How to Set Up Secondary Domains & Email Accounts for Cold Outreach?

Setting up secondary domains & email accounts for your cold outreach campaigns is important to protect your primary domain’s sender reputation, scaling your cold email campaigns and email deliverability.

However, the process isn’t as simple as you might think – you can’t just get a secondary domain, set up your email accounts, and send hundreds of emails daily.

Hence, I decided to write this blog to explain secondary domains, how to set up secondary email accounts, and best practices for achieving high deliverability with cold email campaigns.

Let’s get started!

Secondary Domains: Table of Contents 

• What are secondary domains? 
• Why do you need secondary domains for cold email outreach? 
• How to set up cold email infrastructure? ( manual + automation method explained)
• Tips to achieve better deliverability with Secondary Domains 
• Ready To Scale Your Cold Email Campaign 
• FAQs

What Are Secondary Domains?

Secondary domains are additional domain names that are used alongside a primary domain. While the primary domain is typically the main web address associated with a company or organization, secondary domains serve various purposes, such as:

• Email Segmentation
• Brand Expansion
• Geographic Targeting
• Testing and Experimentation
• Reputation Management

When sending cold emails, you can use secondary domains exclusively for these campaigns, protecting the reputation of your primary domain.

For instance, if your current company domain is ‘domainname.com,’ then you can try these cold email domain variations:

• domainname.io
• domainnameabc.com
• domainname.uk
• domainname.org

We suggest that you buy secondary domains that are similar to your primary domain but with some variation.

You can use these secondary domains to set up email accounts to scale your cold email campaigns.

Why Do You Need Secondary Domains for Cold Email Outreach?

You need secondary domains in cold email outreach for the following reasons: 

• Protecting your Primary Domain: First, setting up secondary domains enables you to protect your primary domain’s sender reputation and email deliverability. When you start doing cold email outreach, there is a chance that you might get marked as spam. If this happens, you will end up harming your primary domain’s reputation with email providers.

• Improve Email Deliverability Rates: Using different cold email domain variations can reduce the risk of your emails getting flagged as spam and maximize the likelihood of your emails landing in your target prospect’s inbox. 

• Offers a Backup Plan: If one of your domain variations gets a low deliverability rate, you can pivot your cold email campaigns from another domain without negatively impacting your primary domain. 
  
• Divide the email-sending volume: You cannot send hundreds and thousands of emails from one email account; hence, you need other email accounts to distribute your email campaigns across multiple sender addresses. 

• Maintain scalability and flexibility in your email campaigns: Using secondary domains for your cold email outreach helps you scale campaigns more safely.
  Thus, you can reach more prospects without increasing the risk of blacklisting any single domain.
  Moreover, various cold email secondary domains give you the flexibility to A/B test various strategies and identify what is working and what needs improvement.

How to Set up Cold Email Domains? (Manual + Automation Method Explained)

Setting up dedicated cold email domains can help you achieve high email deliverability rates and increase the chances of your emails being seen and read.

This section will explore in-depth manual and automated methods for setting up cold email domains. 

Let’s set up your cold email domains! 

Manual Set-up 

• Step 1- Buy your New Secondary Domains
• Step 2- Choose the Right ESP
• Step 3- Setting up Your DMARC, SPF & DKIM
• Step 4- Set up Your Email Accounts with a Cold Email Automation Tool

Step 1: Buy your New Secondary Domains 

First, you need to know how many secondary domains you need to buy for running your cold email campaign.  

Well, the answer depends on these 3 factors: 

• Number of prospects you want to reach out 
• Duration of the outreach
• Emails you will send in a day

To get the exact number of domains and email accounts you need for your cold email campaign, you can use Saleshandy’s Email Account Calculator – Saleshandy

• Add the number of emails you want to send
• Enter the time period 

Note: To get the best results from your cold email campaigns and high email open rates, you should create 5 email accounts from 1 domain and send only 50 emails daily. 

