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

Secondary domains and email accounts are important for cold emails.

We all know that.

But it takes a lot of effort.

• You have to purchase domains and email accounts
• Connect each email account to your email-sending platform
• Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
• Warm them up

And more………

Along with that, I am going to share best practices, and some common queries that cold emailers have while purchasing cold email domains.

What Are Secondary Domains?

The domains that you use to send cold emails (other than your primary domain) are called secondary domains.

Its main purpose is to protect the sender reputation of your primary domain and is most suited for scalability.

Here’s how it works.

You first create aliases of your primary domain (for example, if your company’s domain is domain.com, then you can have mydomain.com, or domainhq.io).

Then, you create a maximum of 5 email accounts per domain. (Why? I’ll tell you later in the best practices section.)

Next, set up DMARC, SPF, and DKIM to authorize your email account.

After that, you simply have to warm up your emails and start sending cold emails.

Cold Email Domain Variation Ideas

You can’t just pick any domain to send cold emails. You need relevant domain names that can represent your brand.

There are three types of domain variations that you can use.
Here are some domain variations that you can use:

1. Country-Specific (Localized) Domains
2. Brand Extension Domains
3. Prefix/Suffix Domains

1. Country-Specific (Localized) Domains

Many cold emailers prefer country-specific domains to send geo-targeted emails. These domains use country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) to show relevance to the recipients.

Here are some examples,

• {{brandname}}.co.uk → saleshandy.co.uk (for UK)
• {{brandname}}.fr → saleshandy.fr (for France)
• {{brandname}}.us → saleshandy.us (for United States)
• {{brandname}}.au → saleshandy.au (for Australia)

2. Brand Extension Domains

These domains have alternative top-level domains (TLDs) like .net, .io, or .co to diversify your email sending domains.

These domains help you maintain your brand identity while you get to add a modern touch.

For example, you are launching a new AI feature, and you want to perform outreach. For that, using a domain like {{brandname}}.ai would be perfect.

Here are some more examples,

• {{brandname}}.net → saleshandy.net (a classic alternative, best for service-based outreach)
• {{brandname}}.io → saleshandy.io (a tech-savvy and trendy type outreach)
• {{brandname}}.co → saleshandy.co (short and versatile)
• {{brandname}}.tech → saleshandy.tech (ideal for tech-focused outreach)

3. Prefix/Suffix Domains

These domains are a good alternative if you have a huge sending list. You can try with any descriptive or action-oriented words, which can subtly influence your recipients to consider what you have to say.

Here are some examples:

• {{brandname}}hq.com → saleshandyeasy.com (suffix highlighting authenticity)
• get{{brandname}}.com → getsaleshandy.com (prefix implying action)
• {{brandname}}now.com → saleshandynow.com (suffix creating urgency)
• try{{brandname}}.com → trysaleshandy.com (prefix suggesting a trial)
• {{brandname}}team.com → saleshandyeasy.com (suffix highlighting a personal approach)

Note: If your sending list is 100k+ per month, you can use the following domain names and create multiple variations with different extensions like .io, .co, etc.

Prefixes for Domains

These prefixes will go before {{brandname}} in the domain.

1. get{{brandname}}.com
2. try{{brandname}}.com
3. go{{brandname}}.com
4. hey{{brandname}}.com
5. my{{brandname}}.com
6. join{{brandname}}.com
7. hi{{brandname}}.com
8. start{{brandname}}.com
9. use{{brandname}}.com
10. grow{{brandname}}.com
11. book{{brandname}}.com
12. learn{{brandname}}.com
13. free{{brandname}}.com
14. win{{brandname}}.com
15. see{{brandname}}.com

Suffixes for Domains

These suffixes will go after {{brandname}} in the domain.

1. {{brandname}}now.com
2. {{brandname}}today.com
3. {{brandname}}easy.com
4. {{brandname}}pro.com
5. {{brandname}}hq.com
6. {{brandname}}team.com
7. {{brandname}}works.com
8. {{brandname}}plus.com
9. {{brandname}}up.com
10. {{brandname}}fast.com
11. {{brandname}}live.com
12. {{brandname}}smart.com
13. {{brandname}}edge.com
14. {{brandname}}bit.com
15. {{brandname}}lab.com

Combining Prefixes and Suffixes

You can mix prefixes and suffixes of your liking and create more domain variations like these,

• get{{brandname}}now.com
• try{{brandname}}easy.com
• join{{brandname}}pro.com
• start{{brandname}}fast.com

Warning: Don’t use subdomains (of your primary domain) for sending emails. Otherwise you will end up ruining your primary domain’s reputation.

Best Practices for Setting Up Secondary Domains and Email Accounts

Right intention but wrong practices can lead your email campaigns to failure.

I know there are a lot of things you need to take care of, and hence, I have created a checklist for you to use:

• Choose a Relevant Secondary Domain
• Set Up Domain Redirections
• Authenticate Your Domain
• Warm Up Your Domain and Email Accounts
• Create Dedicated Email Accounts (limit them to max 5 per domain)
• Keep Your Primary Domain Away From Outreach Practices

I’ve covered these points in detail below.

