What email infra do we use at Spring Drive? I get asked this quite a lot (no really lol). There's quite a few decent providers out - and some suck. Disclaimer: we're constantly testing new stuff - if we change or see red flags, I won't hide it. Also, I've been offered to promote various infras before and said no because I didn't really feel like it was right. I'll just tell you what we use at Spring Drive right now - Zapmail.ai. Not because they have some magic formula that arbitrarily means they'll get you better deliverability than everyone else. Literally hate it when providers make random claims about that. The best infrastructure providers can't give you a great campaign - that's down to your messaging, list, etc. But Zap hit the nail on the head for what matters in my opinion: - Reliability - Robustness - Support - Transparency - Only 1 domain per workspace gives us absolute risk control and this is the best way to segment a large infra - They give you all the account admin panel details so you can login yourself to see the setup and workspace details (full transparency is rare, so this is a major plus for us) - Domain masking (not yet 100% on efficacy, but we know it's likely important, and Zapmail offer this in one-click) - One-click integrations with major SEPs as standard - Google inbox profile photo features; small details that can be v important - Domain DNS access - Incredible support team: Alan D'Souza, Kaustubh Wadhwa and the whole team have built a support function that is super quick and solves pretty much everything we've thrown at them. - They also now offer pre-warmed inboxes that give us the ability to jump in and get aged accounts. There are others that do a great job too, but after trying a LOT of providers, the Zap gang have just ended up being the best for us when it comes to those 4 things that matter for great campaigns.

Landing in the Primary Inbox is tougher than ever. Deliverability isn’t just about what you send. It’s about where you send it from. Here’s what Smartlead’s May Deliverability Report just revealed: Inbox Placement by Sending Platform Google → Google = 80.66%  Outlook → Outlook = 56.27% SMTP → SMTP = 84.01% Google’s still on top, Outlook’s rough but still necessary. This will change and if your entire GTM engine is riding on one setup, you’re exposed. Here’s how we’re building bulletproof infrastructure for long-term deliverability: ✅ Diversify your sending split We’re currently at: 50% Google 40% Outlook 10% SMTP ✅ Google + Outlook Infrastructure Setup Buy multiple alt domains Set up SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MX records 2 inboxes per domain Redirect alt domains to your primary Minimum 3-week warmup before going live Made stupid simple by using Zapmail.ai ✅ SMTP? Use Mailreef Fully automated DNS setup Easy integration with outreach tools IP rotation + domain rep monitoring Auto-redirect to branded domains Unified inbox to track everything Bonus Tip: Pair this with Smartlead or Instantly’s ESP matching on send and you’re operating at elite levels of inboxing. If you’re still sending from one domain and praying it lands… You’re not running a system. You’re rolling the dice. Ready to build a system that scales? Comment “DELIVERABILITY” and I’ll send you our exact GTM email infrastructure blueprint.

Anytime someone says "we want to hire your for email deliverability consulting." I always say no, and here's why. Email deliverability might feel like a moving target at times, but at the same time, there are very well-documented examples of things that work and how to do it. Smartlead / Instantly.ai both publish a tremendous amount of resources that basically both agree on the same exact things. Sending from multiple domains with 2-3 inboxes on each domain with 15-30 emails per day and 2 weeks of warming. People who are telling you that they have some other crazy email deliverability secret are either working off of a hack that isn't going to be around for a long time or is lying to you. So if you're unsure about what you should do next, about your email deliverability, the major platforms all have phenomenal guides. You can use a platform like Zapmail.ai or Hypertide.io to set up inboxes quickly so you never have to worry about that part of the process. And then always keep enough inboxes so that when something does go wrong, you have more inboxes to pivot to, and you're always keeping those warming up. Don't pay for an expensive email deliverability consultant for them to do all the same things as everybody else. Make sure your DKIM, SPF, and DMARC are all aligned. Use a number of free email testing tools in ChatGPT to troubleshoot your own domain. When it comes to your outbound sending domains, set them up through the providers I mentioned and use some of the name-brand outbound sequencers. You'll be 90% of the way towards what an email deliverability guru will tell you.

