So you want to start sending cold emails, you went digging around on Reddit or X or YouTube, and you realized: Oh\u2026 this sounds complicated. And expensive. And time-consuming. And, wow, yeah, so expensive.<\/p>\n
You’ve been trying to figure out what\u2019s on everyone\u2019s \u201cmust-have\u201d shopping list<\/strong>: a stack of secondary domains and inboxes, authentication, warm-up, prospecting, enrichment, validation, an email sending platform, spam testing, maybe more.<\/p>\n At some point I guess you\u2019ll send some emails\u2026 but only after you\u2019ve sunk hundreds (or thousands) of dollars and so<\/em> much of your time into getting started<\/strong>.<\/p>\n But is<\/em> that really the entry fee to start sending cold emails?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve worked with (quite literally) thousands of cold emailers of all levels \u2014 from people who haven\u2019t sent a single message to sales teams at gigantic companies to outreach agencies. Every day I\u2019m also talking about cold email on Reddit, X, YouTube, and various Slack, Facebook, and Discord.<\/p>\n So I know what you actually<\/em> need as you\u2019re getting started<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In this article, I\u2019ll cover what\u2019s in the \u201cmust-have\u201d cold email stack according to the gurus, influencers, and guys (it\u2019s always guys) on X bragging about their success.<\/p>\n And I\u2019ll also cover what you actually need to get started, the right ramp up for a new cold emailer, and ways to cut down on your tools at every stage of the cold email lifecycle.<\/p>\n Though cold email trends (and tactics) change all the time, for the past few years, this is the general consensus on social media about the \u201cmust-have\u201d set of tools<\/strong>.<\/p>\n And you\u2019ll likely feel you really do<\/em> need ALL of this before you can reasonably get started (or you\u2019ll go straight to spam and get zero replies and be banished back to some other less-desirable moneymaking internet realm like dropshipping or faceless YouTube).<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the list.<\/p>\n The biggest rule of thumb: Don\u2019t send from your real domain, and don\u2019t send too many cold emails from one domain<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Because if prospects ignore your cold emails or, worse, mark you as spam, it can tank that entire domain\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n So the advice is to buy separate domains for outreach, anywhere from a handful to dozens. That way if one gets burned, your \u201creal\u201d domain is still fine and you can always just dump it.<\/p>\n You need to set up a handful of inboxes on each domain<\/strong>, so each different email address can send out roughly 30 to 50 cold emails a day.<\/p>\n The goal is to keep the volume down to keep you off Google and Microsoft\u2019s radars as a cold emailer (even though, yes, they know<\/em> what you\u2019re doing and to date are still allowing it). Also, by keeping emails-per-mailbox down, you limit your spam exposure risk.<\/p>\n These inboxes can be through Google Workspace, Outlook, or the entire niche world of cold email infrastructure services.<\/p>\n Doing cold email manually is arduous and, at scale, borderline impossible. So you\u2019ll need an email sending platform<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The ones you\u2019ll hear most often from the gurus (though this is changing) are Instantly and Smartlead, both of which have been targeting the hardcore cold email universe for the past four or so years.<\/p>\n There are lots of other options out there \u2014 for instance, I haven\u2019t talked to an outreach agency using either of those in months \u2014 and many people do hunt for a platform that better fits their needs.<\/p>\n After all, I\u2019m at GMass and we have a minimum of a few hundred cold emailers sign up every day, so I know empirically that people are hunting for alternatives that don\u2019t have some of the downsides of the other picks. (Like less bloat, better cost, better infrastructure, less spam placement, and on and on.)<\/p>\n But if you post \u201cWhat do I need to get started in cold email\u201d on Reddit, at least one person in the thread will say the Instantly\/Smartlead thing.<\/p>\n The gurus still push warmup hard<\/em><\/strong>. The usual rule of thumb is to warm up each domain\/mailbox for a minimum of two weeks but really, the influencers all say you should warm up even longer.<\/p>\n No one actually waits that long (Smartlead admitted their average user can only wait eight days before starting to send), but if you\u2019re trying to do this exactly by the modern playbook, it includes warmup.<\/p>\n A database like Apollo or Hunter (or the many, many upstarts) supplies the names and email addresses of outreach targets<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Then you\u2019re encouraged to use Clay (or the many, many upstarts) to enrich those contacts so your emails can be better personalized.<\/p>\n Bounces can damage your sender reputation. And as much as the prospecting databases try, they\u2019re riddled with dead addresses.<\/p>\n So the rule-of-thumb is to clean and verify every email address<\/strong> before sending. Companies like MillionVerifier, Reoon, and ZeroBounce, among many others, will run various tests on your contact lists to try to weed out as many bad addresses as possible before you send.