Best practices for programmatic mail

I've said this before and I'll say it again — we've been struggling.. with cold email deliverability. Cold email infrastructure is frustrating - even when following best practices, deliverability remains inconsistent. I researched everything to solve this problem once & for all. Let me break down what actually works: 1) Infrastructure & Setup: -> Domains & inboxes - Never send cold from your primary domain - Use 3-5 sibling domains, 3-5 inboxes each - Keep branding believable; avoid spammy TLDs (.tk, .ml) - Set up Google Workspace or M365 for legitimacy -> Authentication - SPF covers every sender, DKIM at 2048-bit minimum - DMARC from p=none → quarantine once stable (never jump to reject) - Alignment across From/Return-Path is non-negotiable - Test with mail-tester.com weekly -> Compliance - Clear opt-out, real physical address, legitimate interest docs (EU) - Honor opt-outs within 24 hrs max 2) Sending Strategy: -> Warm-up - New domains need 8-12 weeks minimum - Simulate real engagement (opens/replies/forwards) - Use warmup tools like mailwarm, lemwarm or Instantly.ai -> Volume & Pacing - Start 10-20/day per inbox, add +20-50 weekly if metrics stay green - Randomize send windows; 60-120s gaps b/w sends - Respect recipient time zones (9am-5pm local) -> Timing - B2B sweet spots: Tue-Thu late morning & early afternoon - Avoid Mondays (inbox overload) & Fridays (weekend mode) 3) Content & Copy: -> Subject lines - 6-10 words, human and specific - Personalized context beats cleverness every time - Avoid fake urgency, ALL CAPS, excessive punctuation!!! - Test: "Quick question about [specific company pain point]" -> Body - Short, skimmable, 1 idea + 1 ask maximum - Personalize in layers: hyper-custom for top 10%, segment-level for rest - Use natural language, avoid marketing speak - Images and links kill deliverability - use sparingly -> CTA - Make next step tiny (15-min scan, 1-question reply, "worth a chat?") - Single CTA only - multiple options confuse and reduce response 4) List & Data: -> Sourcing - Prioritize intent and fit over volume always - Dedupe domains (max 1-2 people per company per campaign) - Use Apollo, ZoomInfo or Clay for verified contacts -> Hygiene - Verify syntax + domain + mailbox before sending - Remove hard bounces instantly (never retry) - Prune unengaged cohorts quarterly - Never recycle unsubscribed contacts -> Segmentation - Hot/Warm/Cold bands by recency + engagement - Throttle "Cold" segments heavily 5) Monitoring & KPIs: - Delivery rate ≥98%; investigate anything <95% - Bounce rate <2% (≤1% is excellent) - Spam complaints <0.1% absolute ceiling - Track domain/IP reputation, blacklist status weekly - Use seed accounts & inbox tests ps. Have a response/POA for objections like “not the right person” / “not decision maker” / “No longer at company” / “have in-house team already” / “please contact john from abc” You can also use Valley on LinkedIn - book 2 demos/week for every seat.

After reviewing data from 1,000s of inboxes at RevGrowth, these 8 practices have made the biggest impact for consistent 99% email deliverability:   Most teams skip at least one of these, then wonder why their cold emails land in spam.   Here's what we do:   1. Use Secondary Domains - Never send from your main domain > We buy secondary domains through Porkbun for cheap, easy management   2. Track Replies Only - Open and click tracking hurt deliverability > I keep reply tracking on and turn everything else off. Clean signal, less risk   3. Send Fewer Emails Per Mailbox - I stick to 30 emails/day per mailbox, max > Spread your volume across several domains. Fewer red flags, more consistency   4. Warm Up Slowly - Ramp up sending volume over time. > Start low, increase gradually. This builds trust with inbox providers.   5. Double-Verify Your Lists - Bad data kills sender reputation > We use LeadMagic, Icypeas, and Prospeo.io for email search, then verify with LeadMagic. Clean lists = low bounce rates   6. Use Modern Sending Platforms - Old-school SEPs drag down deliverability > I recommend EmailBison or Smartlead   7. Automate CRM Syncing - Manual updates cause errors and missed follow-ups. > OutboundSync handles real-time syncing with HubSpot or Salesforce. Less manual work, more accuracy.   8. Stick to Plain Text - Links and images lower inbox rates. > I write text-only emails. They look more human and get better placement.   Our team applies these 8 steps in every workflow ourselves & all client accounts.   What’s been your biggest deliverability challenge lately?

