Here’s Why Your Cold Emails Land in Spam (Full Deliverability Tier List)

Most people stuck at 0 replies keep “fixing the offer.”
Waste of time if your infrastructure is cooked.

You can:

• Build the perfect list

• Write the cleanest copy

• Pitch a $0 to $100k/month guarantee

But if your backend isn’t dialed, you’re invisible.

Here’s what actually matters for cold email deliverability (ranked, tested, proven):

1. ESP Quality
Only use Google or Microsoft.
Resellers/cheap tools? Don’t bother.

2. Domain Health
Aged, clean, solid sender rep.
If this sucks, you’re spam, even with perfect emails.

3. List Quality
Dirty, scraped, or outdated lists will tank your inbox rate.
Clean your data, validate, repeat.

4. Copy That’s Built for Cold
Short (under 150 words).
4th-grade reading level.
No links, no images, no tracking pixels.

5. Segmentation
Match pain to prospect.
No “one-size-fits-all” scripts.
You’re talking to CFOs? Use CFO pain. SaaS founder? Use SaaS pain.

6. Validation Stack
Re-clean every batch before hitting send.
If you hit catchalls or dead leads, your domain pays.

7. Sequencer Setup
Send slow.
Don’t batch blast.
Your sequencer shouldn’t fry your domain (most do).

8. Warming Up
Google: 14 days minimum.
Outlook: Tenant/IP reputation matters more than warmup “hacks.”

9. No SMTP or Redirect Shortcuts
Don’t use home-cooked SMTP.
Don’t redirect 10 domains to the same site.
Build legit sites for every sender domain.

10. Kill Underperforming Campaigns
Reply rate below 2%? Kill it.
Stop burning domains for hope.

Screw up any one of these, and everything else breaks. Nail them, and even an average offer will book meetings.

I just walked through every factor, ranked live, on YouTube.

Watch the full breakdown here (free, no fluff):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkUU4PGpSJY

P.S.
Questions?
→ DM me on Instagram: instagram.com/sabonagy
→ Or book a call: calendly.com/scalingroom/discovery-meeting-ib
I reply to everything—no gatekeeping.