Once you determine the exact number of secondary domains you need, you must choose a domain name and TLD (top-level domain) from which you want to send emails and purchase them from a hosting provider. 

You can buy your domains from 

• Namecheap
• GoDaddy
• Cloudflare Registrar
• Domain.com
• Bluehost
• HostGator 

Get a detailed comparison of these domain registrars and choose the one that best suits your requirements. 

After you choose a domain provider, you need to decide on the TLD. While choosing the TLD, you should avoid using domains like .co, .biz, .online, and .xyz because they are likely to get into spam folders and give poor deliverability results. 

You should always go for top-level domains like com, .net, .org, io .us, .ai, etc. because they have the best deliverability rates.

Moreover, if you plan to run your cold email campaigns in a particular country, you should choose geo-specific domains like .us, .uk, in, nz, etc. 

Step 2: Choose the Right ESP

The next step after buying the secondary is to choose the best email service provider. Before selecting an email provider, you must conduct thorough research, evaluate factors like budget and features, and take free trials to identify the right one for your business. 

However, we know choosing the right email provider isn’t easy. To help you make a decision, we have created a list of top email service providers with their key features, everyday sending limit, and pricing plans. 

You can find a list of other reputed ESPs here and choose the one best suited for your cold email campaigns. 

Note: We recommend using Microsoft Office 365 because it offers email deliverability better than other ESPs hence decreasing the risk of your domain getting blacklisted. 

Step 3: Setting Up Your DMARC, SPF & DKIM

To build a solid sender reputation and make sure that your emails land in your prospect’s primary inbox, it is very crucial to set up the following records:

• DKIM
• SPF
• DMARC

* We have linked how to set up videos to help you set up your technical records. 

These are email authentication protocols set up by ESPs to protect both senders and recipients from the dangers of spam, email spoofing, phishing, etc. 

Domains that do not set up these records are more likely to land in the spam folder or not get delivered. 

Get a detailed guide on how to set up DKIM, DMARC, and SPF records. 

Step 4: Set up Your Email Accounts With a Cold Email Automation Tool

Now that your email accounts are ready for cold emailing, you must connect them with cold email automation tools like Saleshandy. 

Why? 

Remember that your email accounts are still new and, thus, not ready to run cold email campaigns. You need to warm your inboxes for 2-3 weeks to achieve maximum email deliverability and build trust with ESPs. 

Sign up on Saleshandy to warm up your email accounts and send cold email campaigns. It has advanced features, from warm-up to setting sequences and monitoring the performance of your cold email campaigns. 

 Saleshandy has partnered with TrulyInbox, an email warm-up tool that uses a human-like email-sending mechanism to interact with other mailboxes and gradually build the sender’s reputation. 

Apart from that, Saleshandy also offers features like Sender Rotation that will distribute your emails humanely. 

Moreover, you can follow these tips for gradually building a reputation among ESPs: 

• Send 50 or fewer emails every day. 
• Keep the time interval for sending emails between 60 and 190 seconds
•  Email ramp-up should be between 10% and 15%. 

The crux is to start your outreach by setting a sending schedule that slowly increases volume.

Automation Tools ( Email Infrastructure Tools) 

In the last section, we discussed how to set up your secondary cold email domains manually; now, we will show you how to set them up automatically! 

Yes, it is possible! How? 

With cold email infrastructure tools. 

These tools eliminate the hassle of selecting, buying, and setting up technical records, secondary domains, and email accounts. 

After testing 30+ email infrastructure tools, we chose the 2 best tools that are known to give the best results.

Curious? Well, keep scrolling to know how you can save 12+ hours that would go into setting up email accounts with ESPs. 

• Step 1: Choose the right Cold Email Infrastructure Platform
• Step 2: Create Domains & Email Accounts
• Step 3: Set up DKIM, DMARC & SPF Protocols
• Step 4: Download Email Accounts and Upload Them on the Cold Email Automation Tool

Step 1: Choose the Right Cold Email Infrastructure Platform

Cold email infrastructure tools provide you with domains and email accounts in bulk to scale your cold email campaigns. There are various such tools present in the market; however, many of them are not reliable. 

