How Many Cold Emails to Send Daily Per Domain
When it comes to cold emails, sending the right number daily is crucial to avoid spam filters and maintain a good sender reputation. Here's a quick breakdown:
- New Domains: Start with 10–20 emails/day and increase gradually by 20–50 emails/week.
- Established Domains: Safely send 40–100 emails/day if you have a good reputation.
- High-Volume Campaigns: You can exceed 100 emails/day, but this requires careful management and multiple domains.
Key Factors to Consider:
- Domain Age: New domains need a slow start, while older domains (over a year) can handle more.
- Email Provider Limits: Platforms like Google Workspace and Office 365 have daily caps (e.g., 2,000 for Google Workspace, though starting with 30–50 is safer).
- Domain Warm-Up: Gradually increase email volume over weeks to build trust with email providers.
- Spam Complaints: Keep your spam rate under 0.1% - anything above 0.3% can harm your reputation.
Quick Table: Recommended Daily Email Limits
| Domain Type | Daily Emails (Recommended) |
|---|---|
| New Domain | 10–20 (ramp up slowly) |
| Established Domain | 40–100 |
| High-Volume Setup | 100+ (with risk) |
Pro Tip: Always focus on quality over quantity. Use clean email lists, personalize messages, and follow proper compliance practices (e.g., SPF, DKIM, DMARC setup). Gradual scaling ensures better long-term results.
Let’s dive deeper into these strategies and best practices in the full article.
Factors That Determine Daily Sending Volume
When planning your cold email strategy, several key elements influence how many emails you can safely send each day without running into deliverability issues. Let’s break down the main factors that impact your daily sending volume.
Domain Age and Reputation Status
If your domain is new (less than three months old), you need to start slow - sending only 20–50 emails a day - to gradually build trust with email service providers (ESPs). On the other hand, older domains (over ten years) typically enjoy up to 30% better deliverability rates right out of the gate. Over time, your domain’s reputation becomes the deciding factor. This reputation is shaped by factors like email volume, spam complaints, spam traps, and recipient engagement.
Think of your domain reputation as a scorecard that determines whether ESPs let your emails land in inboxes. A strong reputation means better deliverability and higher engagement rates. However, a bad reputation can sink your efforts - 21% of emails fail to reach inboxes due to poor domain reputation. To stay on ESPs’ good side, keep your spam complaint rate below 0.1%. Anything above 0.3% is considered a red flag and can severely damage your reputation.
Email Provider Daily Limits
Your email provider also plays a big role in shaping your sending limits. Different platforms have their own rules, and these limits can vary based on your account type, how long you’ve had the account, and your overall sending history.
Here’s a quick look at some common provider limits:
| Email Provider | Daily Limit | Key Restrictions |
|---|---|---|
| Google Workspace | 2,000 emails | Best to stick to 30–50 daily |
| Office 365 | 10,000 emails | Max 30 emails per minute |
| Free Gmail | 100–500 emails | Limit depends on sending method |
| Outlook.com | 5,000 emails | Account age impacts limits |
| Yahoo | 500 emails | 100 emails per hour |
For example, Google Workspace allows up to 2,000 emails per day, but for optimal results, it’s wise to keep your daily volume between 30–50 emails, especially if your domain is still warming up. Meanwhile, Microsoft Office 365 has a higher limit of 10,000 emails per day but caps sending at 30 emails per minute. Free accounts, like Gmail or Yahoo, have much stricter limits, often making them less suitable for large-scale campaigns.
Going over these limits can lead to temporary account suspensions or other restrictions, so it’s crucial to stay within the boundaries to avoid being flagged as spam.
Domain Warm-Up Process
The domain warm-up process is essential for building credibility with email providers and ensuring your emails don’t get caught in spam filters. This involves starting with small email volumes and gradually increasing them over several weeks.
For new domains, start by sending 20–50 emails per day during the first few weeks. Focus on sending to recipients who are likely to engage - those who open, click, or reply to your emails. Positive engagement signals help establish trust with ESPs, which improves your sender reputation.
