Who is this guide for? 📘¶

While this guide is for anyone sending emails in SalesMFast... It is specifically designed for those utilizing LC Email and LC Email Dedicated Domain Features. Those utilizing a Custom SMTP Provider that is not LC Email will need to consult their provider. Our team will be limited on how much we can assist in some of the email compliance and best practices as they are not managed by us. ✉️🔧

Learn more about the difference between LC Email and Custom SMTP Providers here. 🔍

Now that we know who this is for, let's hop into our guide together as we review Email Best Practices and Email Sending Recommendations below. We can't wait to see how this helps you grow your business! 🚀

Email Best Practices ✅¶

Now that your new sending domain is set up, it is critical for you to set yourself up for a successful landing into people’s inboxes 📥 and NOT their spam folder 🚫. Before you get started sending, ensure you have set up and followed these necessary best practices.

1. Set Up a Dedicated Email Sending Domain 🌐¶

What is it?
Your Sending Domain is how the internet routes emails. Rather than sharing the domain provided for all users, a dedicated email domain is a single private domain you use to send and receive emails. Within SalesMFast, when you are using LC Email - you have the ability to create your own dedicated domain. If you are using a non-LC Email (or SMTP Provider) you will not have this ability in-app.

Why it matters?
Not having a Dedicated Email Sending Domain often results in your emails going into SPAM 📉 despite good emailing practices. When you set up a Dedicated Email Sending Domain, you can gain full control of your reputation and email deliverability.

How to Set it Up?
If you haven't already, it is highly recommended to have your own Dedicated Domain for sending emails. To set up your Dedicated Email Sending Domain, check out this step-by-step guide.

What if my Emails are still going to SPAM?
If this describes you, please click here to learn more. 🆘

2. Set Up a Dedicated Sending IP Address 🖥️¶

What is it?
Dedicated IPs offer a distinct advantage by sending your email messages from a unique, exclusive IP address. Email service providers closely monitor the reputation and behavior of an IP address to determine deliverability.

Why it Matters?
If you have an LC Email Dedicated Sending Domain (see point 1 above), you share the same Sending IP Address with all of SalesMFast. This could negatively impact your sending, especially at high volume 📊. A dedicated sending IP helps you control your reputation.

How to Set it Up?
Businesses sending more than 200,000 emails a week will benefit the most. To set up and learn more about Dedicated Sending IP Address, check out this guide.

What are the Costs?
💲 $59 per month per IP (billed to the Agency Billing Card on file).

Additional Resources:
- 🔄 Reserve DNS (rDNS) Set Up
- 🛠️ Fixing "Reverse DNS does not match SMTP Banner"

3. Enable Email Validation ✔️¶

What is it?
Email Validation checks if the email you are sending is valid or not. Sending to invalid emails can hurt your deliverability.

Why it matters?
If you send emails that do not exist, it harms your domain reputation leading to poor deliverability 🚫.

How to enable it?
- Sub-Account: Business Profile > “Verify Email Address when the first email is sent” > ✅
- Agency View: Sub-accounts > Select sub-account > “Enable Re-validation for 90 days” 🔁

Costs:
$2.5 per 1000 validations vs $12/1000 with MailGun (79% cheaper). 💸

4. Add Your DMARC Record 🛡️¶

What is it?
A DMARC Record provides instructions to receiving servers about handling incoming mail. Emails must pass DKIM and SPF checks ✅.

Why Add it?
Not having a DMARC Record can hurt your reputation and land your emails in SPAM 🚫.

How to Add it?
Add this TXT record in your DNS settings:

Type: TXT
Name: \_dmarc
Content: v=DMARC1; p=reject

Resources:
- 📖 Email Authentication - DMARC
- 🔗 Add your DMARC Record
- 📊 DMARC Reports

5. Use the Proper “From Email” 📧¶

What is it?
The “From Email” is what recipients see. Example: “test@salesmfast.com” ✅

Why it matters?
Using a mismatched “From Email” can cause poor deliverability ⚠️.

How to Set it Up?
Always make sure the “From Email” matches the root domain of your sending domain. Example:

Sending domain: mail.salesmfast.com
Correct From Email: user@salesmfast.com

6. Add Unsubscribe Links 🔗¶

What is it?
Unsubscribe links allow users to stop receiving emails.