We absolutely crushed it last week for this client. 50+ leads in one week - targeting enterprise companies in the US. What made it work: - New sending infrastructure via Zapmail.ai - Campaigns launched with Woodpecker.co - Deliverability handled with Warmy.io - Email channel. Reliable. and Mailivery - Land in the Inbox And most importantly, a creative, tailored approach to copywriting cc Chapters Agency

Most cold email campaigns fail—not because of the offer, but because the foundation is broken. You don’t need 100 tools. You don’t need to over-engineer copy. You just need a system. Here’s the cold email workflow we use—the one that consistently delivers replies, meetings, and pipeline: Step 1 — Set the foundation (you can use Zapmail.ai or Maildoso) → Buy 2 domains for every sender → Create 2 email addresses per domain → Use Zapmail.ai for fast setup Step 2 — Set your DNS (properly) → SPF, DKIM, DMARC → Done automatically with Zapmail.ai or Maildoso Step 3 — Warm up your inbox → Let the algorithms trust you → Use Instantly.ai or Smartlead to simulate real behavior Step 4 — Know who you’re talking to → Define your Ideal Customer Profile → Narrow down the personas you’re targeting → Use Pronto to get the most out of Linkedin Sales Navigator Step 5 — Find the right contact info → Use Enrow to enrich emails that actually land and work Step 6 — Craft the strategy and messages → List out 5-10 initiatives you absolutely need to try (new in job, job offers, Linkedin followers, Linkedin engagement, Webinar Attendees...) → Short, clear, relevant → Don’t try to sell—try to start a conversation Step 7 — Make it personal → Capture real-time buying signals → Use Clay or TAMTAM to add depth to your personalization Step 8 — Launch and monitor → Start small, iterate fast → Your first send isn’t the campaign—it’s the test This process doesn’t just “send emails.” It builds trust, relevance, and results. Most people overcomplicate cold email. The best teams just master the fundamentals. Curious—what part of this flow do you think most teams overlook? Let’s compare notes.

My $198K Email ► LinkedIn Workflow (for B2B Founders): A) SET UP INFRASTRUCTURE: 1. Buy mailboxes from Zapmail.ai 2. Warm them via Instantly.ai or Smartlead 3. Obtain leads from Apollo.io & LinkedIn Sales Navigator 4. Enrich leads using Clay 5. Verify emails using ZeroBounce or NeverBounce by ZoomInfo B) BUILD EMAIL ► LINKEDIN WARMING FLYWHEEL 1. Set up omnichannel campaigns in Reply 2. configure Reply to automatically send LinkedIn connection request to prospects who reply positively 3. Use Zapier or Pabbly Connect to push these prospects into Breakcold social CRM 4. Use engagement feed in Breakcold to engage with these prospects' posts daily to stay-top-of-mind until you close them RESULT: $198K pipeline generated in 2 weeks! (for my client) Might a system like this help YOUR business? Book an appointment to find out! #B2B #Marketing #Sales

There was no warning. An entire team vanished, let go. Maildoso’s shutdown hit hard over night and as a result, 3,000+ teams got blindsided. I feel for them, truly. There was no warning, no way out. Similar, Instantly’s DFY accounts were in the news this week. Hundreds banned with no recourse. (we love instantly as a campaign tool) It’s easy to forget how fragile this all is. Until you watch it collapse in real time. We’ve had close calls before. That’s why we made the switch early. We moved to Zapmail.ai months ago: They own nearly 100% of the infra. No sketchy GSuite or blackhat resellers. This week alone: 4% positive reply rate. Stable delivery. Zero panic. If email is your growth engine… Please don’t wait for it to break. Diversify your and your customer accounts.

How we generated 789 sales opportunities in a crowded market Agrello is a digital signing platform helping businesses across the Baltics and Nordics. Their edge comes from two things: the ability to automate contract drafting and signature collection, and a really smooth signing experience that saves time and makes life easier for their customers. It’s not an easy space to grow in. They’re competing with well-established international names like Docusign, Adobe Sign, Signicat, and PandaDoc. Most of those companies have massive budgets and big brand awareness. On top of that, it’s the kind of service companies don’t switch often. And since every company signs contracts, there isn’t one clear ideal customer profile to go after. We started with a strategy workshop and outlined several customer personas, each with specific use cases. Initially, we ran campaigns across eight different target audiences. It brought in leads, but not at the volume we wanted. Then we got more focused. We identified export-driven companies that regularly sign contracts with international partners. That shift made a big difference—the leads started coming in steadily. At the same time, we introduced a webinar as a lead magnet. It’s been one of the most effective tools for bringing in qualified prospects. We also set up broader outreach campaigns aimed at reaching more businesses, using a multichannel approach with LinkedIn and email, and multiple touchpoints along the way. We’ve supported Agrello’s growth into Latvia and have started laying the groundwork for expansion into Ukraine. So far, we’ve launched 52 campaigns and brought in 789 warm leads. The tech behind it all includes tools like Instantly.ai, Aimfox, Clay, Zapmail.ai, and Make.