During the warm-up phase, make sure to set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols to verify your domain’s authenticity. Keep your email lists clean by removing invalid or inactive addresses, and monitor your sender reputation closely to catch and resolve any issues early.
Consistency is key. Stick to a regular sending schedule and avoid sudden spikes in email volume, as these can trigger spam filters. Aim for a bounce rate of 2% or less to maintain a healthy reputation.
Daily Sending Limits by Domain Type
Knowing your domain's current status is key to figuring out how many cold emails you can send each day without running into trouble. The limits vary widely depending on factors like your domain's age, reputation, and email-sending history. Here's a breakdown by domain type to help you plan effectively.
New domains need to start small to build trust with email service providers. Established domains with a solid track record can handle more emails, while high-volume setups demand careful management to avoid deliverability issues.
The main difference between these categories lies in how email providers perceive them. For instance, a brand-new domain sending 100 emails on its first day is likely to set off spam alarms. On the other hand, an established domain with the same volume might deliver those emails without a hitch.
Recommended Daily Limits Table
Here’s a quick guide to daily email limits based on domain type:
| Domain Type | Recommended Daily Cold Emails per Domain |
|---|---|
| New Domain | 10–20 (ramp up by 20–50/week) |
| Established Domain | 40–100 |
| High-Volume Setups | Up to ESP max (with risk, >100) |
New domains should start cautiously, sending just 10–20 emails per day for the first few weeks. While this may feel slow, it’s crucial for building credibility. Gradually increase by 20–50 emails every few days after 2–4 weeks of consistent sending. For example, you might start with 20 emails in week one, then increase steadily week by week. Avoid abrupt jumps in volume - consistency is key to proving your domain’s legitimacy.
Established domains with over a year of positive sending history can safely manage 40–100 emails per day. These domains have already built trust through reliable sending patterns and good recipient engagement.
High-volume setups can exceed 100 emails daily, but this comes with greater risk. Many successful cold email campaigns intentionally cap volumes at around 100 emails per day per email address to maintain strong inbox placement, even if their email service provider allows for higher limits. Pushing beyond this often requires multiple domains and advanced management techniques.
Different industries have varying norms. For example:
- SaaS companies often send 50–100 emails per day per domain.
- Marketing services typically range between 30–70 emails daily.
- Consultancy services tend to stay in the 40–80 range.
These guidelines align with broader email-sending best practices. Always pair these limits with proper warm-up strategies, clean recipient lists, and engaging email content. One of the quickest ways to get flagged as spam is by sending too many emails too soon. Taking a patient, steady approach during the early stages will result in better long-term deliverability.
Sticking to these recommendations ensures compliance and helps maintain high deliverability rates. The next section will dive deeper into best practices for optimizing your email campaigns.
Cold Email Compliance Best Practices
When managing sending limits, strict compliance practices are your best defense for protecting your domain’s reputation and ensuring your emails land in inboxes - not spam folders. Non-compliance isn’t just risky; it can be costly. For example, violations could result in fines of up to $53,088 per email under CAN-SPAM, €20 million or 4% of annual turnover under GDPR, $10 million per violation under CASL, and $7,500 per email under CCPA.
To stay compliant, make sure your "From", "To", "Reply-To", and routing details clearly identify you as the sender. Subject lines should accurately reflect the content of the email. Every cold email must include your valid physical postal address and a clear, easy-to-use opt-out option. Under the CAN-SPAM Act, unsubscribe requests must be honored within 10 business days.
On the technical side, authentication is key. Setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records ensures recipient servers recognize your emails as legitimate, which can significantly boost deliverability. Additionally, maintaining a clean email list by removing invalid or bounced addresses, steering clear of spam trigger words, and personalizing your messages helps protect your sender reputation.
Email Sending Schedule Setup
Timing matters when it comes to cold email outreach. Spread your emails throughout business hours, adding short pauses between sends to mimic human behavior.
Tuesdays and Thursdays are often the most effective days for outreach, especially a few hours into the workday. However, keep in mind that nearly one-third of unsubscribes happen on Thursdays, so you might want to adjust your email volume or fine-tune your messaging on that day. Interestingly, some studies suggest that sending emails on Sundays can result in higher open rates, though overall engagement tends to be lower. Mornings are generally a good time to send emails, as many people check their inbox early in the day. To create a more natural pattern, vary your sending times using random intervals rather than sticking to a rigid schedule.