Why it Matters?
Not including them can destroy your deliverability 🚨.

How to Set It Up?
- Use the Footer element in the email builder.
- Default unsubscribe link (for LC Email users).
- Or create a custom unsubscribe link for full control.

7. Use Double Opt-In 🔄¶

What is it?
Subscribers opt-in twice (form + email verification).

Why it Matters?
It improves reputation and ensures only engaged users are added 🙌.

How to Set It Up?
Build a Double Opt-In flow in SalesMFast.

8. Stop Sending to Unengaged Emails 🚷¶

What is it?
Do not send to people who don’t open or engage.

Why it matters?
Unengaged contacts lower your reputation 📉.

How to do it?
Trim your list and focus only on engaged users.

👉 It is better to stop sending than risk being marked as SPAM.

9. Send Regularly… Just Not Too Regularly 📅¶

What is it?
Your sending frequency affects your reputation.

Why it matters?
Too few or too many emails can hurt deliverability.

How to do it?
- Send daily for 5 days after opt-in, then reduce.
- Weekly after 20 days if no action.
- Stop after 2 months of inactivity.

Recommendations:
- ✅ Send to opt-ins only.
- 🎯 Keep promotions short.
- 🛑 Stop sending to unengaged contacts.

Email Warm Up 🔥📧¶

Mailbox providers will often SPAM emails from new dedicated email domains. This makes sense because anyone can make a new sending domain (like a spammer for example) and get sending. Utilizing the Email Best Practices above and the Email Sending Recommendations below will greatly improve your chances of landing in the inbox 📥 and converting those leads! 🚀

Email Sending Recommendations 📨✅¶

When sending your first emails to warm up your domain, you should only send to emails that have opted-in. Further, you need to follow the “Email Sending Recommendations” below to ensure you aren’t sending too many emails within a single day or hour. ⏳

What this reveals is how many emails you can send within a single day or a single hour:

Stage 1: No more than 100 per hour and 1,000 per day.
Stage 2: Increase to 300 per hour and 2,500 per day.

It’s important to remember the stage isn’t just how long you’ve had the domain, it is the current stage or time in which you go to send emails. 📊

👉 Learn How to Send Emails in Drip Mode (Daily and Hourly Sending).

Pro Tips for Sending Your First Warm-Up Emails 💡¶

✅ Follow the Email Best Practices above
📌 Follow the Email Sending Recommendations above
📉 Send fewer emails per day or hour if you can at the beginning
👥 Send only to opted-in emails with higher chances of engagement
🚫 Avoid cold emailing during warm-up (it damages deliverability)
✍️ Keep email content short and to the point
🖼️ Add an image if appropriate
🔗 Do not use public link shorteners like bit.ly or tiny.url

Email Tools 🛠️📊¶

Are you wanting to test, track, or monitor your email domain? Below are powerful tools for troubleshooting and monitoring your email sending and health.

Test the Spammyness of Your Emails 🚨¶

The content of your email can impact deliverability. Too much text or using a URL shortener can make your email look “spammy” to mailbox providers.

👉 Use Mail-Tester to check:

Copy the test email provided
Create a new contact in SalesMFast with that test email
Send your email to this new contact
Go back to Mail-Tester and click “Then check my score”
Review your score and adjust based on feedback

Review Your “Email Health Report” 🧾🔍¶

Quickly check for errors in your domain (blacklisting, missing DMARC, etc.) by pasting your domain into the MXToolbox Email Health Report.

This shows potential issues with your domain and is a great place to start troubleshooting or checking your domain reputation.

Advanced: Use Postmaster Tools 📡¶

Google Postmaster Tools provide valuable data for every Gmail user you send to, including:

📉 Spam rate
🌍 IP Reputation
🏷️ Domain Reputation
🔁 Feedback Loop
🔑 Authentication
🔒 Encryption
⚠️ Delivery errors

This information is invaluable for monitoring and improving your deliverability. Just add the required record to your sending domain to activate tracking.

⚠️ Note: Reports may take up to 2+ days to populate. Refresh, clear cache, or use an incognito window if data doesn’t show immediately.

