Cold emailing may be a great way to reach prospective clients and grow your business. Yet, there is a thin line between a great cold email and pure spam.
Often, companies discover that their well-crafted cold emails end up in the spam folder rather than the recipient's inbox, and it's not good for their revenue. Understanding the distinction between cold emails and spam is highly important for your email's deliverability and being successful in outbound email marketing.
After all, when there's a battle between cold email and spam, it's the inbox that always wins. So, if you're frequently lost in how to get to the inbox, you're at the right spot!
Learning the Difference: Cold Email vs Spam
Many of you believe every unsolicited email is spam, but there's a vast difference between cold and spam emails.
What then is a Cold Email?
A cold email can be defined as a personalized message sent to a potential client with whom you have not interacted before. You send it to the client to pitch your product or services for a business deal.
A well-written cold email:
- Has clear context in reference to the recipient's business
- Is sent from an actual person, i.e., the message is personalized
- Abides by the email laws and best practices, such as CAN-SPAM, and GDPR guidelines.
- Makes the prospect understand why it's important and not just pitch
Now, let's discuss spam
What are spam emails?
Spam mail are bulk emails directed for a mass audience. They are not personally curated for the prospects.
Spam mails:
- Are often bulk in number and not personally curated
- Contain misleading and / or deceitful content
- Typically not relevant to the recipient
- Occasionally have harmful links or attachments
Since spam is intrusive and unwanted, ESPs have designed sophisticated filtering programs to keep annoying emails out of our inboxes.
How Email Providers Detect and Filter Spam
The following are key factors that determine whether your email reaches the inbox or is relegated to the spam folder. Give them a read to understand how they work and help yourself to optimize your cold-email strategy.
1. Email Authentication
You must apply proper authentication techniques such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. They are essential as they allow Email Service Providers (ESPs) to realize your mail is from a legitimate source. If you miss the authentication part, your email will be marked as spam.
SPF verifies that your mail server can send emails on behalf of your domain. On the other hand, DKIM confirms that the emails are not altered, and defines how to treat emails that fail to pass these tests.
2. Sender Reputation
Sender reputation is extremely important and it's based on how recipients interact with your messages. If businesses mark your sent emails as spams, your future emails will also end up in the same folder. Few other things that regulate your reputation are bounce rates, engagement levels and your authentication methods.
3. Content and Structure
Spam filters also examine your email content very closely. If you are too spammy with the copy, such as having deceitful subject lines, you may trigger those filters. They also scan for things such as an overload of special characters, embedded JavaScript, and an unfavorable text-to-image ratio.
Poor HTML coding, incomplete unsubscribe links, and attachments that include executable code can trigger some big red flags.
If you want to improve your email deliverability, then you must try to send plain text emails. Use descriptive and concise subject lines and adhere to CAN-SPAM Act guidelines.
4. Engagement Metrics
Email services actively monitor metrics such as open rates, responses, and click-throughs. Therefore if your recipients frequently delete your messages without even opening them, it strongly indicates that they may not want to hear from you.
Low engagement will damage your sender's reputation, increasing the chances of your emails being marked as spam. Other crucial things to keep in mind are spam complaints and whether they relocate your messages to another folder.
If you want to increase engagement, experiment with sending personalized cold emails. You can start by segmenting your list, optimizing send times, and using verified email lists.
Best Practices to Ensure Your Cold Emails Reach the Inbox
You already know that cold emails can do wonders in reaching inboxes and turning prospects into customers. However, if you want to achieve that, you have to follow some best practices. So, let's start with the main strategies you can implement to ensure your cold emails reach their destination and bring you some money.
1. Use a Verified Email Domain
Using a professional email domain with the proper authentication controls (such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC) is key to establishing trust with email providers. These standards assist in confirming who you are and increase your likelihood of getting delivered by ensuring that your emails are authentic.
If email authentication and setup procedures sound too complicated, use Manysenders. Here, you can purchase verified email domains and senders with everything set up and ready for warm up.