Day 7 of posting everyday until I raise $2.5 Million… I screwed up… This past week we got everything ready to go for our raise. The pitch deck landing page done, designed and deployed. The 50,000+ investors prospected. The insane clay sequence we’re building setup… But I forgot to get more new emails…. Actually I didn’t forget- I didn’t do the math so I didn’t realize I’d need so many. Here is how the math works for our cold email investor outreach. We want to cold email at least 20,000 people. According to ChatGPT we should expect about 10% of investors we email to book a meeting. Of that - 5% of them will write a check (I think this will be much higher.) This means I need to cold email 200 people to get a check. I’m going to go low and assume the avg check will $25,000. We’re raising $2,500,000. This means we need 100 investors to write checks. You can add 30 unique contacts per day per email inbox you have if you’re only sending a 1 step sequence. I’m sending a 2 step sequence - so I can add 2 unique contacts per day per inbox. I currently have 18 inboxes allocated to this campaign, which means I can add 270 contacts per day per inbox. Based on this - it would take 74 days to cold email 20,000 people. Not ideal. So I went over to zapmail.ai and bought 24 domains and 72 inboxes. I’ve been using zapmail since they’ve launched and i’ve been really happy with them. I like zapmail because the inboxes are only $3 per inbox- but also because they handle all the configuration and exporting the inboxes to Instantly. The bulk editing also makes everything really easy. I spent a total of $311 on domains, and $216 on new emails - $527 total. I pushed everything to Instantly and now I just need to wait 2 weeks for warming and I'll be able to increase from 270 contacts per day to 1,350 new contacts per day. While I wait for everything to warm - we’ll still be going live on monday!

I received this cold email. Let me show you what I would've done differently 👇🏼 1. Landed in spam • Needs better infrastructure (check out Zapmail.ai) 2. Subject line • Didn't add a subject line 3. Hook • Hook had nothing to do with me • Didn't draw me in to reading any more • Sounds extremely vague and sounds like a template • Asking for way too much (you want a call by tomorrow?) 4. Body • Talking about generating leads, but how many of those actually converted? • It isn't really relevant to me - I don't even know who these people are. 5. Signature • Added HTML in the signature (that's a no-no) 6. P.S. line • Solid lead magnet, but this should be the CTA and not a p.s. line • Not entirely clear about what I'm opting into. Here's how I would've written the email: Subject: pipeline? Jacob, are you on track to hit your Q3 and Q4 rev goals this year? I put together a playbook that can help you and your team build scalable pipeline, just like how {relevant case study} did. It goes over strategy, tools, and gives you and your team several action items. Are you the best person to send it to? WHY THIS WORKS: You're quite literally showing and telling your exact methodology. You're giving away all of the sauce. Embed a calendar onto your lead magnet and watch your conversions skyrocket.

Over the last 2 years bootstrapping BetterContact a lot happened - this is how my outbound stack evolved during that time: 2 years ago: - Setting up mailboxes with GoDaddy for cold emails (and spending hours on that) - Manually exporting LinkedIn profile views and engagement to reach out - Manually qualifying prospects by going on their website myself - Tracking lead activity on LinkedIn with an awkward Excel sheet   - Jumping between 4 different enrichment tools to find contact data - Taking notes on demo calls and get easily overwhelmed by it Today: - Setting up mailboxes using Zapmail.ai in just a few clicks - Tracking LinkedIn engagement w/ Teamfluence™ - Qualifying prospects at scale with GPT through Clay - Using Breakcold to easily track signals - Using BetterContact to find contact data (aggregates 20 enrichment tools in 1) - Using Fathom Notetaker to be able to fully focus on the person I’m talking to Technology isn't always the solution, but without it, it would have been impossible to build a SaaS with hundreds of customers and just a few people.

Making Outbound Easy: My Top 8 Essential Sales Tools (They all cost less than $900 a month.) Zapmail.ai Zapmail makes email deliverability easy. Buy domains, set up your email accounts fast, and manage everything from one simple dashboard. Twain Need help writing good sales messages? Twain creates custom sales copy based on your ideal customers. It also helps you learn more about your leads on LinkedIn. Clay Clay helps you build lists and automate tasks. It takes a little time to learn, but lots of guides are available. You can connect it with almost all other tools here. ReachInbox Use ReachInbox to send email sequences like a pro. It includes deliverability checks, data tracking, and A/B testing. Apollo io Apollo is an easy and affordable database for finding leads. Use targeted lists and focus on your messaging for best results. Distribute.so Distribute creates lead magnets to capture emails. You can track visitors and retarget those who don’t book meetings. MailVerify MailVerify checks your lead lists for valid emails. Keep bounce rates low and protect your email reputation. n8n n8n lets you automate many of your outbound sales tasks. Once set up, it saves you a lot of time and effort. Using these 8 tools well can grow your sales pipeline to six figures in just a few months. What tools do you recommend?