👉 Learn more here: How to use the Google Postmaster Tool.

# Troubleshooting 🛠️📧

Remember there are many reasons why emails can go to spam. For example, did you know using URL shorteners results in a much higher chance of going to SPAM? 🚫 Email sending can be a complicated process, which is why this guide was created. As you review why emails are going to spam, you can follow this guide above as well as review the questions below. 🔍

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## In the event of your emails going to SPAM, check the following: ⚡

### ⏳ Check how long you have been sending emails
- It can take up to **4 weeks** for a domain to be warmed up.  
- If less than 4 weeks, focus on the **Email Best Practices & Email Sending Recommendations**.  
- Use the **Email Tools** section to monitor and improve your sending.  

### 📡 Check Your MX Records
- Confirm your MX records are installed correctly.  
- See the **Email Health Report** section.  

### 🛡️ Ensure Your DMARC is Set Up
- Confirm your DMARC records are installed correctly.  
- See the **Add Your DMARC Record** section.  

### 🤝 Reach out to Support
- If after confirming the top three steps you still need help, reach out to Support for further assistance.  

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# Frequently Asked Questions ❓💡

### Q. What about Cold Email Outreach? 🧊📩
Cold emailing means contacting people who haven’t opted in—and it’s generally not recommended, especially for new domains. If you do it:  
- ✅ Validate emails and filter out bad addresses  
- 📉 Send small batches and drip slowly  
- 🔥 Warm up your domain first  
- 🚫 Don’t use your primary sending domain  
- 🛠️ Use cold email tools to qualify leads before importing them into SalesMFast  

**Third-Party Cold Email Services:**  
Tools like instantly.ai or smartlead.ai can help with cold outreach. Once leads engage, you can move them into SalesMFast. (These tools aren’t affiliated with us.)

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### Q. What if I already have a Dedicated Email Sending Domain and my Emails are going to SPAM?  
That’s normal in the beginning. If your domain is already warmed up and emails are still going to spam, it’s better to set up a new sub-domain. 🔄

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### Q. Should I Share the Same Dedicated Sending Domain Across Multiple Sub-Accounts or My Entire Agency?  
No 🚫 — each sub-account should have its own dedicated domain to keep deliverability strong and avoid cross-account issues.

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### Q. What is Email Warm Up? 🔥  
It’s the process of gradually increasing your email sending volume to build a good reputation with inbox providers. This helps your emails avoid spam folders. 📥

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### Q. What is Email Deliverability? 🎯  
It’s your ability to land emails in the inbox instead of spam. Influenced by:  
- Sender reputation ⭐  
- List health 📋  
- Content quality 📝  
- Engagement 💬  

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### Q. What is Domain Reputation? 🌍  
It’s how mailbox providers rate your domain’s trustworthiness.  
- Strong reputation = inbox 📥  
- Poor reputation = spam 🚫  

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### Q. How Long Until a Domain is Warmed Up? ⏱️  
Usually around **4 weeks**. Stick to best practices and monitor performance to build a healthy reputation.  

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### Q. What happens if I want to send more than the recommended amount? ⚠️  
Sending too much too soon can hurt your reputation and even get you blacklisted. 🛑 Always follow the volume guidelines.

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### Q. What are the Differences Between LC Email and a Custom SMTP Provider? ⚙️  
- **LC Email** → built-in tools and better deliverability support.  
- **Custom SMTP** → you’re responsible for setup and troubleshooting; SalesMFast support is limited.  

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### Q. What is a Dedicated Domain? 🌐  
A dedicated domain gives you control over your email reputation by keeping your sending activity separate from others. This improves inbox placement.  

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### Q. How to Send Emails in Drip Mode? (Hourly and Daily Sending) ⏳  
Use **Bulk Actions** or **Workflows** in SalesMFast to stagger your email sends. This maintains a good sender reputation by avoiding volume spikes.  

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### Q. What is an Email Bounce? 📩❌  
A bounce happens when your email can’t be delivered.  

- **Hard Bounce:** Invalid or non-existent address 🚫  
- **Soft Bounce:** Temporary issue like a full inbox or server delay ⏲️