Why Should You Diversify Your Cold Email Infrastructure
Relying on a single email provider for cold outreach is risky. Account suspensions, outages, blacklisting, and poor deliverability can disrupt your campaigns. Diversifying your email infrastructure is the solution. Here’s why it matters and how it works:
- Better Deliverability: Spread emails across multiple domains and platforms to avoid spam filters and maintain a strong sender reputation.
- Reduced Risk: Protect against outages and account suspensions by using multiple email providers.
- Increased Flexibility: Tailor campaigns to specific audiences and scale your outreach without hitting platform limits.
- Stronger Performance: Companies using diversified setups report higher open rates, better engagement, and improved ROI.
For example, businesses like AcreValue and 123Presets saw significant improvements in email performance and revenue after diversifying their email strategies. Tools like Primeforge make this process easier with automated DNS setups, U.S.-based IP addresses, and cost-effective pricing.
To start diversifying your email infrastructure:
- Use multiple email platforms like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and Primeforge.
- Set up secondary domains to protect your primary domain and distribute email load.
- Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication for better security and deliverability.
- Gradually warm up new domains and accounts to build trust and avoid spam complaints.
Quick Comparison: Email Providers
| Feature | Primeforge | Google Workspace | Microsoft 365 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automated DNS Setup | Yes | No | No |
| U.S.-Based IP Addresses | Yes | No | No |
| Optimized for Cold Outreach | Yes | No | No |
| Starting Price (per mailbox) | $3.50–$4.50 | $6.00 | $5.00 |
Risks of Using Only One Email Provider
Relying on a single email provider can introduce risks that may disrupt your campaigns and put your entire outreach strategy in jeopardy.
Blacklisting and Poor Email Delivery
Your sender reputation plays a key role in email deliverability, but it’s surprisingly delicate. Sending large volumes of emails from a single domain can make you more susceptible to spam filters. For example, monitoring blacklists has been shown to improve deliverability rates by 37%. However, in December 2021, nearly half of emails sent in high-volume campaigns were flagged as spam.
Once your domain or IP gets flagged, it’s not just that particular campaign that suffers - your future emails might also bounce back or land in spam folders. This can severely damage your sender reputation. Even after resolving the issue, the negative impact on your email performance can linger. Adding to this, many email platforms enforce strict operational limits, intensifying the risk of disruptions.
Platform Outages and Account Suspensions
Email service providers often have strict rules, and even accidental violations can result in immediate account suspension. For instance, HubSpot enforces a hard bounce limit of 5%, though many ISPs recommend bounce rates under 1%. HubSpot also limits spam complaints to 0.1% (just 1 complaint per 1,000 emails), while unsubscribe rates are capped at 3%, though a healthy rate is typically below 1%. Campaign Monitor takes it even further, with a spam complaint rate limit of 0.5%, compared to an industry average of less than 0.02% - about 1 complaint per 5,000 recipients.
If your account is suspended, all campaigns come to a grinding halt. And then there’s the risk of platform outages. Providers like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 have experienced downtime, leaving businesses unable to send emails, follow up on leads, or maintain communication. Beyond technical issues, relying on one platform also limits your ability to adapt to changing needs or challenges.
Lack of Campaign Control and Flexibility
When you use just one email provider, you’re stuck with their rules and constraints, which can limit your ability to adjust your strategy. For example, in 2023, 45.6% of emails were flagged as spam, but ecommerce sellers using specialized email deliverability services reported 17% higher conversions and 40% lower bounce rates.
"After implementing and analyzing countless email marketing campaigns, I've observed that even minor improvements in deliverability rates can effectively increase email open and conversion rates." - Žilvinas Lešinskas, VP of Product at Omnisend
Relying on a single provider also restricts your ability to optimize campaigns for different audiences. Whether you’re sending high-volume prospecting emails or nurturing leads, using the same infrastructure for all your campaigns often falls short. As your email volume grows, you may hit platform limits without alternative options to manage the load. Diversifying your providers gives you more flexibility, allowing you to tailor your approach and maintain control over your campaigns while reducing risks.