Choose a Relevant Secondary Domain

Your secondary domains should be able to represent your primary domain.

For example, if you have secondary domains like {{brandname}}outreach.com or get{{brandname}}.com, then it would make sense.

Set Up Domain Redirections

This is one of the most common mistakes that cold emailers make: They forget to set up redirects from secondary domains to the primary domain.

Why is this important?

Because if any user is coming to the website via your email’s domain, it will land on your randomly-parked domain. Which can cause distrust.

Authenticate Your Domain

For authentication, you have to set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, which will help you protect the emails and give the right signals to the ESPs about your authenticity.

This eventually helps you build trust with ESPs and improve your domain reputation.

Warm Up Your Domain and Email Accounts

If you think that setting up secondary domains will make your email accounts ready for bulk emails.

Before you even send your first cold email, you need to warm up your email accounts to help ESPs recognize your domain as a legitimate sender.

I will recommend you to warm up your secondary domain email accounts for at least 15 days to gradually build trust and domain reputation.

Pro Tip: If any of your email accounts get lower deliverability than 95%, you should stop using those email accounts for a bit. And put them through a 2 week warm-up process to improve their sender reputation again.

Create Dedicated Email Accounts

For outreach purposes, it’s a good idea to opt for personal-sounding aliases like jane@{{brandname}}now.com.

Also, avoid overloading any of your secondary domains.

Keep Your Primary Domain Away From Outreach Practices

If your primary domain gets blacklisted by ESPs, then it’s game over for you.

It’s best to keep your main domain {{brandname}}.com for transactional emails or customer support only.

While doing this, also follow email deliverability best practices so that most of your emails hit inboxes.

How to Calculate Domains and Email Account Required

I’ll make this rocket science very easy for you.

All you need to do is type your monthly email sending volume, and this calculator will tell you the required amount of email accounts and secondary domains required for your outreach campaigns.

The calculation is done based on these three factors,

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

I did a lot of calculations and have created this secondary domain calculator.

Go ahead and check it out.

How to Set Up Your Cold Email Infrastructure?

Here comes the main part.

If you think that setting up cold email infrastructure is super tedious or you will need a dedicated email infrastructure provider, then you are wrong.

Why?

Because now you can set up your cold email infrastructure within 5 minutes and start sending cold emails from Saleshandy itself.

Here are the benefits of setting up email infrastructure from Saleshandy,

1. Automatic SPF, DMARC, and DKIM setup, along with custom tracking domain
2. Automatic email account reconnects
3. Unlimited email warm-ups directly from Saleshandy’s partner (TrulyInbox) at no extra charge
4. Provides US IPs only (for better email deliverability)

In short, you save a lot of time while spending only what’s necessary.

Check the video below for the detailed setup process. 

There’s an alternate method to set up email infrastructure where you have to do every step manually.

Here’s what you have to do,

Step 1: Buy relevant domains from your preferred hosting provider. You can use any of the following websites to buy,

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

Here’s a detailed comparison of domain registrars.

Step 2: Choose your preferred email service provider. You can choose from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, or Amazon Workmail.

Step 3: Set up your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication for all your email accounts.

Step 4: Warm up your email accounts & start sending emails.

But it’s a very long process, and you need to juggle between third-party platforms.

That’s why I recommended you to opt for Saleshandy’s email infrastructure.

Which Email Service Provider (ESP) Is Best for Cold Emails?

Note: Use these ESPs only if you are planning to opt for the manual setup of secondary domains and email accounts.

But if you prefer managing your email accounts with the right practices, then you need to decide which ESP is better for cold emails.

There are 4 email service providers that a majority of cold emailers use. I’ve compared them in the following table.

If you ask me, I would recommend you to go for multiple ESPs.

Why? Because emails have better deliverability when your email service (ESP) matches the recipient’s email service provider.

Hence, you can strike a good balance between the ESPs.

But which ESP to use? For this, you can go for Google & Microsoft because they are the most popular Email Service Providers. The rest are not worth the investment.

Recap – to Set Up Secondary Domains & Email Accounts

• Secondary domains act as a shield to avoid ruining your primary domain’s sender reputation.
• You can create domain variants by changing extensions (like .io or .uk) and adding prefixes or suffixes like {{brandname}}hq.com.
• I also covered the secondary domain calculation method.
• Which ESP is best for sending cold emails? – Google Workspace & Microsoft

FAQs

Can you send cold emails from your main domain?

You should never send cold emails from your main domain. Yes, it’s possible to send, but you will end up blacklisting your whole domain by ESPs and eventually your domain reputation will be harmed.

Can I use my own domains in the cold email infrastructure tools?

A majority of cold email infrastructure tools don’t allow you to use their domains, but in the case of Saleshandy, you can connect your email accounts and set up authentication easily.

How often should I change my secondary domains to avoid spam filters?

It’s not a good idea to keep switching domains. Ideally, you should be able to manage 95%+ deliverability. In case you are failing with that, then you need to pause underperforming email accounts and warm them up for a certain time.