These last weeks we’ve been struggling with cold email deliverability. Cold email infrastructure can be a real headache. Even when you follow every best practice, deliverability still fluctuates. I’ve spent weeks digging into the problem to fix it for good. Let me show you what actually works. 1) Domains & Inboxes - Never send from your main company domain. - Use three to five secondary domains, each with several inboxes. - Keep domains aligned with your brand - Use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for credibility. 2) Authentication - Set up SPF for every sender and DKIM - Start DMARC with p=none, then move to quarantine once stable. - Ensure proper alignment between From and Return-Path addresses. - Test deliverability weekly with Mail-Tester. 3) Compliance - Include a real address and a working unsubscribe link. - For EU outreach, keep a record of legitimate interest. - Process opt-outs within 24 hours. 4) Warm-up - New domains need three to five weeks of gradual ramp-up. - Simulate real engagement such as opens, replies, and forwards. - Use tools like Mailwarm, Lemwarm, or Instantly. 5) Volume & Pacing - Begin with five to ten emails per inbox per day. - Increase gradually if engagement stays positive. - Randomize sending intervals and respect local business hours. 6) Timing - B2B emails perform best from Tuesday to Thursday, late morning or early afternoon. - Avoid Mondays and Fridays. 7) Subject Lines - Keep them under ten words, conversational, and specific. - Context always beats cleverness. - Avoid fake urgency or exaggerated punctuation. - Example: Quick question about [prospect’s company or challenge] 8) Body - Keep your message short, clear, and easy to scan with one main idea and one ask. - Personalize deeply for top prospects and by segment for the rest. - Write like a human, not a marketer. - Limit links or images as they can hurt deliverability. 9) CTA - Make the next step small, such as “worth a quick chat?” or “15-min fit check?”. - Stick to a single call to action to avoid confusing readers. 10) Sourcing - Focus on quality and intent over quantity. - Avoid reaching out to multiple people from the same company. - Use GojiberryAI to find high-intent leads efficiently. 11) Data Hygiene - Validate all emails before sending. - Remove bounces immediately and clean inactive contacts quarterly. - Never re-add unsubscribed leads. 12) Segmentation - Group leads by engagement level: hot, warm, and cold. - Reduce frequency for colder segments. 13) Tracking & Optimization - Keep delivery above 98 percent and bounce rate under 2 percent. - Monitor domain and IP reputation weekly. - Use seed accounts to check inbox placement regularly. Despite the drop in cold DM volume, we weren’t worried because we have several marketing channels running. We use GojiberryAI to find high-intent leads and run automated LinkedIn outreach, which helps us book dozens of demos every week !

