A cold email is an unsolicited e-mail that is sent to a receiver without prior contact. It could also be defined as the email equivalent of cold calling. Cold emailing is a subset of email marketing and differs from transactional and warm emailing.
Cold email is a personalized, one-to-one message targeted at a specific individual. Its aim is to get into a business conversation with that individual, rather than to promote a product or a service to the masses.Cold email, according to its proponents, is not spam. Cold emailing is distinct from spam in that it aims to initiate a genuine conversation rather than deceive the recipient. However, if certain steps are not followed, it may be treated as spam by spam filters or reported by the recipients.
Email deliverability is the percentage of emails that got successfully delivered to the primary inbox, instead of getting blocked or classified as spam.
Email deliverability is not the same as email delivery. Email delivery is the percentage of emails that got successfully delivered to the recipient's email address, regardless of whether it is the main inbox or any other folder, including spam.
Email deliverability is especially important for cold email senders because their goal is to have their email delivered to the recipients' main inbox.
Low email deliverability may result from:
Domain reputation of the sender is a key factor.[1] The specific domain name may lose its reputation if the emails are being sent in large quantities at once and with too high a frequency. The recipient's email server may consider such behavior as spamming and blocklist the domain used for sending emails.
A domain may also be blocklisted if spam filters detect spam words in the subject line, within the email content, or when other spamming techniques are used.
A domain's age is an important factor in determining a domain's reputation. A new domain has a neutral reputation by default. However, its activity is closely monitored by spam filters. If the email providers detect suspicious use of a domain, for example, sending a big number of emails in a short period of time, any such activity will be flagged and the domain may lose its reputation. To use a domain for cold email outreach, it is recommended to warm it up first.
Each email sender is assigned an IP address, and this IP address' reputation can be assessed. If an IP address is associated with spam activities, its reputation gets harmed.
An IP address may be shared or dedicated. The reputation of a shared IP address depends on all the users who are assigned to it. If one of the users sends emails marked as spam by spam filters or email recipients, the shared IP address's reputation is harmed. The reputation of a dedicated IP address depends solely on the specific user to whom it is assigned.
A new IP address has a neutral reputation and needs to be warmed up first in order to build up a good reputation.
Emails sent by the IP address that has a bad reputation would be classified as spam. Ultimately, the IP address associated with spam activity may be blocked by the Internet Service Provider.
It is easier to establish a good reputation as a new sender if you warm up your domains.[2] [3]
IP warm-up age is the main factor to make a good reputation for your server. You can set a limit on your server to:
An email address can be appointed with a bad or good reputation based on its sending history. If the emails are treated as spam by spam filters or reported by the recipients, the email address loses its reputation and further emails are placed into the spam folder or are entirely blocked by the Internet Service Provider.
Email address, similarly to a domain or IP address, requires a warm-up process before it can be used for sending cold email campaigns.
Both SPF and DKIM records protect the domain from email spoofing and phishing attacks.
SPF record authenticates the email message sent from an authorized domain's DNS server on which the SPF is set up.
DKIM record affixes a digital signature linked to a domain name to each outgoing email. It ensures that the message was sent from an authorized domain's DNS server.
Setting up both DKIM and SPF on a domain's DNS server positively influences domain reputation.[4] [5]
Each email provider has its own email sending limits that can be found on their websites. The limits may be daily, hourly, or sometimes even per minute. Exceeding the limits may result in blocking the email account for a time period determined by an email host.
Sending volume is connected with the email provider's sending limit. The email provider determines the number of emails that can be sent per minute or hour. If too many emails are sent in a given period of time the email provider may block the sending process.
Also, if the number of emails sent increases significantly over a certain amount of time, it may be a sign for spam filters that the emails are not sent manually. Any non-human behavior alarms the spam filters, which results in the emails being placed in a spam folder.
Sending emails to a big number of invalid or non-existent email addresses results in a high hard bounce rate, which in turn alarms the mailbox providers who may block the sender.
Soft bounces take place when an email is turned back before reaching the recipient's server, hence, it is not delivered to their mailbox. The reason for a soft bounce is often a temporary technical issue with the recipient's mailbox, such as a server's failure or a full inbox.
If a cold outreach campaign has a 50% open rate, it is considered successful. The stats can't be tampered with, and anything below 50% suggests the campaigns need to be modified.[7]
Below are the summaries of some example data protection legislation and laws restricting the use of unsolicited emails. A complete list of internal rules and regulations around the world can be found here.
The General Data Protection Regulation aims primarily to give the European Union citizens control over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business.[8]
All the individuals who send cold emails to the citizens of the EU are required to comply with the GDPR because they collect and process personal data, in this context, an email address connected to an identifiable individual at minimum.
In order to respect the GDPR while sending cold emails, an individual should abide by the specific principles:
The California Consumer Privacy Act regulates the ways personal information of California Citizens is used by businesses that get their revenue from selling consumer's personal data. CCPA focuses on data collection and privacy and gives California Citizens:[9]
Source:[10]
The CAN-SPAM Act set first national standards for sending commercial emails in the USA. According to the CAN-SPAM Act:[11]
See main article: Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act. The CASL gives the citizens of Canada the right to:[12]
The Spam Act regulates in what cases commercial emails, including cold emails, can be sent and what must be included in the content. It states that commercial emails:[13]
The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act regulates sending unsolicited commercial emails, including cold emails, with a New Zealand link, that is, emails that are sent to, from, or within New Zealand. According to the Act:[14]
Local personal data protection regulations and laws restricting the use of unsolicited emails may be subject to change. Cold email senders must keep up to date with the amendments to such regulations in order to always act in compliance with the law.
Cold email trends and best practices change with time. Many factors depend on the type of business and target recipients of the emails.