Josh Bolstad

Founder @ EmailPal 📬 One tool for cold email: intent leads, warmed inboxes, sequences & CRM. Building in public. Sharing what actually gets replies.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@flyingCedSeg The credit tax is real. Paying per lead and per AI action adds up fast once you scale. Same reason we made US intent leads unlimited on every EmailPal plan, no credits or per-lead fees. Nice of you to open source the playbook too.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@thedlearner Agree. Giving them an easy no actually gets more replies. The other thing that helps: ask a question they can answer in one line from their phone. Anything that needs a meeting to answer gets saved for later and forgotten.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@levikmunneke SMB owners read their own inbox, which is the whole advantage. Keep it plain, mention something specific about their business, and ask one easy yes/no question. Skip the deck and the calendar link until they reply.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@THArrowOfApollo 12.2M is a real sample. Curious if the winners skewed shorter. Most of what I see working right now is under 90 words, one clear question, no links in the first touch. Copy matters but the offer usually decides it.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@coldlytics A short list of 5 real prospects in their niche who were researching their category this week is hard to beat. Useful even if they never reply, and it proves you can do the job.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@inbox_mhf Warm-up, easily. People buy domains Monday and send 200 cold emails Wednesday, then wonder why replies are zero. Give new inboxes about 14 days, then 15 a day per mailbox. It's why we built warming into EmailPal, so it just runs in the background.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@fivosaresti #4 is the one I see most. Sending automated cold email from your primary domain puts the domain your invoices and support live on at risk. Separate sending domains, proper SPF/DKIM/DMARC, a few mailboxes each. Cheap insurance.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@twtMalik Makes sense. A mailbox that goes quiet after a spam spike never builds the positive signals it needs to recover. Lower volume with warming still on beats pausing it completely, in my experience.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@RevIncChristian Love that ratio. Most people treat warmup as a 2 week thing and switch it off at launch. Keeping it running and staying well under the cap is what keeps inboxes alive for months. I usually land around 15/day per mailbox, curious what made you go to 5.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@MrColdEmail The "how many inboxes" question comes up constantly. My rule of thumb: about 15 cold emails a day per mailbox, roughly 5 mailboxes per domain, and 14 days of warming before the first send. Work backward from your daily volume.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@readfoundedco @shaw_gtm Not who you asked, but what's worked best for me is intent: people who researched your topic in the last 1 to 10 days. Way warmer than static database lists everyone else is emailing. It's why I built unlimited US intent leads into https://t.co/AGPeFpCOV2.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@cryptogemguy @termsheetinator @adamemoustaine Whatever you pick, ask how they measure inbox placement, not just warmup volume. We sell pre-warmed inboxes at https://t.co/AGPeFpCOV2, $3/inbox/mo, ready for about 15 cold sends a day right away, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC written for you.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

Most cold email deliverability problems I see start on day 1.

Buy a domain, set up inboxes, send 200 cold emails that afternoon. Spam folder by Friday.

What actually works:
- warm new inboxes for about 14 days before any cold sends
- keep warming on after you launch
- ramp to 15 cold emails a day per mailbox, not 50
- get SPF, DKIM and DMARC right before the first send

If you can't wait two weeks, pre-warmed inboxes are the shortcut. In EmailPal, warming is $0.60 per inbox a month and pre-warmed is $3, so patience is the cheap option.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@builtbygomez 22 sends is too small to judge, but 0 usually points to the list or the offer, not the writing. Who were the 22, and did they have a reason to care this week? Targeting people actively researching the problem moved my reply rates more than any copy tweak.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@closewithadam The one on that list that catches most people: sending too many per inbox. I'd cap around 15 cold emails a day per mailbox and about 5 mailboxes per domain. Slower ramp, but the domain is still alive in month three.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@dakshpixelup This is the biggest leak I see in launches. Most of that traffic never fills a form. We added an Identity Pixel to EmailPal for this: it identifies some visitors (name, company, pages viewed) and syncs them to a list you can email. Won't match everyone, but beats zero.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@Steve238Chan Neither yet. 2 bounces out of 23 is close to 9%, which will hurt you again soon. Verify the list right before sending and pull catch-alls out. Then fix the opening line first, the subject only earns the open.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

@imjacquesmarais 2 replies from 50 on day one is normal, keep going. What moved my numbers: under 90 words, one specific reason you picked them, one easy question as the CTA, and 2 to 3 follow-ups a few days apart. Most replies come from the follow-ups.

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

Smartlead's cheaper on sending, but with Apollo you're really paying for the data. I built EmailPal so you don't have to pick: unlimited US intent leads, a sequencer and warmed inboxes in one plan from $69/mo with 50 mailboxes. Free account gets 100 leads to test: https://t.co/jyOmCIzqgX

[Josh Bolstad @JoshBolstad2]

One rule I keep coming back to: no links in the first cold email.

No calendar link, no website, no image signature.

Plain text, under 90 words, one question at the end.

Send the link after they reply. Step 1 with links reads like marketing, to spam filters and to people.