{"id":6401,"date":"2019-08-01T14:00:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodpecker.co\/blog\/?p=6401"},"modified":"2025-01-21T10:25:24","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T09:25:24","slug":"getting-started-with-outbound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodpecker.co\/blog\/getting-started-with-outbound\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Started With Outbound Outreach: Are You on the Right Track?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting a good grasp of email<\/span> deliverability from the very beginning is essential not only for the future success of your campaigns but also for your domain safety. I\u2019ve conducted some research to find out what cold email<\/span> senders should pay attention to when they want to increase their cold email<\/span> deliverability rate. Let\u2019s see what I\u2019ve found out.<\/p>\n

What technical aspects require your special attention?<\/h2>\n

The correct technical configuration has a big impact on good deliverability rate, and thus on the overall results of your campaign. What does it cover? The steps include creating a separate domain for outreach, SPF<\/span> and DKIM<\/span> configuration, domain warm-up, and adjusting your sending settings to the email<\/span> provider limits. Only when you tick all the boxes, you can say you\u2019re fully prepared for outbound outreach.<\/p>\n

One in four cold email senders admit they find the technical setup tricky<\/h3>\n

My research shows that a majority of cold email<\/span> senders takes good care of their technical setup and does not experience issues with their deliverability rate. That\u2019s great news. However, one in four of all research subjects admits that the technical nitty-gritty is a tough nut to crack for them.<\/p>\n

SPF<\/span> and DKIM<\/span> are mentioned as the most tricky part to handle for a sales<\/span> email<\/span> newbie. Indeed, SPF<\/span> and DKIM<\/span> may sound intimidating for someone who just starts with outbound outreach, but it\u2019s crucial to grasp this knowledge for the sake of your deliverability rate.<\/p>\n

Both SPF and DKIM<\/a> are protocols that assure your email<\/span> recipient\u2019s server that you are the real sender. SPF<\/span> defines which IP addresses can be used to send emails<\/span> from your domain, while DKIM<\/span> adds an encrypted signature to the header of your email<\/span> that authenticates your message, just like a wax seal in medieval times.<\/p>\n

In short, the main purpose of both protocols is to protect you from falling a victim of an email<\/span> scam, for example, email<\/span> spoofing. Additionally, SPF<\/span> and DKIM<\/span> protect your emails<\/span> from going to spam and your domain from getting blacklisted by adding an extra degree of credibility to you as a sender. It\u2019s incredibly important to have them set up correctly.<\/p>\n

What is a good email bounce rate?<\/h2>\n

Every message that is not delivered to your recipient\u2019s inbox<\/span> is called a bounce. Email bounces<\/a> can be soft or hard, depending on the reason why a message didn\u2019t make it to the inbox<\/span>. Soft bounces happen when there\u2019s some temporary technical problem with the recipient\u2019s email<\/span> server. Hard bounces, on the contrary, are caused by permanent issues, like an invalid or non-existing target email address<\/span>, or a permanently blocked delivery.<\/p>\n

What is an email<\/span> bounce rate, then? That\u2019s a ratio of rejected messages to the total number of sent messages. It\u2019s crucial to maintain a low email bounce rate because the higher it gets the more negative impact it has on your domain reputation, and as a result – on deliverability.<\/p>\n

An email bounce rate ranging from 5 to 10% is a bad sign<\/h3>\n

A bounce rate higher than 5% should give you a yellow light. It means something is not right and you should start looking for a possible cause. Perhaps your prospect list is not up-to-date anymore. Business email addresses<\/span> become outdated pretty quickly as people often switch jobs. Always verify your email list before sending out a campaign.<\/p>\n

A bounce rate as high as 10% is a clear message that things are headed in the wrong direction and you should be extra careful with further sending until you find out the cause of the bounces. If you ignore that, you may get your domain into trouble. Always make sure your email list is up-to-date and the email addresses<\/span> are verified.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Woodpecker native integration with Bouncer<\/a>, all the email addresses<\/span> from your list are pre-verified before sending. It\u2019s an extra step towards your domain\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n

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