How to have your emails stop landing in your prospect's spam folder
reach out to me @ matt@closedwonleads.com with any questions

by Matt Herzog

Table of contents
this will be a living document and I will editing it as i find new information, make sure to bookmark it!
  1. Who am I
  1. The problem
  1. Closed Won Leads Outbound Infrastructure
  1. Multi domain & multi inbox strategy
  1. DNS records
  1. Email Sending tools
  1. Inbox warmup
  1. Email Validation
  1. Outbound by the numbers
  1. Suggested tools
  1. How can I Help
Who am I
I have over 3 years of experience running outbound email campaigns for over 20+ tech companies including venture-backed startups, to working at Salesforce.
I also have spent time as a software engineer.
I combine the two disciplines to create highly automated and scalable email campaigns that land in your prospect's inboxes, every time.
The Problem
Gmail and Outlook are intensifying their fight against spam.
This means we can't be doing things that spammers would likely do, including:
  • Including links in emails
  • Sending more than 100 emails per day from a single inbox
Getting flagged as spam can damage your domain's reputation.
Using the same email accounts for outbound campaigns and customer communications can lead to your messages to customers being marked as spam
This strategy offers the best ROI, scalability, and reliability.
Closed Won Leads Email Infrastructure
  1. Multi domain multi inbox approach with google and outlook email inboxes
  1. DNS authentication
  1. DMARC
  1. SPF
  1. DKIM
  1. MX Records
  1. Page Forwarding
  1. Email Sending Tool
  1. Email Warmup & Safeguards
  1. Email Validation
Multi-domain and multi-inbox strategy
Purchase several domains similar to your main one:
  • getclosedwonleads.com
  • tryclosedwonleads.com
Forward these domains to your primary site, like this:
  • getclosedwonleads.com → closedwonleads.com
Focus on acquiring .com domains and use email services from Google and Outlook for reliability.
DNS
  • SPF
  • when you set up your inbox google/outlook will tell you how to set up
  • DMARC
  • DKIM
  • when you set up your inbox google/outlook will tell you how to set up
  • MX
  • Check your domain at www.mxtoolbox.com to make sure MX records are set up
  • Forwarding
  • Check your registrar (cloudflare, porkbun, godaddy, etc) on how to do 301 redirect
  • redirect your newly purchased doamin to your main domain
  • getclosedwonleads.com → closedwonleads.com
  • Custom tracking
  • The tool that you're sending emails will have a custom tracking domain and use their docs
Email Sending tools
We use smartlead.ai
  1. Amazing API for automations and custom fucntionality
  1. Unlimited Inboxes
  1. In platform email warmup
Dont use platforms that charge per seat - it will be impossible to scale your outreach without running into problems
  1. Outreach
  1. Salesloft
Don't use tools that are primarily for marketing emails that people opted in to your email marketing list - total different than reaching out to people via cold email
  1. Hubspot
  1. Mailchimp
Email Warmup
It's a process of building the reputation of your domain and inbox.
You join a network of other inboxes that will automatically send emails to you, and you send emails to them, helping you build your email reputation together.
Warm up for 2-3 weeks.
Smartlead.ai does this on their platform.
Safeguarding
Always have inboxes in the background for purely warmup purposes, so if one inbox's reputation goes down, you can swap in a newly warmed inbox.
Email Validation
This is an important last step before launching your campaigns.
Make sure you're sending emails to prospects with valid emails.
If you don't, this will lead to a high bounce rate, which will destroy your domain's reputation very quickly.
We use a variety of different email validation tools to ensure we get the best coverage possible.
Outbound by the Numbers
We send 30 emails per day.
We set up 2 inboxes per domain.
For example, if you want to send 600 emails a day,
you need to get 10 domains, with 2 inboxes each, sending 30 emails a day.
Suggested Workflow
Domain Setup: At least 10 .com domains, each with 2 inboxes, sending a maximum of 30 emails daily. Adjust the numbers based on your needs.
Domain Validation: Validate your domain's records (SPF, DMARC, DKIM) are correctly set.
Use MXToolbox to check and rectify any issues.
Email Verification: Validate all prospect emails to protect the domain/inbox reputation.
Inbox Warm-up: Warm up each inbox for at least 14 days before beginning your email campaigns to prospects.
Reputation Monitoring: Regularly monitor your domain's reputation using tools like Inboxy, MXToolbox, and MailGenius.
Rotation Strategy: Maintain 20 inboxes, alternating 10 for active sending and 10 for warm-up, to quickly adapt to any deliverability issues.
Tools
Record Validation: Validate SPF, DMARC, and DKIM records on all domains.
Recommended Tools: Utilize Inboxy, MXToolbox, MailGenius, and MailMeteor for monitoring.
Email Verification Services: Verify emails using Findymail, NeverBounce, or MillionVerifier.
Tool Comparison: Consider alternatives to Outreach due to its pricing model.
Tools like SmartLead.ai offer unlimited inboxes and native warm-up features, potentially reducing headaches and costs.
Immediate Action Items
  • Validate that SPF, DMARC, and DKIM records are set up properly.
  • Validate all prospects' emails before sending.
  • Purchase 5 new domains with 2 inboxes each and begin the warm-up process for 2-3 weeks.
  • Limit sending to a maximum of 30 emails per day per inbox.
How I can help
I run an outbound email sales development agency where this is my speciality.
If you need help with any of this book a call down below and I can see how I can help.