How Diversified Email Infrastructure Helps Your Business
Relying on multiple platforms and domains for email campaigns not only safeguards your operations but also enhances overall performance. By spreading your efforts across various systems, you reduce risks and improve your campaign outcomes. These tangible benefits build on the points discussed earlier about managing risks, making diversification a smart and effective strategy.
Better Email Delivery and Sender Reputation
Rotating emails across multiple domains is a proven way to avoid spam filters and ensure your messages land in inboxes, not spam folders. By distributing email volume across different IPs and domains, you lower the risk of being flagged as spam.
Take AcreValue, for example. In 2025, this farmland data and analytics platform revamped its email strategy by refining segmentation, optimizing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication, and cleaning its email lists. The results were extraordinary: open rates skyrocketed from 5% to 70%.
"Mastering authentication is crucial for email marketing success. If email deliverability feels overwhelming, Omnisend's experts can guide you through the process to ensure optimal results."
– Desislava Zhivkova, CustOps Deliverability Team Lead at Omnisend
Another success story is 123Presets, a company specializing in Lightroom presets. By partnering with email experts in 2025, they audited and improved their diversified email strategy. The result? Doubling their revenue compared to their previous single-platform approach.
Additionally, warming up new domains gradually helps establish a solid sender reputation and keeps spam complaints well below critical thresholds, such as Google's 0.3% limit for bulk senders.
Protection Against Service Failures
With over half of companies (54%) using two or more email service providers, diversification is a reliable way to avoid disruptions caused by service failures. If one provider experiences downtime or suspends your account, your other systems can seamlessly pick up the slack. This is especially important given that 70% of emails encounter at least one spam-related issue.
Load balancing across providers not only protects against downtime but also allows you to tailor campaigns to each platform's strengths. For instance, Office365 is often more effective for targeting large corporations, while Google Workspace tends to excel with small businesses and startups.
In 2025, Kate Backdrop - a company offering photography backdrops - illustrated this strategy by combining email campaigns across multiple platforms with SMS automation and targeted messaging. Their diversified approach delivered impressive results, achieving a 1:300 return on investment (ROI) while maintaining high deliverability and engagement rates.
Easy Scaling for Growing Email Campaigns
When your email campaigns grow, having a diversified infrastructure makes scaling much easier. Instead of overloading a single system, you can expand by adding new mailboxes and domains across multiple providers.
Email marketing can deliver an ROI as high as 36:1, but only if your infrastructure can handle the increased volume. Verified email campaigns, for example, see a 90% reduction in bounce rates, highlighting the importance of a diversified setup that ensures proper verification across all platforms.
By segmenting your email lists across different domains, you can create more targeted messaging. For instance, you might assign specific domains to different audience segments or campaign types, optimizing each for its unique purpose. This approach helps maintain the average 24% open rate for cold emails while enabling you to scale effectively.
Monitoring each platform’s performance is key to success. Marketers who describe their email programs as successful are 22% more likely to keep tabs on their deliverability or inbox placement.
"Everyone's goal is obviously 100%. What we focus on is our inbox placement. We want 100% of our emails getting to the inbox, and if it drops below 90%, we're going to immediately investigate what's going on."
– Carin Slater, Manager of Lifecycle Email Marketing at Litmus
This ability to scale ensures your diversified email infrastructure grows alongside your business while maintaining the stability needed for consistent and effective outreach.
How to Build a Diversified Email Setup
Creating a multi-platform email infrastructure is crucial for ensuring reliable outreach. Here's how you can establish a resilient and effective setup.
Using Multiple Email Platforms Together
Combine platforms like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and Primeforge to distribute your email load and add redundancy. Each service offers unique benefits:
- Google Workspace: Supports up to 2,000 emails per day at $6 per user per month.
- Microsoft 365: Handles up to 10,000 emails daily at a similar rate.
- Primeforge: Specializes in cold outreach with optimized mailboxes priced between $3.50 and $4.50 per mailbox per month. It also includes automated DNS setups and uses U.S.-based IP addresses.
To maintain balance, create multiple email accounts (no more than five per domain) and distribute your sending across them. This approach not only manages the load but also minimizes risks. Don’t forget to secure your domains and workspaces for added protection.