There are 100s of sales tools out there. The truth is that you probably need less than 10. Here are some handpicked Allbound tools: 1️⃣ PhantomBuster Use phantoms to extract relevant data coming from dozens of sources. You can start for $0. 2️⃣ Clay Filter and enrich this data with the most advanced GTM tool on the market. You can start for $0. 3️⃣ Zapmail.ai Before sending any email, you need to get your infrastructure right. Better delegate this to experts, so your domains are safe. Starts at $39 per month. 4️⃣ ZELIQ Your lead database and multichannel outbound tool. Send personalized emails and LinkedIn DMs. You can start for $0. 5️⃣ Breakcold The CRM that understands modern sales. They pushed email and LinkedIn integration to the next level! Starts at $29/month. These 5 tools only will do wonders for your business! I hope this helps! 🙌 PS: Of course, I could add other tools for advanced use cases. But I wanted to keep it simple today! What did I miss? 👀

How I generate dozens of quality leads, automatically, with the right system. Here is my tech stack: Let’s start with the most obvious: ➡️ Content LinkedIn is the place where I produce content to: → create credibility and authority → network with great people → generate traffic → find leads Tools: → ChatGPT, for brainstorming and formatting → Canva for image and carousel designs → Descript for video content → ClickUp, for organization → LinkedIn for scheduling and engagement ➡️ Inbound leads My content generates views and intent signals. There are two main ways to activate this traffic: → Website visitors (identified, filtered, and enriched) → DMs (after automatically filtering my ICP) Tools: → Umso for my website → Identity Matrix for visitor identification → PhantomBuster to export leads → Clay to filter those leads → HeyReach.io to reach out ➡️ Outbound leads I also run cold email campaigns: → I find relevant leads (that match my ICP, only) → I enrich their contacts and filter them → I set my infrastructure up → I reach out with high personalization and intent signals Tools: → LinkedIn Sales Navigator → Telescope → FullEnrich → Apollo → Clay → Zapmail.ai → Instantly.ai ➡️ Conversations and calls The final step. I do this one manually (sort of). I use HubSpot as my CRM but also to track my conversations. The goal is to have a call if that’s relevant. I use Claap to save them. I hope this is helpful 🙌 PS: What am I missing?

I'm currently running my outbound campaign, and here is all the tools that I'm using. - Namecheap, Inc ( domains ) - Zapmail.ai ( email infra ) - Instantly.ai ( warm up & campaign automation ) - Databar.ai ( Lookalike data & enrichment - Ocean.io included ) - Clay ( Data & enrichment ) - Semrush ( Competitor data ) - Apollo io ( Specific searches ) - ChatGPT & Claude AI ( Research ) - Sales Navigator ( Research ) - HubSpot ( CRM ) - Cal.com, Inc. ( Call booking ) - Notion ( to manage the processes ) That's all the tools for now :) I'll update as I'll explore new tools on the way.

Why you should send 30k emails per month and the infrastructure needed for it. Total monthly investment: ~$1,000-1,200 (still cheaper than SDR's) Most B2B executives I talk to are afraid of high-scale email. Two limiting beliefs you need to get rid of: "𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱, 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱" Linkedin Gurus sell you social selling or intent-based outbound offers that fundamentally lack volume and are overhyped (I say this as someone who does it too xD). First principles: Decision makers still read emails. The game just got much harder. "𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝗜 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?" First - nobody cares and we have attention spans of goldfish. Second - I'd rather win than please people. Third - if your product/service is really as good as you think, then your whole TAM is better off at least knowing about you (and best case working with you). So grow the courage to contact everyone in your TAM, even though this might sound insane. What really matters is first landing in the inbox, then it's all about offer and messaging. So let's get the whole infrastructure out of the way. Here's what you need. The math that matters: ◉ 30k emails/month × 1-3% reply rate = 300-900 replies ◉ 300-900 replies × 10-30% positive replies = 30-270 positive replies ◉ 30-270 positive replies × 10-30% meeting conversion = 3-81 meetings/month 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 = 3-81 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 × 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝗖𝗟𝗩 (𝗔𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲) (Obviously massively dependent on industry, but you get the idea.) If you look at this formula, you can see how improving just 1 part of the funnel can massively increase your pipeline by 2x. That's where you want to have high quality data and Response Agents to decrease speed to lead to increase conversions. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱: 50 Inboxes across 13-25 domains (2-4 emails per domain) → Instantly.ai: $5/month per inbox = $250/month for 50 inboxes → Zapmail.ai: 30 inboxes for $99/month (better deal) → Mix of both: ~$200-300/month total Domain upfront investment: 13-25 domains × $8 average = $104-200 yearly (one-time setup cost) 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲: → Clay: $350/month minimum for TAM mapping + enrichment → You can buy yourself Email Providers and use the API in Clay to save on clay credits 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀: → Instantly.ai sending platform: $99/month → n8n automation (self-hosted): $9/month on Hostinger → Attio CRM: Free to start The math: This whole system costs less than one decent SDR ($4k+/month) but gives you the capacity to reach your entire TAM systematically. What did I miss?

