Divyanshi Sharma
January 3, 2025
If you're starting a cold email campaign, managing your domains is the first and most important step. Cold emailing requires a completely different approach from regular emailing—using secondary domains is crucial.
This ensures your primary domain remains safe, keeping your business’ reputation intact.
Let’s dive into the essentials of domain management for cold email campaigns.
Why You Need Secondary Domains?
Secondary domains are additional domains you purchase specifically for cold email campaigns or related activities like website redirects.
Using these secondary domains protects your main domain and enhances your campaign's effectiveness.
Key Benefits of Secondary Domains:
Protect Your Primary Domain:
Your primary domain’s reputation is critical for day-to-day business operations. Using it for cold emails puts it at risk of being blacklisted, which can damage email deliverability for regular communications.Increase Email Deliverability:
With secondary domains, you can perform email warmups, which are vital for improving the success of your cold email outreach.Manage High Email Volume:
Secondary domains allow you to distribute your email load, ensuring better performance and reliability.
Examples of Secondary Domains:
Primary domain: xyz.io
Secondary domains: zyz.com, partnerwithxyz.com, xyzsolutions.com
How Many Domains Do You Need?
The number of domains you should purchase depends on your email volume goals. Here’s a basic equation:
Limit inboxes per domain:
Avoid overloading a single domain with too many inboxes. If one domain gets blacklisted, it can negatively impact all associated inboxes.Daily email limits:
For Google accounts, the maximum is 2,000 emails per day, but you should aim for no more than 100 emails per day to leave room for email warmups.
Best Platforms to Buy Secondary Domains
When purchasing secondary domains, consider these factors:
Pricing
Ease of transferring domains
Hosting options
Privacy settings
Security features
Recommended Domain Registrars:
Top-Level Domains (TLDs) to Choose:
Prioritize trusted extensions like .com, .io, and .in.
Avoid suspicious TLDs like .xyz, .online, .biz, .wiki, or .global as they can hurt your deliverability.
Domain Naming Tips:
Keep it simple and professional: names like "partnerwith..." or "scalewith..." work well.
Avoid numbers, hyphens, or overly complicated names.
What to Do After Buying Your Domains?
Once you’ve secured your secondary domains, there are a few steps to set everything up for success:
1. Redirect Your Domains
Set up a 301 redirect from your secondary domains to your main website. This builds trust with prospects who search for your domain and ensures they land on your official site.
2. Choose the Right Email Service Provider (ESP)
Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are the most popular ESPs for cold email campaigns.
Google Workspace generally offers better deliverability, but using both platforms ensures you’re future-proof and can match recipient ESPs for better results.
3. Set Up Email Authentication
Proper email authentication improves your sender reputation and deliverability. Make sure to configure these records:
SPF
DKIM
DMARC
Key Takeaways for Cold Email Success
Use secondary domains to protect your main domain and improve deliverability.
Keep your daily email volume under 100 emails per inbox, including warmups.
Invest in reputable domain registrars and ESPs for long-term reliability.
Always set up proper email authentication to safeguard your sender reputation.
Common Questions About Domain Management
1- Can I Use Subdomains for Cold Emailing?
No. Subdomains share the same root as your primary domain, which puts the main domain at risk of being blacklisted. Always use completely separate secondary domains.
2- Should I Use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365?
Both have their advantages. In general, emails sent within the same platform (e.g., Gmail to Gmail) tend to have better deliverability. To maximize performance, it’s recommended to use both ESPs.
3- Can I Host My Own Email Sending Server?
It’s possible, but not recommended unless you’re an expert in email infrastructure. Hosting your own server requires robust processes to maintain good IP reputation, and you’ll need to troubleshoot technical issues on your own.
4- Are There Tools to Simplify Domain and Inbox Setup?
Yes! Several software tools can streamline the process of setting up domains and inboxes. Research your options to find one that meets your specific needs.
Start Scaling Your Cold Email Campaigns Today
With a well-planned domain management strategy, your cold email campaigns can achieve higher deliverability and engagement rates.
Follow these steps to protect your domain reputation and maximize your outreach efforts.
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