# Cold email in 10 minutes

> What cold email is, the four parts every cold email setup needs, and how emails turn into booked calls.

Source: https://docs.maildeck.co/getting-started/cold-email-basics/

Cold email is a short, personal email to someone who doesn't know you yet, sent because you can genuinely help their
business. Done well, it is one of the cheapest ways to book sales calls. Done badly, your emails land in spam and the
domains you send from get burned. This page covers the basics you need before you order anything.

## What cold email actually is

You pick a group of people who fit your offer (for example, "heads of sales at software companies with 20-200 staff"),
find their work email addresses, and send each of them a short sequence of emails: usually a first email and a couple
of follow-ups. A small share of them reply, and some of those replies turn into calls.

Two things make it work:

- **Reaching the right people with an offer they care about.** No setup fixes a bad list or a weak message.
- **Landing in the inbox, not in spam.** That depends on the accounts you send from, how they are set up, how much you
  send from each one, and what you write.

## The 4 parts of a cold email stack

Every cold email setup, whoever you buy it from, has the same four parts. A **stack** is just the set of tools you use
together.

| Part | What it does | Who provides it |
|---|---|---|
| **1. Infrastructure** | The inboxes and domains your emails are sent from, with the technical records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) set up and the inboxes warmed up. | **Maildeck** (that's us), on Outlook, Google Workspace and SMTP. |
| **2. Sequencer** | The tool that sends your campaigns and follow-ups on a schedule, spread across all your inboxes. | A sending tool you sign up for yourself, such as Instantly or Plusvibe. Maildeck connects your inboxes to it. |
| **3. Leads and enrichment** | Finds the right people and their work email addresses. | **LeadSonar** (leadsonar.io), our sister product. |
| **4. Cleaning and verification** | Removes bad and risky addresses before you send, so bounces don't damage your domains. | **EmailShield** (emailshield.co), our sister product. |

In one line: LeadSonar finds the people, EmailShield cleans the list, your sequencer sends the emails, and Maildeck
gives it all somewhere safe to send from.

> **Note: Words you'll see a lot**
> A **domain** is the part after the @ (like `getyourbrand.com`). An **inbox** (or mailbox) is one email account on that
> domain. **Warmup** is a period of gentle, automatic sending that builds a new inbox's reputation. The
> [Glossary](https://docs.maildeck.co/glossary/) has the rest.

## Why many inboxes on several domains beats one inbox

You might wonder why you can't just send everything from your normal work email. Three reasons:

- **Each inbox can only send a small number of cold emails a day safely.** Email providers watch for accounts that
  suddenly send a lot. So instead of sending 1,000 emails from one inbox, you send a handful from each of many inboxes.
  See [Sending limits](https://docs.maildeck.co/deliverability/sending-limits/) for the numbers.
- **Separate domains protect your main one.** You send from brand variations (like `getyourbrand.com` or
  `tryyourbrand.com`), never your main company domain. If a sending domain gets a bad reputation, your everyday
  email and website are untouched. [Domains](https://docs.maildeck.co/domains-dns/domains/) explains how to choose them.
- **Spreading across providers spreads the risk.** If one provider tightens its rules, inboxes on the others keep
  sending. That's the idea behind the [Diversified Stack](https://docs.maildeck.co/plans/diversified-stack/).

This is why a Maildeck plan is measured in inboxes and domains, not in a single account.

## From emails to calls: the rule of thumb

To plan how much you need to send, work backwards from the calls you want. We use the same rule of thumb as the app
and Maya:

- About **1 positive reply per 200** cold emails.
- About **1 booked call per 500** cold emails.
- Each contact gets about **3 emails** in a sequence, so contacts needed per month is roughly emails divided by 3.

| You want | Emails a month | Positive replies (about) | New contacts to find |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 calls | 5,000 | 25 | about 1,700 |
| 50 calls | 25,000 | 125 | about 8,300 |
| 300 calls | 150,000 | 750 | 50,000 |

> **Caution: A rule of thumb, not a promise**
> Real results depend on your offer, your list and your copy. Some campaigns do much better, some much worse. Use these
> numbers to size your setup, then watch your own results.

[Choosing a plan](https://docs.maildeck.co/plans/choosing-a-plan/) turns these numbers into a plan.

## Next

  - [Your first order](https://docs.maildeck.co/getting-started/your-first-order/): Quick Start, screen by screen.
  - [Choosing a plan](https://docs.maildeck.co/plans/choosing-a-plan/): Turn the calls you want into the right plan.
  - [Inbox types](https://docs.maildeck.co/plans/inbox-types/): Outlook, Google Workspace and SMTP compared.
  - [Glossary](https://docs.maildeck.co/glossary/): Every cold email term, in one line each.