We scaled to $6M ARR with Instantly.ai powering > 70% of our cold email engine. Here are the 5 biggest lessons I learned sending millions of emails: 1. The list is the strategy Sending your message to the right person has the biggest impact on your conversions. Most emailers spend a lot of time figuring out what to write and little time building out their list. Do the opposite. Hint: Identify people struggling with a problem you can solve. For example, we ran campaigns for an HR SaaS that helped with employee churn. We looked at Glassdoor reviews and the average employee tenure. If employees stayed under 18 months, & reviews were bad, we hypothetized that these companies were a good fit. ↳ Note: Instantly has an AI list builder that'll help you build accurate lead lists. 2. Lead with value Most cold prospecting try to get. "can I pick your brain on?" "can I have 15 min of your time?" Remember you're interrupting people's day. The best outreach gives. The best way to do so? Think about what you'd do for them if they were your clients. And do it already... for free. For example, I ran a cold email campaign targeting recruitment companies. I figured that if I they were my clients... I'd build a list of Talent Acquisition Directors in companies hiring for 10+ roles. So, I built the list. I sent it to them, along with a tutorial on how I did it. I had more leads than I knew what to do with. 3. Deliverability is king Good deliverability doesn't mean your campaigns will succeed. But bad deliverability guarantees they'll fail. You want to make sure to follow 'best practices': - < 30 emails per day per mailbox - SPF, DKIM, DMARC Setup - Avoid open rate tracking - Secondary domains - Email warm-up - Spintax ... and, of course, sending emails you'd like to receive. ↳ Note: Instantly comes with a DFY email setup that builds your email infrastructure, & includes email warm-up. 4. Reply to leads fast. Replying fast = more meetings from your positive replies. Ideally, you'll have one person regularly checking your master inbox and replying whenever a lead is interested. Truth is, most stop when they get a positive reply. But that's where the real work begins. ↳ Note: Instantly, recently released AI reply agents that draft personalized replies on your behalf. You can let them run on autopilot... or with a human-in-the-loop (recommended). 5. Write for 1 person, then scale. Most build the biggest list possible and come up with a message that will appeal to everyone. But, appealing to everyone = appealing to no one. When I start new campaigns, I write the first 25 messages by hand, looking at my prospects' LinkedIn profiles. The beauty of doing it manually is that you find patterns that you can later on scale with tech & AI. -- What would you add? P.S: I wrote a 14-page guide laying out how our $6M ARR outbound agency books meetings using AI & Tech. Would you like to see it? Let me know and I'll send it over :)

It’s not that people aren’t using email marketing and automation. It’s that they aren’t using it well. Usecase: Onboarding Wrong way -> Nearly every B2B product has an onboarding flow. Sometimes from their marketing tool, sometimes from their CS tool, and nearly always it’s generic, unhuman, and not segmented. Better way -> Over the last decade, working with countless lifecycle teams, here is what I have found elevates an onboarding sequence and increases activation… - Stick to no more than 3-4 emails in the first 2 weeks - Audit your whole lifecycle flow to make sure they aren’t getting 4 standard onboarding emails, and another 2 triggered emails based on having not put in their CC yet and another 2 emails from sales. - Have your onboarding come from a person, not just the brand generically. name@domain.com will inbox better and get more engagement than team@, support@ etc. - Set expectations. In that first email let them know the core things that will help them be successful and to expect emails around those. Let them know the "when" - Don’t make them dig. What’s not helpful is the “If you have questions about setting up your first XYZ, here is the help doc” and they get linked to a 50 page monstrosity. Instead, link them to a specific video (that is up to date!) that walks them through step by step. Usecase: Newsletter Wrong way -> You send a newsletter that reshares your favorite blog article or social media post. You figure, if I have a good message, why not distribute it in more spots? Better way -> You want every channel to have a unique reason to go there. A better way is to have your social posts tease the value, and then the newsletter can expand on it. Or you take your great blog content and get a dozen experts to weigh in and make the newsletter send that. Other best practices…. - Use a personal name and company in the send-from name. “Casey at ActiveCampaign” for example. And have a unique tone of voice. All the top newsletters in B2B from Growth Unhinged, to Scaling SaaS to ProducTea come from an individual perspective, not the generic brand. - In terms of value of engagement, think opens < clicks < page views < replies. Replies are the gold standard that will get you into the primary folder and build relationships. - Have a clear purpose. Your customer newsletter is very likely different from your lead newsletter. Provide unique information and perspective. - Set expectations in a welcome email. The best newsletters do three things really well when you sign up… 1) Give you a recap of exactly when you will hear from them and what about “We message you on Fridays at 8AM PST about a usecase of a brand that scaled with SEO to their first $1m ARR”. 2) Give them content they can engage with immediately on your blog or elsewhere. 3) ask a targeted question to drive more engagement. What other applications of email marketing would you love to optimize in your business? I am happy to add insights in a future post.

