your emails aren't landing

Hey there,

Kevin from Astris Partners here.

While most B2B companies are getting 0.5-0.7% reply rates from cold emails, our campaigns rarely drop below 5%. We've recently had campaigns hit 25% reply rates.

The difference? We've mastered email deliverability.

You can write the most brilliant email in the world, but if it doesn't land in the inbox, it's worthless. Think of deliverability as the foundation of your house. Everything else is just decoration.

In 2025, deliverability is 80% of the game.

The Infrastructure Reality

Remember when you could send 5,000 emails from one mailbox? Those days are dead.

In 2025, you need lots of mailboxes sending very few emails each. We typically set up 500 mailboxes across 10+ domains for clients, starting with just 2 emails per day per mailbox.

Yes, 2 emails per day. Then we gradually increase to 3, then 4, maybe 5 maximum.

Here's our standard setup:

• 500 mailboxes across 10+ domains

• 80% split between Google Workspace and Microsoft Enterprise (50/50)

• 20% private SMTP providers

• 200-300 additional mailboxes always warming up as backups

The Domain Strategy That Works

Stop sending from your main domain. I can't say this enough.

When I speak with 10-20 companies weekly, 90% are still making this critical mistake. They're literally risking their entire business communication to save a few dollars on secondary domains.

Use domains like "go-yourcompany.com" or "team-yourcompany.com" and redirect them to your main website. When prospects research you, they'll land on your real site seamlessly.

The Provider Matching Secret

Here's something most people don't know: if you're emailing someone with a Gmail address, your email should come from a Gmail mailbox. Microsoft to Microsoft. Private SMTP to private SMTP.

The algorithms are constantly changing, but this principle consistently improves inbox placement. Sometimes Google to Google works best, sometimes Google to Microsoft performs better. That's why you need diversification and constant testing.

The Warm-Up Process Everyone Skips

Brand new domain + brand new mailbox + immediate cold emails = disaster.

Every mailbox needs a minimum 2-week warm-up period. During this time, your mailboxes exchange emails in trusted pools to build sender reputation and history.

After warm-up, start slow. Send 1-2 emails per day, then gradually increase.

And don’t stop warming up… ever!

The Data Quality Foundation

Here's where even good infrastructure fails: sending to invalid emails.

Even Apollo's "verified" contacts are 30-50% invalid. When your bounce rate hits that level, you're immediately flagged as someone who doesn't know what they're doing.

Always verify your data. Use tools like Million Verifier or ZeroBounce before sending anything. Better to send to 300 valid emails than risk 1,000 unverified ones.

Your bounce rate should be below 2%, ideally under 1%.

The Content Rules for 2025

Plain text only. No HTML, no links, no fancy signatures, no images, no phone numbers.

I know that amazing video you want to share seems important, but a link is a link. It triggers spam filters immediately.

Relevancy is everything. Don't send the same message to 20 people at the same company. Email providers can scan your content and detect mass, irrelevant emails instantly.

Use spintax. Create variations in your emails so you're not sending identical messages repeatedly. Instead of "Hi [name]," use "{Hi|Hello|Hey} [name]" to create natural variation.

The Personalization Trap

First name and company name aren't enough anymore. But talking about their pet or liking a LinkedIn post isn't meaningful personalization either.

Focus on relevancy. Answer "why you, why now" convincingly. If you can't explain why this specific person should care about your message right now, don't send it.

The Bottom Line

Deliverability isn't a nice-to-have. It's the difference between your emails being seen and disappearing into digital oblivion.

The companies winning with cold email in 2025 understand this is technical work that requires expertise, testing, and constant optimization.

Talk soon,

Kevin

P.S. If you're tired of watching your emails disappear into spam folders and want to see what proper deliverability infrastructure looks like, let's have a chat.