Mailscale and Maildoso are among the best cold email infrastructure tools known to give tangible results. 

Hence, to help you decide the one that aligns with your business goals, we have drawn the comparison table of their pricing plans & features:

Step 2: Create Domains and Email Accounts

Enter your primary domain name, and it will give you cold email domain variations. From there, you can choose the secondary cold email domains you want to use. 

For instance, You have to buy domains inside the tool for $9-$13/year. You can create up to 3 emails per domain. If you want to create 60 email accounts, you must buy 20 domains using the tool. 

Then, you have to buy the domains you choose. Depending on your pricing plan, this will create 50 email accounts or more (obviously with variations). 

Step 3: Set Up DKIM, DMARC, and SPF Protocols 

Well, with cold email infrastructure tools, you DON’T have to set up these technical records manually. They offer automated tech setup for DKIM/DMARC/SPF/Forwarding protocols! 

(A big relief, right? Especially when you want to scale your cold email outreach campaigns) 

Step 4: Download Email Accounts and Upload Them on the Cold Email Automation Tool

Both of these two tools have integration with major cold email providers.

All you have to do is download email accounts in a CSV file and upload them to cold email automation tools like Saleshandy. 

PS: Major email service providers charge up to $ 5- 7/month per work email account.
However, tools like Mailscale and Maildoso will cost you as little as $1 per month.

Yes! It’s a win-win situation for you, as you will have scalability save time, and that too at user-friendly prices!  

Tips to Achieve Better Deliverability and Open Rates  

1. Domain redirection: 

This is the most common error cold emailers make: They often forget to redirect their secondary domain to the primary domain. Always make sure that your secondary domain is redirected to the main domain. 

2. Warm Up Your Domain: 

Don’t think that just doing the technical set-up will make your email accounts ready for bulk email campaigns. You need to warm up your cold email domains to help ESPs recognize your domain as a legitimate sender. Just think of it as building a good credit score! We recommend warming up your secondary days for at least 15 days and maintaining 95% deliverability. 

3. Regularly Clean your Email List: 

Clean your email list regularly and remove inactive users and any addresses that bounce back. Hard bounces can negatively affect your email deliverability. Hence, Saleshandy offers an email verification feature that checks your prospect email list before sending your cold emails. 

4. Send Personalize Content: 

Generic emails will not please your sales prospects, and they will show no interest in them. Hence, you should send personalized and unique email copies. Saleshandy offers features like Spintax and Merge tags for hyper-personalized and unique emails. 

5. Follow Best Practices: 

You should always follow the best email deliverability practices and respect the email protocols to build a reputable sender reputation. Also, ensure your cold emails comply with regulations like the CAN-SPAM Act. 

Ready to Scale Your Cold Email Campaign?

Alright, let’s wrap up this blog! In it, we walked you through the basics of secondary domains and how to set them up. 

Your next step is to connect your email accounts and scale your cold outreach campaigns with tools like Saleshandy. 

Saleshandy allows you to 

•  Connect unlimited email accounts. 
• Schedule auto follow-up sequence 
• Achieve high email deliverability 
• Manage all responses from one place
• Robust analytical & tracking capabilities

FAQs

1. Can You Send Cold Emails from Your Main Domain?

Absolutely you can launch cold email campaigns from your primary domain, but it is not recommended because in case your emails start getting flagged, your domain reputation will be harmed. 

2. Can I Use My Own Domains in the Cold Email Infrastructure Tools?

Currently, they do not allow you to use your own domains. You have to buy domains inside the platform.

3. How Often Should I Change My Email Domain to Avoid Spam Filters?

Switching domains is not a permanent solution to avoid spam filters. Instead of changing domains, you should build a positive sender reputation by following the best practices and crafting quality content to engage with the recipients.