Email Deliverability Setup Checklist
Land in the inbox, not promotions. The exact infrastructure Xpand sets up before any cold-email campaign ships.
Why this exists
If your cold email lands in promotions or spam, nothing else matters. Deliverability is 70% infrastructure (DNS, dedicated sending domain, warming) and 30% sending behavior (volume, cadence, list hygiene). Most teams skip the infrastructure piece and watch their inbox-placement rate slowly degrade until reply rates drop to zero.
If your cold email lands in promotions or spam, nothing else matters. Deliverability is 70% infrastructure, 30% sending behavior. This checklist is the exact Day 1 setup Xpand uses for every new outbound domain, plus the 14-21 day warm schedule that gets you to 250+ sends/day per inbox cleanly.
Step 1: Domain strategy (don't send from your main domain)
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Buy a dedicated sending domain. variation of your main brand
If your brand is xpandmedia.io, buy go-xpandmedia.com or hello-xpand.com. Never send cold from your primary.
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Set the new domain's MX records to a real inbox provider (Google Workspace or Microsoft 365)
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Forward the domain's web traffic to your main site
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Buy 2-3 sending domains if you plan to scale past 1,000 sends/day
Each domain hosts 2-3 inboxes. 5 inboxes/domain is the upper limit before deliverability degrades.
Step 2: DNS authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
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SPF record published with the sending provider's IPs included
Example: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all. Test with mxtoolbox.com.
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DKIM enabled on the sending provider and the public key published as a TXT record
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DMARC record published with policy at minimum p=none and reporting enabled
v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc-reports@yourdomain.com. Move to p=quarantine after 30 days.
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BIMI considered for brand recognition (optional but increases trust)
Requires verified VMC certificate from DigiCert or Entrust.
Step 3: Inbox setup
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Inbox name is a real first name + sending-domain (e.g. sarah@go-yourbrand.com)
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Display name is the full name and matches your LinkedIn
Mismatch between display name and LinkedIn raises spam scores.
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Profile photo set in Google Workspace / Microsoft
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Email signature is short (3-4 lines) with your name, title, company, link
Step 4: Domain warming (14-21 days)
Use a warming tool (Mailwarm, Warmup Inbox, Lemwarm, Instantly Warmup) on each new inbox. The tool sends and receives emails to and from a peer network, building positive sender reputation. Run for the full 14-21 days before sending real cold email.
| Day | Sends per inbox per day | Warming tool emails per day |
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| 1-3 | 0 (warming only) | 20-30 |
| 4-7 | 10 | 30-40 |
| 8-14 | 20-50 | 40-50 |
| 15-21 | 50-100 | 30-40 |
| 22+ | 100-250 stable | 20-30 (maintenance) |
Step 5: Sending behavior
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Random delays between sends (45-90 seconds)
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Spread sends across business hours in the recipient timezone
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Stop sending entirely on weekends if your ICP is B2B
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Send from 2-3 inboxes max per campaign. rotate to spread load
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Cap daily volume per inbox at 250 sends. Past 300/day, deliverability degrades fast.
Step 6: Weekly metrics to watch
| Metric | Healthy | Warning | Action |
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| Bounce rate | Under 2% | 2-4% | Verify list with NeverBounce or ZeroBounce. Pause sending until clean. |
| Spam complaints | Under 0.1% | 0.1-0.3% | Soften subject lines, audit sequence, reduce volume by 50%. |
| Open rate | Above 50% | 30-50% | Subject line A/B test, check inbox placement with GlockApps. |
| Reply rate | Above 5% | 2-5% | Tighten ICP, rewrite Step 1, test new sequences. |
| Meeting-booked rate | Above 1.5% | Under 1% | Audit qualification. replies without meetings = wrong ICP. |
If bounce rate goes above 4% or spam complaints above 0.3%, stop the campaign immediately. Continued sending will land you on UCEPROTECT or Spamhaus blacklists. Recovery takes 4-6 weeks.
How to use it well
Buy the dedicated sending domain BEFORE you write a single line of cold copy. Run the 14 to 21 day warming schedule on every new inbox before sending volume. Cap each inbox at 250 sends per day max. Past that, deliverability degrades regardless of warmup quality. Run GlockApps inbox-placement test once a week during ramp.
What good looks like
Day 14 warming report from a real Xpand client launching cold outbound.
Sending domain: go-clientbrand.com (separate from clientbrand.com)
Inboxes: 4 (sarah, marcus, alex, kim @ go-clientbrand.com)
SPF: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all. verified
DKIM: published, public key matches Google Workspace
DMARC: v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@clientbrand.com
Day 14 metrics:
- Inbox placement (Gmail): 94%
- Inbox placement (Outlook): 88%
- Bounce rate: 0.8%
- Spam complaints: 0.02%
- Volume: 50 sends per inbox per day, ramping to 100 day 22
Green across all metrics. Cleared to ramp to 250 per inbox per day by day 30.FAQ
How many emails can I safely send per inbox per day?
After 21 days of warming, 100-250 sends per inbox per day is safe on Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Above 250, Google starts throttling. Above 500, both providers will suspend the inbox. To scale past 500 daily sends, add more inboxes. never push volume on one.
Why can't I just send from my main domain?
Cold email triggers spam complaints, bounces, and unsubscribes. these damage sender reputation. If your main domain takes that damage, your transactional and customer email starts landing in spam. Always use a dedicated sending domain for cold outbound.
Do I need a separate IP for cold email?
No. Dedicated IPs are for high-volume transactional senders (1M+ emails/month). For cold outbound at 250-1,000 sends/day, shared IPs from Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 work fine. Domain reputation matters more than IP at this volume.
How do I check if my email is landing in inbox or promotions?
Use GlockApps or MailGenius to test placement across Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and Apple Mail. Run the test once a week during ramp and once a month after stable. If placement drops below 80% inbox, pause sending and audit the warming tool's activity.