<\/p>\n So yeah, you bought all of the above. You created a campaign. Now, before you send it, you want to know if you\u2019re going to wind up in spam.<\/p>\n There are lots of placement-testing tools, including third-party options like EmailGuard or upsells at Instantly and Smartlead, which send your email to test inboxes to determine whether it lands in the inbox, promotions, or spam before a campaign goes out<\/strong>.<\/p>\n (GMass\u2019s Spam Solver is another, but it\u2019s included free with plans.)<\/p>\n If you follow the standard advice, here’s what you’re spending before your first campaign. And \u201cspending\u201d doesn\u2019t just mean money\u2026<\/p>\n Note: We benchmarked this off sending to 5,000 contacts in a month at 30 emails per inbox per day and three inboxes per domain. Each would get up to a three-email sequence.<\/em><\/p>\n Your upfront cost is a minimum of $360, likely higher<\/strong>, with recurring charges coming in at anywhere from $320 to $450 a month<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Where you land depends on which sending platform you use and which other companies you choose.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what the bill covers:<\/p>\n Depending on what you choose, this will run you at least $320\/month (and that\u2019s with no Google Workspace inboxes and the bare minimums everywhere else) and as much as $450 or more.<\/p>\n Before your first campaign, the setup work repeats for every domain and inbox:<\/p>\n Another time cost: Once everything is set up, you wait two weeks or more for warmup before a single prospect hears from you.<\/p>\n So, do you actually need<\/em> to spend all that money and all that time on the stack, dropping hundreds of dollars or more before you send a single campaign?<\/p>\n Absolutely not<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t tell you how relieved new cold emailers are when I tell them that. Sometimes they even argue with me because it\u2019s become so ingrained that it\u2019s \u201cfollow all these rules or you\u2019re dead on arrival.\u201d<\/p>\n So here\u2019s how you can (and, I daresay, should) begin with cold email.<\/p>\n It\u2019s optimistic, but illogical, to spend a fortune before you\u2019ve sent a single cold email.<\/p>\n After all, no matter how prepared you think<\/em> you are, when you actually start sending a campaign you\u2019ll learn more about everything from targeting to prospecting to spam prevention than you could through all the research in the world.<\/p>\n So here\u2019s the real starting stack.<\/p>\n Total up front: $110-$175. Total setup time: Very minimal.<\/p>\n And no, this exact stack won\u2019t last forever<\/strong>. But for at least your first few months, as you\u2019re learning and testing and getting traction, it\u2019s the right amount to spend.<\/p>\n Then once you start making more money than you\u2019re spending, you can grow your stack\u2026<\/p>\n You\u2019re ready to expand your operation, sending cold email for yourself and\/or for clients.<\/p>\n And now<\/em> it\u2019s time to implement something closer to the \u201cmust-have\u201d playbook; inbox rotation is still the right next step for most people<\/strong>. (Though if you achieve great results right out of the gate and want to graduate to the true expert peak, skip down to the next section on ColdSMTP.)<\/p>\n So now it\u2019s time to grow your stack. Intelligently.<\/p>\n Total monthly: ~$300-$450, depending. There\u2019s setup time involved, but since you know<\/em> how to translate your efforts into customers now, it certainly feels more worthwhile.<\/p>\n And really, this setup can continue to work for you indefinitely<\/strong>. Occasionally you\u2019ll need to swap out domains and mailboxes, and you\u2019ll definitely test out different prospecting and enrichment tools \u2014 but largely, this operation can scale with you as you keep growing.<\/p>\n There\u2019s just one more level.<\/p>\n Once you have a history of campaigns that get good engagement and don\u2019t go to spam, you\u2019re ready for the holy grail<\/strong>: Not<\/em> having to do the whole inbox rotation thing.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where you may think about investing in your own cold email sending server. Or, in lieu of that (since it\u2019s not<\/em> easy or cheap), GMass actually offers a service called ColdSMTP<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhat You Really Need to Get Started with Cold Email: Table of Contents<\/h2>\n
\n
The \u201cMust-Have\u201d Cold Email Stack (According to Social Media)<\/h2>\n
Multiple domains<\/h3>\n
Multiple inboxes per domain<\/h3>\n
Email sending platform<\/h3>\n
Warmup<\/h3>\n
Prospecting and enrichment databases and tools<\/h3>\n
Email verification<\/h3>\n
Spam testing<\/h3>\n
So\u2026 What Are You Supposed to Spend on Your Cold Email Setup Before You Send a Single Campaign?<\/h2>\n
The financial cost<\/h3>\n
\n
The time cost<\/h3>\n
\n
The Alternative: How to Get Started on Cold Email Without the Extremely Costly \u201cMust-Have\u201d Stack<\/h2>\n
Start: one domain, one inbox<\/h3>\n
\n
Grow: more domains and mailboxes with inbox rotation<\/h3>\n
\n
True high performers only: Cold email sending server<\/h3>\n