Choosing and buying domains
Your cold emails go out from separate sending domains, not from your main company domain. You buy these domains yourself at a registrar (the shop where web addresses are sold), then connect them to Maildeck in Quick Start. We set up everything on them from there.
Why not use your main domain?
Section titled “Why not use your main domain?”A domain has a reputation, a bit like a credit score. Email providers such as Gmail and Outlook watch how people react to mail from it. Cold email always carries some risk: a few spam reports or bounced addresses can lower that score.
If that happens on a separate sending domain, you replace the domain and carry on. If it happens on your main domain, your everyday email (to clients, suppliers, your accountant) can start landing in spam too.
How to name them
Section titled “How to name them”Good sending domains look like a real company that is clearly connected to yours. The usual approach is a brand variation: your brand name with a short word added in front or behind.
| Your brand | Good sending domains | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| yourbrand.com | getyourbrand.com, tryyourbrand.com, yourbrandhq.com | yourbrand.com itself |
| acme.com | getacme.com, tryacme.com, acmehq.com | buy-cheap-deals-now.com |
A few tips:
- Prefer .com. It is the most trusted ending, and it is what Quick Start suggests by default.
- Keep it short and easy to read. No long strings of hyphens or numbers.
- Avoid spammy words like “deals”, “cheap” or “free”.
- Turn on WHOIS privacy at your registrar if it offers it, so your personal details aren’t public.
How many domains you need
Section titled “How many domains you need”Each inbox type fits a different number of inboxes on one domain:
- Outlook: one tenant (a Microsoft 365 account for one domain) per domain, with up to 100 mailboxes on it.
- Google Workspace: 5 inboxes per domain.
- SMTP: 5 inboxes per domain.
That gives these totals for each plan:
| Plan | Domains to bring | Split |
|---|---|---|
| Diversified Starter | 5 | 2 Outlook, 2 SMTP, 1 Google |
| Diversified Growth | 36 | 10 Outlook, 20 SMTP, 6 Google |
| Diversified Enterprise | 360 | 100 Outlook, 200 SMTP, 60 Google |
| Google Workspace Starter | 2 | 10 mailbox slots, 5 per domain |
| Google Workspace Growth | 6 | 30 mailbox slots, 5 per domain |
| Google Workspace Enterprise | 20 | 100 mailbox slots, 5 per domain |
Buying individual products instead? Use one domain per Outlook tenant, and one domain for every 5 Google or SMTP inboxes. For example, 50 Google inboxes need 10 domains.
Where to buy
Section titled “Where to buy”Any normal registrar works. In Quick Start you can pick Porkbun, Namecheap, GoDaddy or Other (and type the registrar’s name). Porkbun is a popular choice because it is inexpensive and has an API (a way for software to make changes for you).
You can’t buy domains inside the Maildeck app at the moment, so buy them at your registrar first.
What you’ll give Maildeck
Section titled “What you’ll give Maildeck”- Buy your domains at your registrar and keep a list of them.
- Open Quick Start in the app sidebar and go to the Domains step.
- Paste your domains, one per line or separated by commas.
- Pick your registrar and enter your registrar login. If your registrar gave you an API key, you can add it too. Connect your registrar explains what each field is for.
That’s it. Our team sets up the DNS records, builds the inboxes and starts warmup.