You can write the perfect cold email… but if it lands in spam, it doesn’t matter. Here’s the truth… 80% of deliverability issues come from your email infrastructure, not your copy. Most people only focus on messaging. But tools + setup matter just as much. What you actually need: → DKIM, SPF & DMARC setup → 2-3 mailboxes per domain → Clean IPs (US-based) Here is the breakdown of the 5 email infrastructure tools we’ve tested, used, and loved. PS: Our favorite is currently Zapmail.ai, Alan D'Souza and the team have been super helpful with handling our infra for months now, I highly recommend them. 👇 Check the carousel & save it for later.

We send 2M cold emails across 5000+ Google, M365, and SMTP accounts each month. All while maintaining an average 95% deliverability rate. Here’s how ⬇️ At Cymate, we diversify sending infrastructure so we’re never dependent on a single provider. When Google or Microsoft tighten their spam filters, we stay running. Diversifying across platforms means no single update can tank our performance. Our 2 core providers + 1 honorable mention: Zapmail.ai for Gmail/M365  ↳ Instant email infra setup (SPF/DKIM/DMARC, routing, masking) zero human error, all done by software  ↳ One of the few providers that spins up 1 US-based Google Workspace per domain (thank you Alan D'Souza 🙏) ↳ Setup time 10mins - 1 hour so we can start the warm up process as quickly as possible Mission Inbox for SMTP ↳ Dedicated sending IPs and servers that aren’t shared with bad actors ↳ Full diagnostics dashboard with inbox placement, bounce data, spam signals, and more ↳ Weekly deliverability updates from Anthony Baltodano are gems as well, follow him if you don’t want to land in spam Honorable mention: Mailrun for Azure-based inboxes ↳ Leverages Microsoft Azure’s premium IP pools + uses fewer inboxes per domain than other providers ↳ Incredible support and insanely fast delivery, appreciate you Ken Volk & team We’ve tested a lot of infra providers. These are the ones we trust to keep our cold email engine running at scale, without nuking domains or killing reply rates. What’s your current infra stack? Drop them below 👇

I had a call with Manny Adelstein to help with Clay's email infrastructure and this is what we talked about. Most people underbuild their outbound infrastructure. They buy 3–5 domains, warm them up, and hope deliverability holds. But if you’re serious about scale, that’s not enough. Here’s what we’ve learned running high-volume outbound: If you want to send 1,000 emails per day, you need the capacity to send 3,000. Why? Because domains burn. Even if your copy is clean and your targeting is perfect, some emails will hit spam. On average, a domain lasts ~2 months before you need to rotate it. So we use a three-set system: Set 1: actively sending Set 2: fully warmed and on deck Set 3: aging in the background When Set 1 gets tired, you switch to Set 2, start warming Set 4, and keep going. The machine never stops. Here’s the tip most people miss: buy domains early and let them age. Even if you’re not using them yet, aging them means when you need new inboxes, you’re not starting from scratch with a zero-trust domain. We buy hundreds (sometimes thousands) of domains when there are sales. Right now, Dynadot is running a promo: .coms for $7 and .cos for $2. We’ll grab thousands and let them sit—no inbox cost until we need them. Use Zapmail.ai and Hypertide.io for inbox setup. They give you admin access, don’t mix your domains with shady senders, and plug right into SmartLead. Don’t wait until deliverability drops to prepare. Stockpile aged domains now, and you’ll always be ready to scale or recover—without missing a beat. I know some people will say, "If you send good emails, you don't need to do this." We just had someone with literally an 8% reply rate which 80% of them being positive go from an 8% reply rate to 1% because of people still marking them as spam. I wish it wasn't this way either, but this is just what we have seen that we have to do.