Are you sending cold emails to enterprise and corporate leads?

Email deliverability is hard, but delivering to enterprise emails is even harder.

We’ve all been there - you’ve spent time crafting the perfect cold email, but it never reaches your prospect’s inbox. When it comes to corporate and enterprise domains, the challenge is even greater due to strict security systems, firewalls, and advanced spam filters.

But don’t worry! In today’s newsletter, we’ll break down effective strategies to help ensure your cold emails get past those tough security protocols and land where they should - in the inboxes of your high-value prospects.

Understanding Corporate Email Security Systems

Corporate and enterprise email domains often use advanced security measures to prevent spam, phishing attacks, and suspicious emails. These measures typically include:

• Spam Filters: Detect and block emails containing suspicious content or formatting.

• Firewalls: Restrict incoming emails from untrusted domains or IP addresses. Corporate security also tends to restrict emails coming from dedicated IPs.

• Email Authentication Protocols: Systems like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authenticate the sender’s identity and prevent spoofing.

Knowing what you’re up against is the first step toward crafting emails that can bypass these barriers.

Strategies to Improve Deliverability to Corporate Domains

1. Ensure Proper Email Authentication

Email authentication is crucial when sending to corporate domains. Most companies use SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to verify the legitimacy of incoming emails.

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Ensures emails are sent from a verified IP address.

• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Provides an encrypted signature proving the email hasn’t been altered.

• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance): Aligns SPF and DKIM to reduce email spoofing and ensure deliverability.

Make sure these protocols are correctly configured in your domain’s DNS settings to improve your email’s chances of being delivered. When using Salesforge, Mailforge or Infraforge this will be done automatically for you. In case of delivering emails to enterprises, Mailforge might be the best way to go because of the shared IP pool which makes it harder for security systems to pick up a pattern.

2. Use a Custom Domain for Cold Emailing

Many enterprise email filters will flag emails sent from generic domains (like Gmail or Yahoo) as spam. By using a custom domain, you build trust and improve the likelihood that your emails pass through corporate filters.

If you’re sending high volumes of cold emails, consider using a separate "burner" or secondary domain to protect the reputation of your primary domain. Over time, this domain can build a good sender reputation, improving deliverability.

3. Warm Up Your Domain

Before sending emails to hundreds of corporate contacts, it’s crucial to warm up your domain. This process involves slowly increasing the volume of emails sent from your domain over time, helping to build trust with email providers.

You can use domain warm-up tools like Warmforge to automate this process and ensure your sender reputation improves gradually.

With that said, when it comes to enterprise and corporate emails, we recommend not sending more than 5 emails per mailbox per day for the best results.

Crafting Emails That Pass Corporate Filters

1. Avoid Spam Triggers in Your Copy

Corporate email filters are on high alert for certain words and phrases that could indicate spam. Avoid using terms like “free,” “discount,” “limited time,” or “guaranteed” in your email’s subject line and body. These terms can easily trigger spam filters.

Instead, focus on clear, professional language that adds value to the recipient’s business.

2. Keep Your Email Copy Clean and Simple

Simplicity is key when it comes to corporate cold emails. Large images, excessive links, and heavy formatting can all trigger security systems. Aim for a clean, text-based email with minimal formatting.

• Avoid using more than one or two links per email.

• Use a plain text approach to avoid security flags triggered by heavy HTML formatting.

3. Personalize Your Emails

Highly personalized emails have a much better chance of bypassing spam filters. Personalization signals that your email is not part of a mass marketing campaign, making it more likely to be delivered. The more unique your emails are, the less likely they are to be picked up by spam filters.

Monitoring Bounce Rates and Adjusting for Better Deliverability

Monitoring your bounce rates is crucial when sending cold emails to corporate and enterprise domains, as high bounce rates can significantly damage your sender reputation and lead to future emails being blocked or flagged as spam.

1. Set Up a Bounce Monitoring System
   Use email platforms or tools that allow you to track bounces in real-time. Most email service providers (ESPs) or tools like Salesforge offer bounce tracking in their analytics dashboard.

2. Analyze Bounce Reasons
   For hard bounces, identify if the bounce is due to incorrect email addresses or if the recipient’s domain has blacklisted your sending domain or IP. In cases where the bounce reason is related to a security block, review the domain’s authentication settings (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and adjust accordingly. For soft bounces, examine factors like email size or sending patterns that may have triggered the bounce and adjust your approach.

3. Clean Your Email List Regularly
   Maintaining a clean email list is one of the most effective ways to prevent hard bounces. Use email verification tools before sending emails to identify and remove invalid, inactive, or risky email addresses. Regularly scrubbing your list can drastically reduce your bounce rates, keep your sender reputation intact, and ensure that your emails are landing in real inboxes.

4. Segment High-Risk Email Addresses
   If you notice recurring soft bounces or security blocks from specific domains (e.g., large enterprises with stricter filters), segment those addresses into a separate list. You can then experiment with sending emails at different times, adjusting your copy to be less aggressive, or reaching out through other channels to establish contact before reattempting email outreach.

Get Those High-Value Deals!

The key to successful cold email campaigns for enterprise leads is uniqueness. As long as there’s no pattern for the security filters to pick up, your emails have a high chance of landing right in that primary inbox. With the right set up and copy those high-value deals are within reach!