Hey, It’s Khoi.

Today, I’m going to walk you through exactly how to set up a cold email system without burning your main domain.

Why This Setup Matters

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let me paint you a picture.

Imagine your main business domain is like your home address – you don’t want strangers showing up uninvited or, worse, having it blacklisted by the postal service! That’s essentially what happens when you use your primary domain for cold outreach.

Here’s what you need to do:

Step 1: Create Multiple Secondary Domains (Your Safety Net)

Your main domain: youragency.com (this stays pristine – never touch it for cold emails!)
Your cold email domains:

• youragency.co
• youragency.net
• youragency.org
• youragency.io

See what I did there? These “look-alike” domains maintain your brand consistency while giving you the freedom to send at scale without risking your main domain’s reputation.

Step 2: Build Your Inbox

You need to create multiple inboxes for each domain. Here’s how it looks in practice:
For youragency.co:

• james@youragency.co
• sarah@youragency.co

For youragency.net:

• mike@youragency.net
• emma@youragency.net

For youragency.io:

• john@youragency.io
• lisa@youragency.io

I tend to use either firstname@, lastname@, or firstname.lastname@ for my inboxes.

Step 3: Connect Everything to Your Sending Software

This is where the magic happens. You’ll need a tool to orchestrate all these inboxes. Some solid options include:

• Instantly.ai
• Smartlead (I’m using this currently)
• Apollo
• Woodpecker

The setup process:

1. Connect each inbox via SMTP/IMAP settings
2. Set conservative sending limits (think 30-50 emails per day per inbox while warming up)
3. Let the software rotate between inboxes automatically

Step 4: Book Those Demos

I won’t be covering email templates here. You can find more details in my other blogs.

Step 5: Turn Conversations into Paying Clients

This is where all your hard work pays off. Here’s the typical journey:

Demo booked → 30-minute discovery call → showcase results → make offer

During the call, lead with social proof: “We helped X company generate 120 leads per month in 90 days.” Then present your offer – maybe a $2,500/month retainer for lead generation services.
Close the deal, onboard the client, deliver amazing results, and repeat!

If you need any help with your business, fill out the form and we’ll get to you soon.