Setting Up Multiple Domains and Workspaces
Using secondary domains (e.g., variations of your primary domain like .com, .net, or .org) is a smart way to shield your main domain from potential issues. Your primary domain should remain dedicated to customer service, internal communications, and trusted relationships - keeping its reputation intact.
Redirect these secondary domains to your primary site to establish credibility and trust. Assign each domain its own workspace to allow for better tracking and optimization. With this structure in place, you can further reinforce your setup by implementing strong DNS authentication and backup systems.
Automated DNS Setup and Backup Systems
To ensure email authentication, configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records:
- SPF: Use a straightforward record and avoid the '+all' mechanism.
- DKIM: Set keys at 1,024 bits or, ideally, 2,048 bits, and rotate them periodically.
- DMARC: Begin with a 'p=none' policy, then transition to 'quarantine' or 'reject' as you gain confidence.
For uninterrupted email operations during outages, deploy an Email Continuity system. Additionally, warm up each domain and account for at least 15 days before sending large volumes of emails. This gradual ramp-up helps build trust and ensures a solid sender reputation by focusing on small, engaged email campaigns first.
Finally, keep a close eye on your authentication status across all platforms and domains. Regular monitoring will help you maintain a stable infrastructure, even if one part encounters issues.
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Primeforge vs Other Email Infrastructure Providers
Once you've established a diversified email setup, selecting the right provider is key. Each email provider offers varying levels of deliverability, control, and reliability. While Primeforge is tailored specifically for cold email outreach, platforms like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are designed for general business communication.
Here’s how Primeforge sets itself apart from the competition.
Primeforge simplifies the process by automating DNS configuration and assigning U.S.-based IP addresses - features absent in Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, which require manual setup. Additionally, Primeforge is budget-friendly, costing just $3.50–$4.50 per mailbox per month. This translates to a 46% savings compared to Google Workspace and 25% compared to Microsoft 365.
Deliverability performance is another major factor. While the industry average for deliverability rates hovers between 80% and 95%, top-performing providers often achieve rates above 96%. Primeforge enhances deliverability with its ESP matching feature, which ensures emails are sent using the same service provider as recipients, leveraging established sender reputations for better results.
Comparison Chart
| Feature | Primeforge | Google Workspace | Microsoft 365 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automated DNS Setup | Yes | No | No |
| US IP Addresses | Yes | No | No |
| Optimized for Cold Outreach | Yes | No | No |
| ESP Matching | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Starting Price (per mailbox) | $3.50–$4.50 | $6.00 | $5.00 |
| Bulk Management | Yes | Limited | Limited |
| Profile Picture Setup | Automated | Manual | Manual |
| Multiple Workspaces | Yes | Basic | Basic |
Technical Simplicity and Scalability
When it comes to setup, Primeforge stands out for its ease of use. Platforms like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 often demand advanced DNS and IP management expertise, whereas Primeforge's automation allows teams to set up cold outreach campaigns without technical hurdles.
Scalability is another area where Primeforge shines. Its bulk management capabilities make it easy to handle hundreds of mailboxes efficiently. On traditional platforms, managing mailboxes individually can quickly become a logistical headache. Moreover, Primeforge works seamlessly with any sending software, offering flexibility that standard providers often lack.
Insights from Industry Leaders
For businesses aiming to scale cold outreach, using multiple providers can deliver strong results. Rahul Lakhaney, former VP at Gartner and now CEO of Enrich.so, shares his experience:
"I've been using a couple of other email infra forges for over a year and have been pretty impressed with deliverability. Now I added Google mailboxes and been using them for months as one of the early adopters to spread the load of 10K+ emails/day over to more ESPs. Stellar deliverability on Salesforge and spam tests always come back green! Excited to spin up some Outlook accounts soon also!"
Diversification and Credibility
Primeforge’s professional mailbox setup helps maintain credibility, a critical factor in cold email outreach. By spreading email sends across multiple ESPs, businesses can reduce the risk of overloading any single infrastructure, which can lead to deliverability issues.
