Reply Rate | At least 20% |
| Bounce Rate | Under 3% |
| Unsubscribe Rate | Under 10% |
Make Better Use of Feedback Loops
Feedback loops from big email names like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook are key to fixing your email work. These tools tell you when people call your emails spam, so you can fix problems before they get big.
Check the data on complaints every week to spot any big jumps. Fast action can help you find and fix bad email IDs or content. Looking into complaint trends can show if the problem is in your subject lines, how often you send emails, or who you send them to. If some parts keep causing complaints, you might need to change your plan.
Splitting your email list by how much people interact can change a lot. People who often engage with your emails are less likely to call them spam, but those who don’t may need to be cut off or reached in a new way.
Testing and changing your emails based on what feedback shows is another strong way to get better results. For example, sending more emails after a first cold one can make replies jump by nearly 50%, but you need to get the timing and content right to dodge complaints.
"Reaching the inbox isn't your goal - engaging people is." - Matt Blumberg, CEO, Bolster
Making it easy to unsubscribe can cut down on spam complaints a lot. It's a small move that makes people trust you more and lets your campaigns run well.
Check Infraforge's Deliverability Heatmaps
Infraforge has tools that let you see how your emails are doing right now with different companies and in different places. It checks things like IP health, how emails are being sent, and how mailboxes act, all to help you see problems before they get big.
One key thing it does is set up your DNS for you, which keeps your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records right. These are key for keeping a good name as a sender and for not hitting spam traps.
Infraforge also lets you have your own IP, giving clear views on how your domains are doing. This is very good for big jobs with many domains, helping you see which ones are doing well and which ones are not.
The platform works with tools like Salesforge, linking how well you deliver emails to how well your whole campaign is doing. This helps you see the effects of changes in your email plans and lets you make needed changes.
"Infraforge quickly helped to solve a challenge regarding email deliverability. What I like about Infraforge is its ease of use and quality of support." - Silver L, CEO
Infraforge keeps an eye on things and tells you right away if there are shifts in how things get sent or if your IP has problems. This means you can sort out issues fast, instead of finding them when it's too late.
Starting at $17 per month for each mailbox, Infraforge grows to fit what you need for cold email plans. It zeros in on key numbers for reaching out, making it a good pick to make your email work better.
Conclusion: Easy Ways to Stay Out of Spam
To keep your cold emails out of spam folders and in inboxes, you need more than one quick trick. You must use many plans together. 70% of emails have at least one spam issue, showing how key it is to deal with these things as a group.
When you use all these plans as a team, you make trust and up your odds of getting into the inbox. Keep an eye on your numbers too - it lets you see and fix troubles before they mess up your work.
For cold emails, your goal should be a 95% to 98% delivery rate. And don’t look past the need for a personal touch: emails made just for the person get 75% more opens than plain ones. These steps help keep you out of spam and set you up for wins that last a long time.
If email tech is too much, tools like Infraforge can help. They do the hard tasks, so you don't have to set up DNS or stress over IP warm-up. In five minutes, you could have your email set up and ready. From DMARC and SPF start to watching deliveries, Infraforge does it all.
As an expert says:
"Unlike Gmail or Outlook, Infraforge was created specifically for cold outreach. Each aspect of our infrastructure is optimized for excellent deliverability."
The price tells all: $651 a month for 200 mailboxes with Infraforge, but $1,680 with Google Workspace. That's a big save in cash for firms big on reach.
The end thought? You can't just grab one or two plans. Good email pros use a full plan. 22% check their delivery rates more often than most. Start with easy stuff like email proof and list clean-up, then go to own setups and steady checks. By doing all this, your cold email plan won't hit spam and will get good results.
FAQs
Why should you keep your email list clean and check it often, and how does it make your emails reach better?
Keeping your email list neat and current is key if you want your emails to go into inboxes and not spam. By making sure you email only to valid and busy people, you can lower the number of failed emails, avoid spam complaints, and protect your good name as a sender.
A list that is looked after well not only helps with getting emails through - it also boosts how many people open and click on your emails. These actions show email services that your messages are worth sending, so they're more likely to get to your people. On the other hand, not caring for your list can lead to more failed emails and bad delivery, making it tough to talk to your group. Checking your list often is an easy way to help your cold email efforts work better.