Cold Email Deliverability: The Hidden Infrastructure Behind Outbound

Webinar recap

“Delivered” doesn’t guarantee inbox placement. The receiving server accepted your email, but that status doesn’t tell you which folder it reached. When replies fall, investigate your sending setup alongside targeting and copy.

In this session, Kyle Tymo, GM of Email Deliverability at Unify, walked through a practical sequence: improve the email, test the changes, diagnose a drop, and make someone responsible for the next step.

Start with the email

The session focused on three changes:

• Remove unnecessary links. In one fictional example, an email had five links across its body and signature. The rewrite replaced the calendar link with a question the prospect could answer in one line
• Make the opener relevant. Use a verified company change or a problem tied to the recipient’s role. A VP of Sales and a RevOps lead need different reasons to care
• Give each follow-up something useful. One example offered a practical onboarding suggestion: have new SDRs review three strong discovery calls in their first week

See the email examples in the recording.

Test one change at a time

Rewrite the links, signature, and CTA together, and you won’t know which edit helped. Compare one change with the current email, using similar audiences over the same period.

Track positive replies and meetings alongside bounces, errors, and complaints. Bots and privacy features can inflate opens, and more replies alone don’t prove better inbox placement. Watch the testing walkthrough.

Find where replies are falling

Confirm the decline is sustained, then check whether it affects the whole team or particular reps, segments, or recipient providers. Review recent changes to volume, lists, tools, and copy.

Abnormal delivery signals warrant investigating a possible infrastructure issue. When those signals look normal, review targeting, messaging, and coaching. A test using your own inboxes can add a clue, but it represents a limited sample. Follow the diagnostic examples.

Build it into the monthly review

Record a baseline and compare it each month. The session’s checklist covers:

• Results: reply rate by segment, bounce rate, and meetings per 1,000 emails
• Sending practices: a written plan for new reps and the date of the last list check and inbox placement test
• Ownership: the person who investigates when something looks wrong, with Sales, RevOps, IT, and the sending vendor contributing as needed

Get the full six-question checklist.

Check your sending domain

Use Unify’s free Email Deliverability Checker to review your domain’s setup and health, then use the findings to decide what to investigate next.

Check your email deliverability

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