Ultimately, the choice of provider depends on your team’s specific needs and technical expertise. For businesses targeting prospects who primarily use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, Primeforge’s ESP matching offers a significant edge. And for teams with limited technical resources, its automated setup saves time and minimizes errors that could impact email performance.
Building Email Infrastructure That Won't Fail
Creating a dependable email infrastructure requires a mix of diverse domains, strong authentication measures, and automated backup systems to ensure smooth operations.
Start by purchasing dedicated domains and setting up three inboxes per domain. This approach not only shields your primary business domain but also expands your outreach capacity. To secure these domains, implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols. These authentication measures validate your emails' legitimacy and strengthen security.
To guard against service disruptions, use DNS failover systems. These systems monitor server health and automatically update DNS records to redirect traffic to a backup server during outages. For best results, monitor server performance every 2–4 minutes from multiple locations to catch issues early. Adding a secondary DNS service further boosts reliability by keeping read-only copies of your DNS records with a different provider. This setup ensures your email authentication remains intact even if your primary DNS provider experiences downtime.
Automation plays a crucial role in simplifying these technical processes. Platforms like Primeforge excel in this area, automating the configuration of DMARC, SPF, and DKIM records for each mailbox. By handling these tasks automatically, Primeforge reduces the risk of configuration errors that could disrupt your campaigns. Additionally, it provides US-based IP addresses, which help enhance sender reputation.
Primeforge also takes diversification to another level with its ESP matching feature. This tool allows you to send emails through the same provider your recipients use, leveraging their established sender reputations to improve inbox placement rates. Meanwhile, centralized management through a master inbox simplifies response handling while maintaining the benefits of a distributed sending system.
Deliverability testing is another critical element. Regularly check blocklist statuses and test inbox placement to identify and resolve potential issues before they affect your campaigns.
Investing in a robust email infrastructure pays off by improving deliverability rates and minimizing disruptions. While setting up such a system manually requires significant technical expertise, automated solutions like Primeforge make enterprise-grade infrastructure accessible to teams without dedicated IT resources. This automated, resilient setup ensures your outreach remains uninterrupted, even during high-volume campaigns.
FAQs
Why is it important to diversify your cold email infrastructure for better results?
Diversifying your cold email setup is a smart way to boost email deliverability and protect your sender reputation. When you spread your email activity across multiple domains and email service providers (ESPs), you lower the chances of being flagged as spam or ending up on a blacklist. It also prevents any single domain from being overloaded, which could trigger spam filters and disrupt your outreach.
This approach adds a layer of reliability too. If one domain or provider runs into trouble, the others can keep running without a hitch, ensuring your campaigns stay consistent. By maintaining strong inbox placement rates, you set the stage for more successful cold email efforts. For marketers, this strategy isn’t just about reducing risks - it’s about making outreach more effective and dependable.
What are the risks of using only one email provider for cold email campaigns?
Using just one email provider for your cold email campaigns might seem convenient, but it comes with some serious risks that can derail your outreach efforts. For starters, if the provider’s IP or domain ends up on a blacklist due to spam complaints, your emails could be blocked entirely, slashing your deliverability rates. On top of that, any service outages or technical issues on their platform could bring your campaigns to a complete standstill - costing you valuable opportunities and possibly even revenue. And lastly, sticking to one provider can limit your flexibility and might lead to compliance headaches if their policies don’t align with your email strategy.
By diversifying your email infrastructure, you can sidestep these challenges, ensuring your campaigns are more reliable, adaptable, and reach more inboxes.
What are the best practices for diversifying your cold email infrastructure to improve deliverability and reduce risks?
To build a robust cold email system, start by setting up multiple dedicated domains, each hosting several email inboxes. This not only boosts your sending capacity but also reduces the chances of getting blacklisted. Make sure to implement email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC - these are essential for securing your emails and improving their chances of landing in recipients' primary inboxes.
Another key step is warming up your email accounts. By gradually increasing the number of emails you send, you can establish a strong sender reputation, which is crucial for deliverability. Using multiple email service providers (ESPs) can also safeguard your outreach efforts, ensuring smooth operations even if one service faces issues. Lastly, keep a close eye on your deliverability metrics. Regular monitoring helps you catch and fix problems early, keeping your email campaigns on track.