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Following 'Best Practices' Still Gets You Blacklisted
The cold email deliverability lie (I spent $50K following deliverability "pro tips" and still landed in spam
What's up, it's Zayd.
Cold email deliverability is never not a struggle. Even when following best practices, it remains inconsistent at best.
I researched everything to solve this problem once and for all. Proper SPF/DKIM/DMARC setup. Multiple domains. 8-12 week warmup sequences. Perfect sender reputation scores.
Still landing in spam folders.
The "best practices" everyone preaches are either outdated, incomplete, or straight-up wrong. Meanwhile, LinkedIn automation is eating email's lunch because it sidesteps this entire mess.
Let me break down what actually works (and why most of it still doesn't).
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Zayd’s Picks
My favorite finds of the week
The Infrastructure Theater
Here's what the "experts" tell you to do:
Domain Setup: Use 3-5 sibling domains with believable branding
Authentication: SPF, DKIM at 2048-bit, DMARC progression from none to quarantine
Warmup: 8-12 weeks minimum with engagement simulation
Volume Management: Start at 10-20 emails per day, scale slowly
I followed this playbook religiously. Spent thousands on domains, warmup tools, and infrastructure. The results were marginally better than doing nothing.
The problem is that it's solving yesterday's problem with today's technology.
The Real Deliverability Killers
After analyzing hundreds of failed campaigns, here's what actually kills deliverability:
Recipient Behavior, Not Sender Setup
If prospects consistently delete your emails without reading them, no amount of technical configuration will save you. Gmail learns that your emails aren't valuable to recipients.
List Quality Over Technical Perfect
A perfectly configured domain sending to bad lists will get blacklisted faster than a basic setup sending to engaged recipients.
Content Patterns, Not Content Quality
It doesn't matter how well-written your email is. If the structure matches known spam patterns, you're fucked (sorry, but it’s true).
Volume Mismatch
Sending 50 high-quality emails per day from a domain configured for 500 emails per day looks suspicious to spam filters.
The 8-12 Week Warmup Lie
Most startups can't afford to wait 8-12 weeks for email infrastructure to be ready. By the time your domains are "warmed up," your runway has shortened and your market opportunity may have shifted.
Meanwhile, competitors using LinkedIn outreach, direct mail, or phone calls are booking meetings immediately.
The warmup timeline assumes you're planning to send emails for years. Most startup campaigns need results in weeks, not months.
The Monitoring Vanity Metrics
Deliverability tools love showing you vanity metrics that create false confidence:
Delivery Rate: Getting delivered to a mailbox doesn't mean getting seen by a human
Bounce Rate: Low bounce rates don't prevent spam folder placement
Authentication Scores: Perfect SPF/DKIM means nothing if recipients ignore your emails
Warmup Progress: Engagement simulation doesn't replicate real recipient behavior
The only metric that matters are qualified prospects reading and responding to your messages.
Why LinkedIn Outreach Is Winning
While sales teams debug DMARC policies and optimize send times, LinkedIn automation tools are booking meetings consistently:
No Infrastructure Headaches: No domains to warm up, no authentication to configure Built-in Engagement: LinkedIn's algorithm rewards response rates and engagement Professional Context: Messages arrive in a business-focused environment Relationship Building: Connection requests create ongoing touchpoint opportunities Deliverability Proof: Messages get seen by recipients, regardless of email filters
There are also a whole slew of hidden costs behind email infrastructure. The direct ones are obvious; domains, warmup tools, sending platforms, etc. but no one talks about:
Technical Debt: Constant monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimization
Opportunity Cost: Time spent on infrastructure instead of message quality and targeting
Cognitive Load: Mental energy spent on deliverability instead of strategy
Team Resources: Engineering or ops time devoted to email management
For most startups, these hidden costs exceed the direct costs by 3-5x.
The Alternative Channel Strategy
Instead of perfecting email infrastructure, successful teams are diversifying outreach channels:
LinkedIn First: Higher response rates, better targeting, professional context
Direct Mail: Stands out in an increasingly digital world
Phone Calls: Immediate feedback and relationship building
Video Messages: Higher engagement than text-based outreach
Industry Events: Face-to-face relationship building
The Future of Outbound Channels
This deliverability nightmare is exactly why we built Valley to focus on LinkedIn automation instead of email. Just relevant, personalized messages reaching prospects in their professional environment.
LinkedIn's professional context means higher response rates and more meaningful conversations. Plus, you're building a network of connections for long-term relationship development.
Email deliverability will continue getting harder as providers crack down on commercial messages. Meanwhile, LinkedIn is actively building features to support business development and relationship building.
The smart play is building outreach capabilities on the platform that wants you to succeed, not the one trying to block your messages.
How I Can Help?
Let me book sales calls for you while you’re escaping email deliverability hell. Seriously.
I built Valley to be your automated SDR and empower AEs. Get started today and watch your calendar fill up with qualified leads.
How can we work together 🏔️
See more of Valley’s messaging examples, feel free to roast them: https://withvalley.notion.site/Cool-Message-Bro-1c0b917b0ed481dab014c465c354b4b8
Generate more demos for your company using LinkedIn: https://meetings.hubspot.com/zayd-from-valley/tryvalley
Become a Valley partner and get 20% recurring commission for every user you bring in: https://withvalley.notion.site/valley-affiliate-partner-program
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