Before you start your cold email journey and start B2B outreach, it's important to have the correct system in place. Let's look at how to set up a proper system. This is the first stage of any B2B campaign.
Here’s the list you can use to keep track of all the steps:
Buying Domains
Setting Up Email Provider: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or Zoho
Setting up Domain's DNS Configurations: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and Forwarding
Setting up Emails Accounts & Warming Up Emails
Quick Question: Why do I need to create new emails and buy new domains? Why can't I use my current one?
Well, we buy similar-looking domains for cold emails and send emails on them so that we don't damage your main domain's reputation. For each domain, we create 1–3 email accounts.
Buying Domains
Buy domains that are similar to your main domain. People have had success with domains such as .com, .us., .uk, .co.uk, .ca, .org, .agency, and .digital. We advise looking for .com first as they are the best.
If your business is called fypion, then buy domains like: fypionhq.com
Tryfypion.com
buyfypion.com
You can buy domains from GoDaddy, Google Domains, Zoho, and any other provider, but for convenience, we would recommend GoDaddy as it's easy to manage and works well with all providers.
We strongly advise not going with Namecheap and other cheap providers, as $1 in savings might cost you a lot. Many blacklists frequently include these providers on their lists. For example, 75% of domains from Namecheap are listed on uceprotect, which is due to the provider's incompetence rather than your sending behavior.
Setting Up Email Provider: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or Zoho
Visit Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or Zoho and buy an email plan from a provider by following the on-screen instructions until your account is set up. You should create 1-3 emails per domain. Tip: If you bought a domain from Google Domains, you can get Google Workspace during that same process.
Setting up Domain's DNS Configurations: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and Forwarding
Authenticate all the domains you are sending emails from. Here are the three parameters you must have for each domain: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Set up SPF
General SPF record setup for all domain providers
Log in to your domain providing service
Go to the DNS settings
Add a new record
Select the TXT record type
Add "@" in the Host or Name field
In the Record field put one or more of the following depending on which email services you will be using:
Google SPF record setup
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
Microsoft Office SPF record setup
v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com -all - Microsoft Office 365
Zoho SPF record setup
v=spf1 include:zoho.com ~all - Multiple Zoho services
v=spf1 include:zoho.eu ~all - Multiple Zoho services EU region
v=spf1 include:zoho.in ~all - Multiple Zoho services Indian region
Once the SPF record is set, please verify it here to make sure you did it perfectly.
Set up DKIM
To set up DKIM, first, you’ll need to generate a DKIM record which consists of a domain key and TXT record value. Follow the guidelines below as per the provider.
You can check if your DKIM is properly set up using this tool.
Generate a Google DKIM record
To generate a Google DKIM record in Google Workplace, follow these steps:
1. Log in to Google Admin Console 2. Go to Apps - > Google Workspace >> Gmail 3. Click on Authenticate email 4. Select your domain and click on generate the new record.
5. Copy & Paste the DNS Host Name and TXT record value from Google to your domain’s provider DKIM setup.
6. Go back to the Google Workspace and click on START AUTHENTICATION and wait 24-62 hours for the process to complete.
Generate a Microsoft Office DKIM record
To generate a Microsoft Office DKIM record in Microsoft Office 365, do the following:
1. Log in to Microsoft 365 Admin Center
2. Go to Policies & rules >> Threat Policies >> DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM)
3. Click on your domain
4. In the newly opened window, click on Create DKIM keys
5. Copy & Paste the Host name and Points to address or value to your domain’s provider DKIM setup
6. Go back to the Microsoft Admin Center window, click on the domain, and in the newly opened window select Enable for Sign messages for this domain with DKIM signatures
7. Wait 24-48 hours for the process to complete
Generate a Zoho Mail DKIM record
To generate a Zoho Mail DKIM record in Zoho, follow these steps: 1. Log in to Zoho Mail Control Panel 2. From the left menu select Domains 3. Click on your domain 4. In Email Configuration select DKIM 5. Click on Add to add a new selector 6. Copy & Paste the TXT Name and TXT Value/Points To/Destination from Zoho to your domain’s provider DKIM set-up 7. Go back in the Zoho Mail Control Panel window, click Verify, and wait 24-48 for the process to complete
You may need to wait from 30 minutes or up to 48 for the changes to take effect in your domain provider’s settings.
Set up DMARC
Configure DKIM and SPF before configuring DMARC. DKIM and SPF should be authenticating messages for at least 48 hours before turning on DMARC.
Follow these DMARC setup steps to add DMARC to your DNS. Create a DMARC Record
Click here to easily create the required TXT record. It should look something like this example: (V=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc-feedback@). This example record instructs receiver systems to generate and send aggregate feedback to "dmarc-feedback@" your domain. The p=none tag indicates you are only interested in collecting feedback. Alternatively, you could use a p=quarantine, or p=reject tags for emails that fail authentication.
Log into the management console of your DNS hosting provider, and while this can vary by provider, you want to locate the page that allows you to add a DNS TXT record
In the Type box, select TXT Record Type
In the Host Value box, enter _dmarc as the "host"
In the TXT Value box, enter the record you created using the DMARC Record Creator in the first step.
Save the DMARC record
Validate the DMARC setup. You can check if your DMARC is properly set up using this tool.
Set up Forwarding
Forward the new domains to your main domain. This can be done in the settings of your domain provider. You find the options on your DNS or Forwarding page.
Setting up Emails Accounts & Warming Up Emails
Now that all the setup is complete, make sure all the users and email accounts you have created have their profile pictures updated.
Now you have to warm up your emails for at least 4 weeks before starting your campaigns. We recommend the below tools for warmup.
All of these are great tools. It depends a lot on your campaign type, quantity of emails, and budget to decide which one to run. For example, if you have budget constraints, go with Quickmail, but if you have a decent budget, Instantly is the best. lemlist is quite pricey, but it has a massive Wamup pool.
Always keep the warm-up on - never turn it off.
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