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20 min read·Intermediate·6 steps·3 screenshotsDeliverability

Secondary domains and mailboxes: cold email infrastructure in one afternoon

Never send cold email from your main domain. This guide shows how to build, in one afternoon, an infrastructure that carries hundreds of emails a day without endangering your normal mail.

Reputation is tied to the domain. When a cold campaign goes wrong you want it to hit a domain that costs a few pounds a year, not the one with your website, invoices and clients.

The target state for one brand: 2 to 3 secondary domains, 2 to 3 mailboxes on each, all warmed up, in rotation, with a limit of 30 to 50 emails a day. That is 200 to 400 emails a day without risk.

1

Choose and buy the domains

Variants of your main domain: yourcompany-mail.co.uk, yourcompany-team.co.uk, getyourcompany.com. Avoid leading hyphens and numbers. Set a 301 redirect to your main website so a reader who clicks the domain can confirm you exist.

Tip: Do not buy cheap exotic TLDs (.xyz, .top). Filters rate them worse than .co.uk, .com, .ie or .eu.
2

Create the mailboxes

Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 have the best starting reputation; your own SMTP hosting is cheaper but needs more care. Name mailboxes like real people: martin@yourcompany-mail.co.uk, never info@ or sales@.

3

Set SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Your mail provider gives you the values; you add them to the domain's DNS. Start DMARC with the "none" policy and move to "quarantine" after a week without errors. The check in Colldly tells you what is missing and the exact value.

colldly.com/dashboard › Deliverability
Deliverability in Colldly: SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MX for every domain
Deliverability in Colldly: SPF, DKIM, DMARC and MX for every domain
4

Connect the mailboxes to Colldly

Individually or in bulk via CSV. Each one passes an SMTP and IMAP test. Set the daily limit (start at 10), gaps of 3 to 9 minutes and the sender name.

colldly.com/dashboard › Email accounts
Email accounts in Colldly after bulk mailbox import
Email accounts in Colldly after bulk mailbox import
5

Switch on warm-up everywhere

Two to four weeks. Target daily volume 30 to 40, growth of 2 to 3 a day, reply share 40 to 50%. Watch the score: when it stays above 90% for two weeks, the mailbox is ready.

colldly.com/dashboard › Warm-up
Mailbox warm-up in Colldly with average score and daily volume
Mailbox warm-up in Colldly with average score and daily volume
6

Collector mailbox and signature

Set reply-to to one collector mailbox per brand so you watch one inbox. Plain-text signature: name, company, phone, postal address (for GDPR and CAN-SPAM). No images.

What to avoid
Sending from the main domain "because it has better reputation". It does, until you burn it.
Setting DMARC to "reject" on day one without confirming SPF and DKIM. You block your own mail.
One domain with ten mailboxes. One mailbox's problem hits all of them.
Checklist
  • 2 to 3 secondary domains redirecting to the main site
  • 2 to 3 mailboxes per domain with people's names
  • SPF, DKIM, DMARC green in Colldly
  • Mailboxes connected, SMTP and IMAP tests passed
  • Warm-up running for 14 to 28 days
  • Collector mailbox and a plain-text signature
Questions about this guide
What does it cost?
A domain 10 to 20 a year, a Google Workspace mailbox about 6 a month, own SMTP hosting from 1 per mailbox. For 3 domains and 9 mailboxes budget 40 to 60 EUR a month outside Colldly.
Will you do it for me?
Yes, we offer infrastructure setup as a service: domains, mailboxes, DNS, warm-up and the connection to your account. Custom price, see pricing.
When is a mailbox ready?
After at least 14 days of warm-up and a score above 90%. Colldly marks it as ready in the mailbox overview.
Continue with
Next guide in order: Subject line A/B test: find out what people actually open
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