Checklist
Cold Email Deliverability Checklist
Cold lists are the riskiest thing you can send to. Work this checklist before your first campaign to protect your sending reputation.
Domain & infrastructure
- Send cold outreach from a separate domain, not your primary.
- Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC on the cold domain.
- Warm up the domain gradually over 2–4 weeks.
- Keep daily volume low and ramp slowly.
List quality
- Verify every address before the first send.
- Remove catch-all and disposable addresses from cold blasts.
- Strip role accounts and obvious non-prospects.
- Keep the bounce rate under 2% — cold lists often start at 7–10%.
Sending behaviour
- Personalize beyond {{first_name}} to avoid spam filters.
- Avoid spam-trigger subject lines and heavy HTML/images.
- Include a real unsubscribe and physical address.
- Monitor replies and complaints, not just opens.
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