Cold Email Deliverability Readiness
Identity
Sender-trust and deliverability gate run before scaled cold outreach. This is a procedure skill at task
altitude, operating as a child of cold_email_engagement_first_outreach. Use this child skill when scaled
sending, cold domains, inbox health, or low opens matter. It checks sender trust, cold-domain readiness, inbox
caps, warmup, bounce risk, and complaint safeguards, then returns a pass / blocked / manual-only readiness
decision with the required fixes before scale.
Activation
- The user wants to send at volume
- Sending domains or inboxes are new
- SPF/DKIM/DMARC, warmup, complaints, bounces, spam placement, or server-level rejections are unknown (as of Nov 2025 Google rejects non-compliant bulk mail outright; Microsoft rejects unauthenticated 5k+/day senders with
550 5.7.515)
- Open rate dropped or replies disappeared
- The campaign may exceed manual one-off sending
Procedure
- Identify sender identity, domains, inboxes, and planned volume.
- Apply the Provider Requirement Matrix (Knowledge block below) when making a scaled-send readiness decision.
- Check SPF, DKIM, DMARC, sender identity, unsubscribe/suppression, warmup, bounce risk, complaint history, recipient geography, and consent posture.
- Apply conservative caps: about 30 emails per inbox per day to start, 50 max without evidence, 5 inboxes per domain, about 250 per domain per day.
- Decide status: pass, blocked, or manual-only.
- Return required fixes before scale.
Contract
- Status
- Domain/inbox inventory
- Daily cap
- Warmup status
- Complaint/bounce risk
- Missing checks
- Required fixes
- Manual-only recommendation if needed
Policy
- Do not recommend volume sending without verified sender health.
- Do not increase volume to fix low replies.
- Do not ignore complaints or bounce warnings.
- Do not use deliverability as a substitute for relevance.
Knowledge
Provider Requirement Matrix. Use this when volume, cold domains, sender trust, or compliance boundaries matter. Recheck official provider/regulator sources before operational send recommendations because requirements change. Provider data below is a source snapshot dated 2026-06-10.
Provider Matrix
| Area | Google/Gmail | Yahoo | Microsoft Outlook | Cold Email Decision |
|---|
| Bulk threshold | 5,000+ messages/day to personal Gmail from same primary domain triggers bulk-sender status. | Treat high volume as needing authentication, reputation, and unsubscribe hygiene. | 5,000+ messages/day to Outlook.com domains triggers SPF/DKIM/DMARC enforcement. | If near 5,000/day to any major mailbox provider, run full bulk-sender readiness before scale. |
| Enforcement mode | As of Nov 2025, Google rejects non-compliant bulk mail at the SMTP server level (not just spam-foldering). Postmaster Tools v2 reports binary Pass/Fail compliance. | Expect rejection-style enforcement to follow the Google/Microsoft direction; verify current Yahoo policy before scale. | As of 2025, Microsoft rejects unauthenticated senders at 5,000+/day with error 550 5.7.515 (Junk-foldering began 2025-05-05, then rejection). | Treat authentication/compliance failure as a hard send block — mail is rejected at the server, not merely junked. In 2026, low opens are more likely a compliance/placement failure than a copy failure. |
| SPF | Required for bulk senders. | Required/best practice. | Required for high-volume senders. | Block scale until SPF passes for every sending domain/provider. |
| DKIM | Required for bulk senders. | Required/best practice. | Required for high-volume senders. | Block scale until DKIM signs correctly. |
| DMARC | Required for bulk senders with at least p=none; From alignment matters. | Required/best practice. | Required for senders at 5,000+/day; failures rejected with 550 5.7.515 (as of 2025). | Block scale until DMARC exists and aligns with sender identity. |
| Forward/reverse DNS | Google requires valid PTR and matching forward DNS for sending IPs. | Sender infrastructure should identify sending sources clearly. | Sender reputation depends on clean authenticated infrastructure. | For shared ESPs, verify provider handles this. For owned infrastructure, block until DNS is correct. |
| TLS | Google requires TLS for bulk senders. | Use modern authenticated mail infrastructure. | Use compliant authenticated mail infrastructure. | Block if sender cannot confirm TLS support through ESP/MTA. |
| Header accuracy | Google flags malformed or deceptive headers/content. | Sender identity and message authenticity matter. | Authentication and non-deceptive identity matter. |
Compliance Boundary Matrix
| Region/Source | Baseline Requirements | Cold Email Decision |
|---|
| FTC CAN-SPAM, United States | Accurate header/from info, non-deceptive subject, clear sender identity, physical postal address, clear opt-out, timely opt-out processing. | No deceptive packaging. Include required identity/opt-out mechanics for commercial email. |
| ICO PECR, UK | Electronic mail marketing rules distinguish consent, soft opt-in, corporate subscribers, and individual subscribers. | If UK/EU recipients are involved and consent basis is unclear, route to legal/compliance review or manual-only. |
| CRTC CASL, Canada | Consent, identification, and unsubscribe requirements apply; rules are stricter than U.S. CAN-SPAM. | If Canadian recipients are involved and consent basis is unclear, block scale until reviewed. |
Pass / Block / Manual-Only
Pass for scaled sending only when SPF, DKIM, DMARC, sender identity, unsubscribe/suppression, bounce/complaint monitoring, list source, recipient geography, and consent posture are known.
Block scale for missing authentication, spoofed or unclear identity, no opt-out/suppression path, unknown risky geography, complaint/bounce spikes, or attempts to fix low replies by increasing volume. As of Nov 2025 (Google server-level rejection) and 2025 (Microsoft 550 5.7.515), missing authentication means rejection at the server, not spam-folder placement — there is no partial-delivery middle ground at volume.
Manual-only is acceptable for one-off strategic, investor, or relationship emails where volume is negligible and the sender is real.