Is your mail sliding into the spam folder? Has your reputation slipped to "low" in Google Postmaster Tools? Does Microsoft SNDS think you stink like a kid who just came in from recess? Well, I have good news and bad news. 🟢 Good first: Most major mailbox providers (MBPs) provide methods of contacting them! Gmail, Microsoft, Yahoo, Comcast, Apple (and more!) all offer sender support forms or publish postmaster email addresses so that you can reach out directly when you're encountering an issue delivering mail to their users. 🔴 Now for the bad: These MBPs receive a ton of submissions, most of them from spammers. They already have information on your traffic, which is why you're blocked or bulked in the first place. They're not going to just fix whatever problem you're having because you asked nicely. They're definitely not going to fix it if you're being rude. They don't care about your business model, or your bottom line, or your legal requirements. What they care most about is their own customers. And if you're sending to the right people, then those people are also *your* customers, and you should care about them, too! So, even though it's an option to ask the MBP for help, it's probably not the first (or best) one, because all the evidence they have available so far indicates that your mail is potentially dangerous, and maybe you are too. Your job now is to demonstrate that they got it wrong, ideally using your actions and not just words. Before submitting that sender contact form, review the MBP's guidelines and your own practices. After all, their playground, their rules! Each MBP has its own quirks, but the basics tend to be the same. If you're not sure where to start, it's here! 🛝 Rule 1: Keep spam complaints as low as possible. The best way to do that? Get permission, always. Maintain a healthy list by removing bounces and sending to your most-engaged subscribers. Make it easy to unsubscribe, and honor unsubscribe requests when you get them. 🛝 Rule 2: Authenticate your mail. Use SPF, DKIM, and DMARC so you earn the deliverability you deserve (and don't forget to actually review your DMARC reports!). Authentication doesn't guarantee inbox placement, but you'll be left in the dust without it. 🛝 Rule 3: Be predictably yourself. MBPs and subscribers both reward consistency, and results tend to be stronger when everyone knows what to expect, when. Send similar volumes at similar times on similar days, ensuring increases are gradual to give the filters (and the audience) time to adjust. If you're ramping up and see increased delays, blocks, or complaints, or lower opens than expected, slow down and reassess. It's possible that the segment is no longer viable, or requires a different approach. If these bases are covered, THEN you can reach out. Include your name, your company, your domain & IP, the specific outcome you're having (including the bounce reason, if applicable), and what you've done to improve. And be nice!

Drawing from 300+ campaigns we’ve run for B2B clients like Shopify over the past 8 years, I wanted to share a few key observations on how Direct Mail is driving results in B2B today. Here are 4 trends we’re seeing: 1) FREQUENCY LOOKS DIFFERENT IN B2B In consumer DM, spacing matters. You usually want ~30-60 days between drops to avoid cannibalization. In B2B, shorter windows often perform better. We’ve seen touch 2 (sent <30 days after touch 1) drive much higher response. Not always -- but enough that we test this with every client. 2) SHARED MAIL FOR B2B IS FINALLY REAL Our standalone B2B clients kept asking if there was a shared mail option to lower CPM. There wasn’t, so we developed one! It’s the only B2B shared mail solution we know of that blends low cost per piece, targeted B2B reach, and the premium branding/design SLM is known for. 3) ENVELOPE + LETTER STILL WORKS, BUT.... Envelope with letter or brochure still wins in many high-consideration B2B categories, it gives space to make the rational case. But in testing, self-mailers and panel formats are gaining ground. Less copy. More visual. Still converts. We’re seeing clients rotate these in as “change-up” formats with strong results, and in some cases have now become their new control versions thanks to their performance. 4) PROGRAMMATIC DIRECT MAIL IS A SECRET WEAPON Trigger-based DM is a perfect fit for B2B sales cycles, allowing you to slot direct mail touchpoints into a CRM lead flow. → Lead hits high-intent page but doesn’t convert → DM shows up 3 days later → You meet a lead at a conference → DM shows up with their name on it next week All powered by CRM integration, fully personalized, no manual work. ~~ B2B direct mail is having a moment. Because when you're targeting a narrow prospect pool, you need channels that can reach the right people consistently and efficiently. And direct mail accomplishes just that. The ultimate goal? Building a channel mix that drives awareness and conversions but also compounds ROI across multiple touches. And what’s exciting now is how fast direct mail is evolving to meet that need…from shared mail formats that lower CPMs to programmatic flows that slot into your CRM. If you want to benchmark your B2B DM program or see examples of what’s working across our hundreds of campaigns- just shoot me a message. Happy to share what we’re seeing.

