The Inbox Arms Race

Once upon a time, in the digital world of sales, there were two rival groups of cold emailers, each determined to outdo the other in the arms race to reach their potential customers. The first group, known as the "spammers," were notorious for sending out countless emails to anyone and everyone, regardless of whether they were interested in the product or not. They relied on sheer numbers to try and trick the spam filters that stood in their way.

The second group, known as the "legit emailers," took a more targeted approach. They carefully researched their potential customers and tailored their messages to appeal to their specific interests and needs. They used personalized subject lines and compelling content to try and grab the attention of their recipients and avoid the spam filters.

The battle between the two groups raged on, with each side using every trick in the book to try and gain the upper hand. The spammers would constantly change their sender addresses and subject lines, hoping to evade the filters. The legit emailers, on the other hand, would carefully craft their messages and test them to make sure they passed the filters.

Despite their best efforts, both sides struggled to get their messages through. The spam filters in 2023 were becoming increasingly sophisticated, and it seemed like no matter what they did, they were always one step behind.

But then, something unexpected happened. A new breed of cold emailer emerged one that combined the best of both worlds. These emailers, known as the "BowTiedSystems hybrids," used advanced algorithms, machine learning techniques, inbox rotation & a diverse arsenal of email providers to carefully craft their messages and avoid the spam filters. They used the same targeted approach as the legit emailers, but with the added power of automation and scale.

Suddenly, the battle between the cold emailers shifted in favor of the hybrids. They were able to reach more potential customers than ever before, and their reply rates soared. The spammers and the legit emailers were left behind, struggling to compete with the new generation of cold emailers.

And so, the cold emailers who once battled against each other now found themselves united against a common enemy: the spam filters. But with their advanced techniques and superior technology, the hybrids were able to rise above the rest and claim victory in the digital world of the internet.

While the above is fiction it’s almost indistinguishable from reality.

2023 is shaping up to be a very challenging year for cold emails. Spam filters are getting smarter at cold email tricks. They’re catching on to email warming and penalizing those that don’t adapt. They monitor the contents of emails more closely. The data set spam filter AI train from is getting bigger. And this is spelling trouble for anyone sending cold emails.

Now there are a few ways you’ll be able to combat this. A lot has changed since I started this account. The world of technology is constantly evolving, and getting ever more complex. I will outline my advice for 2023.

• Send fewer emails per inbox

  • Yes, you’ll need to send fewer emails per domain/inbox. In 2021 you used be able to safely send 175 emails per day. Then it bumped down to 125 by the time I started my account. Now I don’t advise you send more than 60 per domain. In 2023 I recommend you don’t send more than 30 per domain.

• Buy more domains

  • In 2023 you need to buy more domains. The spam filter landscape is constantly changing and it’s impossible to stay 1 step ahead. This means you will get email accounts banned/blacklisted/land in spam in unpredictable ways. You can combat this by always having 10 domains warming up at any given moment. This means you should at least have 20 domains. 10 sending. 10 warming. This way you always have a backup when you inevitably get flagged.

• Use multiple email providers

  • There’s been a trend of ESPs (Email Service Providers) decreasing the deliverability of outside emails from other ESPs. The best example right now is Zoho and Outlook. Outlook is blocking all emails that come from Zoho at the moment. Just check my spam report here: Click Here. You can get around this by having a few outlook domains. ESPs prioritize emails coming from their own servers, therefore, increasing deliverability. Gmail/Gsuit is notorious for this. If you send gmail<>gmail there’s a very good chance you’ll land in their inbox.

  • If you use an outside ESP this lowers your chances of landing in the main inbox. For this reason, you need to have multiple email providers. I’ll write more on this topic and how you can identify what email provider they’re using at a later date.

• Use advanced email warming software

  • No longer are the days where you can use any email warming service. Google, Yahoo, Zoho, Outlook, etc have released updates flagging accounts that use email warming software. Many warming softwares have not adapted to this change. Thus lowering domain reputation and increasing your chances of getting flagged.

  • If you’re looking for a good email warming software that stays on top of any changes I highly recommend Smartlead.ai less than 48 hours after ESPs issued the updated Smartlead created a workaround. It’s very important you use software that has a fast development cycle. Smartlead is in a class of its own in this regard.

• Get more personalized

  • Over time, email servers can decrease your deliverability if they see too many similar messages coming from you consistently. So you need to personalize. No, I don’t mean to reach stalker levels of personalization. I mean using Spintax. Spintax (“spinning syntax”) is a way to systematically randomize variables/phrases in your emails. For example: Using different email greetings. Hi, Hey, Hello, Name -, Name, etc this allows you to skirt around spam filters by “randomizing” the contents of your messages.

  • More advanced examples of this are changing the phrasing of your pitch.

Do all the above in addition to everything I outlined in my thread here

BowTiedSystems | Sales System | Sales productivity@BowTiedSystems

MASTER THREAD How to *guarantee* that your cold email gets delivered! + Everything you need to know about cold email deliverability Leveraging GTP-3 AI, spam testing software & proven formula for success Only on Twitter so RT & like if you want part 2! Here's the blueprint:

6:49 PM · Jul 18, 2022

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2023 is shaping up to be a very difficult year for cold email. This is the most up-to-date information on cold email deliverability right now.

So follow my advice to combat spam filters in 2023. This will information inevitably change/evolve in the coming year. But if you want to stay out of spam and stay in the inbox follow what I’ve outlined above.

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