If you’re scaling up your email campaigns, do so gradually. Slowly increasing your daily send volume helps you build a strong sender reputation while staying within safe limits. These scheduling practices work hand-in-hand with compliance measures to improve your overall success.
Spam Prevention and Blacklist Avoidance
To avoid spam filters and blacklists, you need to go beyond just timing and compliance. Keep an eye on bounce rates and spam complaints to catch any issues early. Using a double opt-in process, email testing software to verify addresses, and routine anti-malware checks on your server can also help maintain list hygiene and improve deliverability.
Segmenting your audience and tailoring your content to specific groups can boost engagement, signaling to email providers that your messages are welcome. If you’re working with a new domain, warming it up with tools like Warmforge can help establish a positive sender reputation before launching large-scale campaigns.
According to Marilia Dimitriou, Lead Content Editor, "Getting blacklisted means that you either followed a bad practice or something went wrong and your IP address got caught by the spam filters. As the saying goes, prevention is better than the cure, so make sure to follow these tips to stay on the 'white' side of things".
If you’re outsourcing email marketing tasks, remember that compliance is still your responsibility. Regularly monitoring performance metrics - such as open rates, click-through rates, and response rates - can help you spot and address potential problems before they escalate.
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Scaling Cold Email with Mailforge
Once you've established safe sending limits, the next step is figuring out how to scale your outreach without running into compliance issues. Scaling cold email campaigns can be tricky, especially when managing multiple domains. That’s where Mailforge comes in - it simplifies domain setup and management, making large-scale outreach much easier.
Managing Multiple Domains Efficiently
Mailforge tackles the challenge of handling multiple domains by automating what used to be a time-consuming process. Normally, setting up several domains could take weeks, but with Mailforge, it’s done in just minutes. The platform takes care of all the technical details, including DNS configurations, bulk updates, and securing domains with SSL and masking. This automation helps protect your sender reputation while saving time.
The platform also offers multiple workspaces, which let you organize projects or clients separately. You can move domains and mailboxes between workspaces as needed, giving you the flexibility to manage campaigns or client accounts with ease.
"The simplicity and the automation in the buying process of domains, DNS setting, inbox creation, forwarding, etc. Everything in one place. And when I had any doubts, the team through the chat or Slack solved it really quickly!" - Isabella L., Founder, Let's Fearlessly Grow.
Mailforge integrates seamlessly with any email software, including tools like Salesforge. This means you don’t have to overhaul your existing workflow - it works with whatever tools you’re already using.
And with pricing between $2–$3 per mailbox per month, scaling becomes predictable and budget-friendly, whether you’re managing 50 or 5,000 mailboxes. Efficient domain management is the backbone of scaling while staying compliant.
Maintaining Compliance Across Domains
Scaling cold email campaigns isn’t just about sending more emails - it’s about doing it responsibly. Mailforge helps you stay compliant by managing sending limits across all your domains. By distributing your email volume across multiple domains, you can expand your overall capacity without exceeding safe limits on any single domain.
Unlike general email providers like Gmail or Outlook, Mailforge is built specifically for cold outreach. This means it includes safeguards to help you avoid accidentally surpassing sending limits, which could harm your deliverability.
Sending schedules play a big role here. Mailforge lets you automate the timing of your emails, controlling when they’re sent, how many go out, and how long to wait between each email. These automated controls mimic natural human behavior, which helps maintain deliverability across your entire domain portfolio.
The platform also provides centralized compliance monitoring, so you can track sending volumes, bounce rates, and other metrics across all your domains in one place. This bird’s-eye view helps you catch issues before they hurt your deliverability.
To further protect your sender reputation, Mailforge includes email address verification. By cleaning your email lists before sending, you can avoid bounces caused by invalid addresses, which is crucial when managing multiple domains.