80-85% of the time when a VP of Sales asks me to look at why their outbound is not performing, more often than not one of the MAIN issues is deliverability. As we are handling over 2500-3000 cold email accounts across 120+ clients, 1 day in spam can mean millions of dollars in lost potential revenue. Here is everything we are doing for them (that you can steal) to stay out of SPAM: 1. Email infrastructure: - Use Cloudflare for domains, only buy .com’s, no dashes or weird symbols, use just letters, preferably avoid numbers as well - Make sure SPF, DKIMC, DMARC is setup properly. You can use mail-tester to check your setup - Use Google work emails for other Google emails and alternative providers besides Microsoft - Use Azure accounts for messaging folks on Microsoft work emails . Outlook deliverability is still bad but this is the best solution right now - For Google we still do 2 inboxes, 1 domain in 1 workspace - For Azure accounts it’s a bit wacky 500 emails account under one domain In terms of volume and split we always look at TAM and who you are after. In general for every 30k companies I would target 7.5k prospects each month, which is about 20-25 Google inboxes with some in back up + the 500 Azure accounts. If you are after more enterprise you might need a higher % inboxes in azure, otherwise 15% or below is fine. Ramp sending slowly: - For Google inboxes 35-40 emails per day after 2-3 weeks of gradual ramp - For Azure it’s 3-4 emails per day per inbox, ramp up can be faster 1-2 weeks 2. Tech stack: I can’t stress this enough what you use to send and warm up your emails matters as much as the infrastructure. - For email warm up and sending we use PlusVibe - trust me we tested all of the competitors, this is the best one when it comes to deliverability and features - You should pay more and ask for dedicated residential IPs - this is why we started landing in spam for weeks with our previous provider - Before sending any emails run them through a debouncer like Bouncer 3. Best practices So now everything is set and you can spam random messages right? Nope. - Avoid using spam words - you can use Mailmeteor spam checker to check them - Rotate inboxes - every couple of months we switch inboxes or whenever we see them dropping to below 90-95% on the email warmup - Randomise your content with spyntax - sending the same copy will land you in spam - Change your copy every 3 months at least, even with a lot of variables it can start landing in spam - Don’t track open rates and click through rates - they are vanity metrics, depend on reply rates and lead rates - Avoid links and images - literally any even in your signature - Don’t message people from the same company more than 2-3 times in 1 week - Do spam checks on inboxes - we do these manually at least monthly by messaging other Google and Outlook/Azure inboxes and checking if they go to spam Grab a time here for a free cold email deliverability audit: https://www.hypergen.io/

One of the most common pain points I hear from GTM leaders is that their outbound emails are going to spam. Good news. This is easily avoidable. At Unify, our customers send tens of thousands of emails per month with no deliverability issues. Here are the 7 best practices I’d recommend for ramping up outbound email and avoiding spam/deliverability issues: 1) Email prospects who actually want to hear from you. This should go without saying, but you need to email people who could benefit from your product. If you start just spamming people who have no use for your product, never will, et cetera, you're setting yourself up for email deliverability issues. Even if you technically “could” do it, spray and pray will not deliver results. 2) Use multiple mailboxes per sender. You’ll want to have multiple mailboxes per sender. How many? Best practice here is to have anywhere between 5-10. This inbox count is usually safe to keep sends per inbox at a reasonable level. 