How Bad Email Marketing Can Get Your Domain Blacklisted

I got the idea for this post when I tried to visit a prospect’s website and was blocked by my personal antivirus software. That’s not something you want to see when checking out a company online. So, I did some digging. It turns out their domain might have been flagged because of some bad email marketing practices.

The Danger of Using Your Main Domain for Cold Emails

Here’s the thing, email marketing can be incredibly effective when done right. But when it’s done poorly, it can tank your domain’s reputation, get you blacklisted, and make your business look untrustworthy. I don’t think anyone wakes up in the morning planning to ruin their online presence, but I see a lot of businesses making the same mistakes.

One of the biggest ones? Using their main domain to send cold emails. If enough people mark your emails as spam or if your messages trigger spam filters, your domain can get flagged. That means not only will your cold emails go straight to junk folders, but your regular business emails might also start getting blocked. It’s like showing up to a networking event and realizing nobody wants to shake your hand because they’ve heard bad things about you. Not a good look.

Protect Your Domain with a Separate Email Setup

The smart move is to set up a separate domain just for outreach. If your company is "bestbusiness.com," grab something like "bestbusinessmail.com" and use that for cold emails. That way, if something goes wrong, your main domain stays clean.

Then there’s the issue of warming up your email accounts. You can’t just fire up a new inbox and start blasting out hundreds of emails a day. Email providers will see that as suspicious, and before you know it, your messages are flagged as spam. Tools like Mailreach help with this by gradually increasing your email activity over time, making your inbox look more legitimate.

Write Emails That People Actually Want to Read

But even if you’ve got your technical setup right, your emails still need to be good. Nobody wants to read a generic, robotic sales pitch. The key is making your emails personal and relevant. If you’re reaching out to someone, you should know why they’d actually care about what you have to say. That’s where tools like Apollo come in handy, they help you research prospects so you can craft messages that speak directly to their pain points.

Short, clear, and value-driven emails work best. If someone opens your message and sees a wall of text, they’re probably going to delete it. Get to the point, offer something useful, and make it easy for them to take the next step, whether that’s a quick reply, a call, or just checking out your website.

Stay on the Right Side of Email Laws

And of course, there’s the legal side of things. Depending on where you’re sending emails, there are different rules you need to follow. In Canada, there’s CASL. In the U.S., it’s the CAN-SPAM Act. In the EU, GDPR has strict guidelines on how you can use personal data. Ignoring these laws can get you into trouble fast, so it’s worth making sure your outreach is compliant.

Cold Emailing is About Relationships, Not Spam

At the end of the day, I love helping business owners navigate these kinds of challenges. Email marketing can be a powerful tool when done right, but it’s also easy to get wrong, and the consequences can be costly. If you’re unsure about how to set up your email outreach the right way, protect/fix your domain, or just want a second opinion on your strategy, I’m here to help. Let’s make sure your emails land in inboxes, not spam folders. Reach out, and let’s chat.