"We often hear 10x improvement as a target among startups, but when it comes to cold email infrastructure setup, Mailforge provides 100x improvement!" - Karlo Binda, Founder, Leadsnack.co.
Mailforge also makes it easy to coordinate domain warm-up processes, which are essential for building strong sender reputations. By integrating with Warmforge, you can streamline this step and ensure all your domains are ready to perform.
With over 10,000 businesses - from small startups to Fortune 500 companies - already relying on Mailforge, it’s clear the platform can handle operations at any scale. Its 4.9 rating is a testament to how well it balances simplicity with enterprise-level capabilities, helping businesses grow their cold email efforts safely and efficiently.
Conclusion: Cold Email Success Through Proper Limits
Daily sending limits play a crucial role in ensuring the success of cold email campaigns. By respecting these limits, you safeguard your sender reputation and reduce the risk of being flagged as spam. Whether you're starting small with 20 emails per day from a new domain or ramping up to 200 emails per day with an established one, staying within safe boundaries keeps your messages out of spam folders. There's no one-size-fits-all number here - your ideal daily volume depends on factors like domain age, email provider restrictions, and the quality of your email list. Always follow the guidelines set by your email provider. More importantly, focus on keeping your spam complaint rate below 0.3% to stay in good standing with major providers.
To build a strong foundation, start small and increase your volume gradually, spacing emails naturally throughout the day. For new domains, begin with minimal sends and scale up as your reputation grows. Established domains can handle higher volumes but should still follow a disciplined approach. A helpful rule of thumb is maintaining a 4:1 ratio - sending four emails for every reply received - to guide your outreach strategy effectively.
For those looking to scale past single-domain limits, tools like Mailforge simplify the process. With automated domain management, DNS setup, and compliance monitoring, Mailforge ensures smooth scaling while protecting your sender reputation. This structured approach aligns perfectly with the best practices discussed and keeps your campaigns running successfully.
FAQs
How many cold emails should I send per domain each day to avoid spam filters?
To keep your emails out of spam folders and stay compliant, it's wise to limit the number of cold emails you send per domain each day. A good starting point is 50–100 emails daily, gradually increasing this number as your domain builds trust and a solid reputation. Sending too many emails too fast can raise red flags with spam filters.
Make sure your domain is configured with essential authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. These protocols help verify that your emails are legitimate. Also, focus on crafting personalized, high-quality content. Avoid using spammy language, and always include a clear, easy-to-find unsubscribe option. These practices will boost your email deliverability and reduce the chances of landing in spam.
How should I warm up a new domain for cold email campaigns?
To get a new domain ready for cold email outreach, start slow and steady. Begin by sending just 5-10 emails a day and gradually increase that number over a few weeks. This gradual approach helps establish a positive sender reputation and avoids setting off spam filters. For instance, during the first two weeks, stick to 10-20 emails daily, then increase to 20-50 emails per day as you reach weeks three and four.
Focus on crafting emails that are engaging, well-written, and tailored to your recipients. Steer clear of language that might come across as spammy, and prioritize meaningful interactions to show email providers that your outreach is legitimate. On the technical side, set up essential email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. These measures not only boost your email deliverability but also protect your domain's reputation.
Equally important is keeping an eye on how your domain is performing. Regularly check metrics like email deliverability to ensure your messages are reaching inboxes rather than being flagged as spam. If needed, tweak your approach based on what the data shows. By following these steps, you’ll set your domain up for success in cold email campaigns.
How many cold emails can I send per domain each day without hurting deliverability?
Email provider limits are a big deal when it comes to cold email outreach. Go over these limits, and you risk damaging your sender reputation or landing in spam folders. To keep your emails reaching inboxes, stick to sending 50–60 emails per day per domain. This keeps you under the radar of email provider thresholds and avoids triggering any red flags.
To stay within these limits and scale your outreach, there are a few smart strategies to follow:
- Use multiple domains to spread out your email volume.
- Gradually warm up new email addresses to build trust with providers.
- Set up authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to verify your emails.
If this sounds like a lot to handle, tools like Mailforge can make your life easier. They automate DNS setup, help you manage multiple domains, and keep your outreach process smooth and within safe boundaries.