Summary
The consensus from experts, marketers, and documentation is that while 'everyone does cold email' might seem like a valid argument, it's not an effective, ethical, or sustainable strategy. Cold emailing is often viewed as spam, damages sender reputation, leads to deliverability issues, and can result in blacklisting, as well as potential legal issues like GDPR violations. Instead, building relationships, focusing on permission-based marketing, engaging with communities, providing valuable content, and implementing proper email authentication are recommended as more sustainable and ethical alternatives. The underlying theme is prioritizing recipient consent and providing value to attract interested prospects rather than resorting to unsolicited outreach.
Key findings
- Reputation Damage: Cold emailing damages sender reputation, leading to deliverability problems and potential blacklisting.
- Spam Classification: Cold emails are often classified as spam, regardless of personalization efforts.
- Legal Risks: Cold emailing can violate data protection laws like GDPR, resulting in fines and legal consequences.
- Ineffectiveness: Cold emailing is becoming less effective due to increased spam filtering and decreased user engagement.
- Sustainable Alternatives: Relationship building, content marketing, SEO, and community engagement are more sustainable alternatives to cold email.
- Permission-Based Marketing: Permission-based marketing leads to better engagement and avoids being flagged as spam.
Key considerations
- Ethical Considerations: Prioritize ethical marketing practices and obtain explicit consent from recipients before sending emails.
- Legal Compliance: Ensure compliance with data protection laws, such as GDPR, when sending emails, especially internationally.
- Alternative Strategies: Explore and implement alternative lead generation strategies that focus on attracting interested prospects rather than cold outreach.
- List Hygiene: Maintain a clean and engaged email list by regularly removing unengaged or invalid addresses.
- Email Authentication: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to authenticate your emails and improve deliverability.
- Value Proposition: Focus on providing value upfront and building trust with prospects to create a more receptive audience.
What email marketers say
9 marketer opinions
The collective responses strongly suggest that while 'everyone does cold email' might be a common justification, it's not necessarily an effective or ethical strategy. Experts and marketers highlight that cold email can damage sender reputation, lead to deliverability issues, and potentially result in blacklisting. Building relationships, participating in communities, and using content marketing are presented as more sustainable and ethical alternatives. Compliance with data protection laws like GDPR is also a key consideration, as cold email often lacks the explicit consent required. Focusing on ethical lead generation through opt-in methods and providing value upfront are repeatedly emphasized.
Key opinions
- Reputation Damage: Cold email can damage sender reputation, leading to deliverability problems and blacklisting.
- Ineffectiveness: Cold email is becoming less effective due to increased spam filtering and user awareness.
- Ethical Concerns: Cold email raises ethical concerns and may violate data protection laws like GDPR.
- Better Alternatives: Relationship building, content marketing, and community engagement are more sustainable alternatives.
- Value Proposition: Providing value upfront and focusing on permission-based marketing yields better results.
Key considerations
- Sender Reputation: Monitor and protect your sender reputation to avoid deliverability issues.
- Legal Compliance: Ensure compliance with data protection laws when sending emails, especially to international recipients.
- Alternative Strategies: Explore alternative lead generation strategies beyond cold email to build a more engaged audience.
- Ethical Marketing: Prioritize ethical marketing practices and obtain explicit consent from recipients.
- Long-Term Sustainability: Focus on long-term sustainability by building relationships and providing value over short-term gains from cold email.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Quora argues that cold emailing is becoming less effective due to increased spam filtering and user awareness. Personalized and targeted outreach through other channels is more likely to yield positive results.
13 Jan 2025 - Quora
Marketer view
Email marketer from Sales Hacker explains that cold email is often viewed as spam. Building a strong online presence, participating in relevant communities, and using targeted content marketing can attract leads more effectively and ethically. Focus on providing value and building trust.
26 Jul 2024 - Sales Hacker
What the experts say
5 expert opinions
Experts uniformly advise against the 'everyone does it' justification for cold emailing. They point out that cold emails often end up in spam, damage sender reputation, and are generally unwanted by recipients. Alternatives such as building relationships, engaging with the community, and focusing on opt-in email strategies are recommended. The consensus is that cold emailing is not a sustainable or effective approach, and deliverability vendors can offer limited assistance when cold emailing practices are in place.
Key opinions
- Spam Placement: Cold emails often end up in the spam folder.
- Reputation Damage: Cold emailing hurts domain reputation.
- Ineffectiveness: Cold emailing is not a sustainable or effective approach.
- Recipient Disinterest: Recipients generally do not want cold emails.
- Limited Help: Deliverability vendors can only provide limited assistance with cold emailing practices.
- Better Alternatives: Relationship building and opt-in email strategies are more effective alternatives to cold email.
Key considerations
- Domain Reputation: Protect your domain reputation by avoiding cold emailing.
- Opt-in Strategies: Focus on building an opt-in email list.
- Alternative Outreach: Explore alternative outreach methods such as relationship building and community engagement.
- Client Acceptance: Consider turning down clients who insist on cold emailing or setting clear boundaries regarding deliverability support.
- Long-Term Sustainability: Prioritize long-term sustainable email practices over short-term gains from cold email.
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that the idea that 'everyone does it' doesn't make cold email acceptable, especially because recipients likely don't want it. If your recipients did want your emails then they would already be on your mailing list. Your cold emails will hurt your domain reputation, and no deliverability vendor will be able to fully help you.
29 Jul 2021 - Word to the Wise
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that instead of relying on cold email, consider alternative methods such as building relationships and becoming known in your target community. This approach can lead to more receptive and engaged prospects.
28 Dec 2021 - Word to the Wise
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
The documentation from various email service providers and anti-spam organizations consistently emphasizes that unsolicited bulk email (spam) is harmful to deliverability and sender reputation, regardless of how commonly it's practiced. Permission-based marketing, list hygiene, authentication, and audience segmentation are crucial for avoiding spam filters and maintaining a healthy email program. The key takeaway is that simply because 'everyone does it' doesn't negate the negative consequences of sending unsolicited emails.
Key findings
- Spam Definition: Spam is defined as unsolicited bulk email and can lead to blacklisting.
- Permission Matters: Permission-based marketing improves engagement and avoids spam flags.
- List Hygiene: Maintaining a clean and engaged email list is crucial for deliverability.
- Authentication: Setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records enhances email authentication.
- Avoid Unsolicited Email: Sending unsolicited emails harms deliverability and sender reputation.
Key considerations
- Spamhaus Listing: Understand the criteria used by Spamhaus for blacklisting and avoid practices that could lead to a listing.
- Explicit Consent: Obtain explicit consent from recipients before sending emails.
- Audience Segmentation: Segment your audience to send relevant emails and improve engagement.
- Email Authentication: Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to authenticate your emails.
- Regular List Cleaning: Regularly clean your email list to remove unengaged or invalid addresses.
Technical article
Documentation from SendGrid highlights email deliverability best practices that involve list hygiene and audience segmentation. This helps to ensure you are sending relevant emails to an engaged audience. Maintaining a healthy sender reputation, authentication and avoiding spam triggers are important.
8 Apr 2023 - SendGrid
Technical article
Documentation from Spamhaus defines spam as unsolicited bulk email and details the criteria they use for blacklisting. Sending unsolicited emails, regardless of how common it is, can result in being listed as a spam source, impacting deliverability.
5 Jul 2024 - Spamhaus
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