3) Send emails from non-core domains. It’s important to have several domains that you can deliver emails from. We send most of our volume through unifygtm.io and unifygtm.co. While we also send outbound emails from unifygtm.com, having alternative domains spreads out the volume and keeps our core domain safe. 4) Warm your inboxes Using a warm-up service will simulate healthy conversation between different mailboxes. You should warm your inboxes for 45-60 days before sending real emails through them. Pro-tip: If you run into deliverability issues as you ramp up your outbound email motion, turn warming back on to improve deliverability health. 5) Nail your IP address setup. You’ll want to send from Non-Gmail IPs. Moving sends to a platform like Sendgrid or Unify managed IPs keeps your deliverability in check. IP addresses are as important as the domain that you deliver from. 6) Keep Volume Reasonable In 2024 it’s important to keep send volume per mailbox reasonable. My current recommendation: Keep your volume of sends between 50-75 a day. If you do need more, then create additional mailboxes. 7) Personalize Emails 1:1 Please, make sure you’re not sending the same generic message over and over. This is an easy way to get picked up as spam by ISPs. Prospects expect a personalized experience, and your outbound will perform better if it is truly personalized (this can be fully automated btw—but that’s a topic for a different post). Question for anyone else deep in email deliverability: what else would you add to this list? Anything I’m missing here? Let me know in the comments.

Any proven way to have better email deliverability? And faster? Honestly no. Each scenario is case by case. I'll give you this. Here are the healthiest sending practices from my clients with the best email deliverability. 1. Fully Authenticated with SPF, DKIM & DMARC ↳ Your email foundation and infrastructure are how you get in the inbox and even protect your brand from any spoofing. 2. Makes Unsubscribing Easy ↳ If the process of leaving the email program is difficult, you'll probably get marked as spam and blocked. 3. Practices Double Opt-in ↳ This filters email sign-ups to the next level. Sending a 2nd email to confirm the consent of marketing emails. 4. Monitors Metrics and Domain & IP Reputation ↳ Watching your click rates, purchase rates, Google Postmaster Tools & Microsoft SNDS will guide you through any changes or improvements. 5. Regularly Cleans Email List ↳ This helps to remove any inactive & no longer existing email addresses. Improving the quality of your list. 6. Never Buying or Scraping Email List ↳ Where did those emails come from? You may waste your money by sending to fake addresses and even Pristine spamtraps that major ISPs are watching. 7. Consistent Email Volume Day by Day ↳ Sudden changes in email volume could cause mailbox providers to flag your emails as spam-like behavior. 8. Segments List by Audience's Behavior ↳ Separate and organize your subscribers based on their engagement and the type of customer they are. This makes the kind of content easier and smoother to send. 9. Not Sending To Inactive Subscribers ↳ Why are you sending it to the guy who hasn't clicked or opened your email in over 2 years? ISPs check how the engagement and if they are seeing extremely low metrics — they may filter you into the spam folder. 10. Not using "FWD" or "RE: "in their Subject Lines ↳ Don't trick your subscribers into opening your campaigns. This is manipulative and deceitful. Subscribers won't appreciate this trickery. 11. Easy to View Content in Dark Mode & Mobile ↳ If your campaigns don't render properly to popular and major devices, people will think it's a scam or might lose revenue on the email. Make sure you test your campaigns with full visibility on these devices. TLDR; > Send consistent email marketing to those consented addresses that are active and engage with your content. > Don't try to trick your subscribers into engaging or buying. > Give them a great email experience. Share this with any email marketers you may know! Follow Edward Ma 🐣 for more content on email marketing and deliveryability.