"Yeah bro I closed down the agency 2 years ago. Cold email is dead."
Meanwhile, guys are still making 6-7 figures.
So what gives?
A lot has changed since '23.
Things you could get away with back then:
- Sending 1M emails/mo
- 3 email variants/campaign
- 15 inboxes per domain
- 2 week warmup
- Domain age didn't matter
Now:
- Sending 1M emails/day
- 5+ email variants/campaign + spintax
- 3-5 inboxes per domain
- 3-4 week warmup
- Domain age is key
Different world.
The only way you'll make it is if you're:
A) Patient
B) Detailed
C) Willing to invest
There's so much noise in the cold email space. Honestly, if you're generating < $10K/mo, my advice is to keep things lean and only use a handful of tools.
Here's what I'd use starting out:
1. Cheap Inboxes
I’d get Google inboxes here (biased). Cold email breaks fast when inbox setup is messy. I don’t want to spend my day patching mailboxes, DNS, logins, and setup while the agency is still small.
At this stage, I want clean inboxes I can set up fast and manage without a big bill. And we charge as low as $2.8 per inbox.
2. Apollo
Use Apollo for data. Is it perfect? No. But it's well rounded. Under $10K/mo, I need a simple way to find leads, build lists, and test offers without buying separate tools. Apollo gets me moving.
3. MillionVerifier
Run emails through MillionVerifier before sending. Bad emails burn inboxes and waste sends. It can also hurt your deliverability. It's one of the few tools I wouldn't skip because it protects the stack.
4. Instantly
Instantly is a well-rounded sender. It keeps sending simple. I can load inboxes, add lists, write campaigns, and see what's happening without making setup a full-time job.
That’s the stack.
- CheapInboxes for Google inboxes.
- Apollo for data.
- MillionVerifier for email checks.
- Instantly for sending.
If I was starting again, I’d rather have a small setup I use every day than a huge setup I keep paying for.
Keep it lean until the work forces you to add more.
@cbwritescopy "Your" feels more real and personalized than saying the company name.
One thing about cold email, is you have to assume you already have connection/relationship with them.
@TechnicalBben Absolutely! You can send 1,000 emails but the question is how many of it can land into primary inbox and not on spam folder?
Those 1,000 emails would be useless if it lands into spam.
What your offer says:
"Here's what I'll give you."
What buyers feel:
"Here's what I'll have to do."
Flip it.
What they actually want:
"Here's what will be true after."
From deliverables to destination.
This is the shift that converts.
Cold Email vs Ads
Which one works better for your business?
Cold emails = lower cost, targeted outreach, and more control.
Ads = bigger reach, visibility, and faster scaling.
There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy, it all depends on your goals.
What would you choose?
There are actually people who trust emails from their spam folders. That's crazy!
Have you ever checked your spam folder and fell for well written email? It's not a crime to check your spam. 🫣🤫
Being a digital marketer is basically juggling 12 campaigns at once, staring at analytics like a fortune teller, and praying your emails don’t end up in spam.
Stressful!