2. Use Dedicated Domains for Outreach
Avoid using your dedicated domain for cold emails if you want to protect your primary domain's reputation. Instead, you can acquire complementary domains from Manysenders and set them up correctly to handle outreach. They will ensure to redirect your prospects to your leading site. This strategy safeguards your primary domain's credibility.
3. Warm Up Your Email Accounts Gradually
Start sending emails in a small number and increase the count eventually. It helps you to uphold your sending reputation. Increasing email traffic can suddenly activate spam filters, so a gradual trend keeps credibility intact.
4. Restrict Per-Day Emails per Account
If you want to prevent spam filters, limit every email account to sending no more than 50 emails per day, including warmup emails. This routine will ensure a human-like sending pattern and help your sender's reputation.
5. Personalize Email Content
Start to customize your emails for every recipient, as it increases your sender reputation. For this, you must start using their name and appropriate details, such as company name, pain points, etc., while sending the emails. Experiment with spintags and variables to send personalized emails.
6. Avoid Attachments in Initial Emails
If you include attachments in cold emails, it may activate spam filters and discourage recipients from opening them. Instead, you can offer links to related content hosted online to guarantee accessibility without sacrificing your deliverability.
7. Apply Spintax for Content Variation
Strat utilizing spintax to generate various versions of your email content. It will also help you to minimize the risk of triggering spam filters because of repetitive messages. This method will maximize the deliverability by providing slight variations in each email sent.
8. Send Emails at the Best Times
Research says that the timing of email opening matters. Usually, sending emails early in the morning, especially between 6 and 9 AM and on Mondays, improves the chances of your email being read and replied to.
Legal Considerations: Remaining Compliant with Email Regulations
Start abiding by each target region's legal rules and regulations, while sending cold emails.
That implies that you must comply with email regulations such as:
CAN-SPAM Act (U.S.) – This legislation mandates you to give a clear means for the receiver to opt-out and prohibits deceptive subject lines.
GDPR (EU): Here, companies need to obtain clear consent from the recipients before they can send anything via email.
CASL (Canada) – The legislation in this country imposes stringent anti-spam regulations and mandates that senders properly introduce themselves.
Is Cold Emailing Still a Great Strategy in 2025?
Cold emailing is still a good strategy in 2025, but it's all about being clever with your plan.
Personalization is key— One-size-fits-all emails simply don't work anymore. Be sure to make your message personal to the recipient.
Email authentication matters — Implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC improves your chances of success.
Play by the Rules— Compliance with CAN-SPAM and GDPR will spare you any nasty fines. And about follow-up, a few savvy nudge-outs (2-3) are okay, so long as they provide some actual value.
Therefore, if you have a strategy, it can provide you with lead generation and build connections.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Is cold emailing illegal?
Nope, cold emailing is perfectly legal. However, you should follow the rules and regulations like the CAN-SPAM Act and GDPR.
2. How can I avoid my cold emails being marked as spam?
To avoid getting your emails into the spam folder, personalize your messages, verify your email domain, avoid spammy language, and interact with your audience. You can also monitor the performance to ensure your content is appropriate.
3. How many cold emails can I send daily?
The limit of the cold emails that you can send depends on the email service you are using. Low will do if it is your start-up—one of 20 to 50 emails per day—before raising the number a step at a time as your experience level goes up.
4. What can I do if my cold emails go straight to spam?
First, verify your email authentication settings (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC). Next, adjust your content and remove everything that could trigger a spam filter and focus on increasing engagement by reaching the right audience.
5. Can I follow up on a cold email?
Yes, but do it with care. A follow-up email must provide value and not be pushy. Space them out, personalize each one, and add new information or solutions.
Conclusion
The ultimate ruling on cold emailing vs. spam—how to hit the inbox—is code. Emailing remains one of the most valuable weapons for sales and networking—if done correctly. Understanding the difference between a cold email and spam is key to ensuring your outreach is professional, relevant, and compliant.
Check out Manyreach to win over spam and reach prospects directly in their inboxes.
