My cold emails were landing in spam. So I bought a new domain, set it up properly and sent the first test to my own inbox.
Every check passed. It went to spam anyway.
The problem
I kept the domain separate from xyz.vision on purpose: if it ever burns, my main address stays clean.
But a domain that was born yesterday has no history. Whoever receives the mail doesn't know you, and when in doubt they set you aside. Setup proves who you are. It doesn't prove you're worth listening to.
That trust is earned one way only: sending normal emails, to real people, for a while.
The least elegant solution in the world
There are paid services that do this job. I preferred to write a small one that runs on my home server.
Every half hour, during working hours, Monday to Friday, the program decides whether to send an email or wait. That way sends land at scattered times and never go out in a burst. When possible, the same person gets no more than one every two days.
A local model writes the text. A few lines, always different, no links, no images. One rule is spelled out: no made-up facts, because there are people on the other end who actually read.
Slowly
Two emails a day the first week. Three the second. Four the third. Then five.
The subject lines were things like "How are you?" and "Just saying hi". A whole month of emails that said nothing, sent by a machine, with a patience I wouldn't have had.
The point
On October 28 the first real emails went out. The warm-up didn't stop: it stays underneath, two a day.
What I learned is that the slow part can't be skipped. You can only hand it to someone who doesn't get bored.
Alessio Cappuccio — xyz.vision