If you're sending B2B emails, you already know that landing in the inbox is half the battle. Nothing kills a campaign faster than a lead list full of bad data, spam traps, or people who never wanted your email in the first place. This guide is for folks who use Allegrow and want practical, real-world advice for keeping their lead lists healthy and their emails actually delivered.
No hype. No magic tricks. Just proven steps for making sure your outreach doesn't go straight to spam.
Why Deliverability Is (Almost) Everything
You can have the slickest copy and the best offer in the world, but if your emails aren't getting seen, it's all wasted effort. Deliverability is about more than just avoiding the spam folder—it's about respecting your recipients and protecting your sender reputation so you can keep emailing over the long haul.
Allegrow helps with technical stuff like inbox warming and monitoring, but if your lead lists are a mess, you're fighting an uphill battle. Managing your lists well is the foundation for everything else.
Step 1: Build Your List—Don’t Buy It
It’s tempting to grab a list off the shelf and blast away. Resist the urge. Purchased lists are packed with:
- Outdated or fake emails
- Spam traps (emails set up just to catch spammers)
- People who never opted in
Even if Allegrow scrubs your list, you’re still risking your sender reputation. Build your own list instead. Here’s how:
- Focus on intent: Collect leads who have shown some interest. Downloaded your whitepaper? Visited your booth? That’s a start.
- Use reputable data sources: If you use enrichment tools, stick to ones with a track record.
- Document consent: Keep track of how/when leads gave you permission. This isn’t just legal CYA—it helps your deliverability.
What to ignore: Vendors promising “guaranteed deliverable” lists. They’re often outdated or scraped, and flagged by spam filters.
Step 2: Vet and Clean Your List—Every Time
Even good data goes stale. People change jobs, domains go dormant, or inboxes fill up. Here’s what works:
- Run email verification: Use Allegrow’s built-in tools or a third-party service. This removes invalid, bouncing, or risky addresses.
- Remove role-based emails: Addresses like info@, sales@, admin@ are red flags for spam filters.
- Watch for duplicates: One person = one entry. Duplicates make you look sloppy and hurt engagement metrics.
- Check for recent engagement: If someone hasn’t interacted with your emails in months, move them to a re-engagement or suppression list.
Pro tip: Schedule regular list cleaning—monthly or before major campaigns. Don’t wait for a spike in bounces to take action.
Step 3: Segment for Relevance (and Respect)
One-size-fits-all blasts are a great way to get ignored—or worse, reported as spam. Instead, segment your list so you can send targeted, relevant messages.
- By industry or company size: Tailor your pitch to their world.
- By buying stage: New leads need different info than folks who’ve seen a demo.
- By past engagement: Reward active readers with more timely, personalized outreach.
Why it matters: Higher relevance = higher opens, clicks, and replies. More engagement signals to inbox providers that you’re not a spammer.
What to ignore: Over-segmentation. You don’t need 20 segments for a list of 500. Keep it manageable.
Step 4: Warm Up Your Sending Domain (Don’t Skip This)
If you’re using a brand-new domain or haven’t sent cold emails before, don’t jump to full-scale campaigns. Allegrow helps here, but your approach matters too.
- Start small: Send a handful of emails per day, then ramp up gradually.
- Mix in positive interactions: Ask colleagues or friendly contacts to reply, mark as “not spam,” or even forward your messages.
- Monitor reputation: Use Allegrow’s monitoring to catch issues early.
Pro tip: Never send your first campaign to your entire list. Ramp up over 2–4 weeks for best results.
Step 5: Personalize (But Don’t Over-Automate)
Personalization helps you stand out—and it’s a deliverability booster. But there’s a line:
- Use real first names and company data: But double-check your fields so you don’t end up with “Hi {FirstName}.”
- Reference recent activity: “Saw you downloaded our guide last week.”
- Avoid obvious templates: Spam filters are wise to generic, mass-sent content.
What to ignore: Fancy mail merge tricks that break easily or make your emails look robotic. If it feels forced, it probably is.
Step 6: Manage Opt-Outs and Bounces Ruthlessly
If someone wants out, let them go—fast. And if emails bounce, stop sending.
- Easy unsubscribe: Make it one click. Don’t hide it.
- Honor opt-outs immediately: Don’t wait a week. Allegrow can help automate this.
- Purge hard bounces: A single bounce is enough—don’t keep retrying.
- Suppress chronic non-openers: If someone hasn’t opened in months, pause outreach or run a re-engagement campaign.
Why it matters: High bounce or complaint rates kill your sender reputation faster than just about anything else.
Step 7: Keep Your List Tight—Quality Over Quantity
A smaller, more engaged list will always outperform a bloated one. Here’s how to keep it tight:
- Regularly remove unengaged leads: Set a threshold (e.g., no opens in 90 days).
- Re-engagement campaigns: Give the quiet folks a reason to raise their hand or opt out.
- Audit for relevance: Are these still your target buyers? If not, remove them.
What to ignore: Vanity metrics like “total leads.” If half your list never opens, they’re dead weight.
Step 8: Use Allegrow’s Features, But Don’t Rely on Them Alone
Allegrow offers tools for inbox rotation, testing, and deliverability monitoring. Use them. But remember:
- Garbage in = garbage out: No tool can fix a bad list.
- Monitor performance: Don’t just set it and forget it. Watch open/reply rates and tweak your approach.
- Combine with manual reviews: Sometimes a human eye catches issues a tool misses.
Pro tip: Review Allegrow’s deliverability dashboards weekly, not just before big sends.
What Doesn’t Work (And What to Ignore)
Let’s be real: there’s a lot of noise out there. Here’s what doesn’t help your deliverability:
- Buying “verified” lists (again, it’s worth repeating)
- Sending without warming up your domain
- Ignoring opt-outs or complaints
- Using spammy language (“Buy now!!!” or “This isn’t spam”)
- Sending attachments or fancy HTML in cold outreach
Stick to plain text, clear value, and lists you’ve earned.
Keep It Simple—And Iterate
Managing B2B lead lists in Allegrow isn’t rocket science, but it does take discipline. Focus on real, relevant data. Clean your lists. Watch your metrics. Don’t chase shortcuts—they’ll just get you blacklisted faster.
Start small, keep it simple, and iterate. The best senders are the ones who treat their recipients like actual humans—not just entries in a spreadsheet. That’s what keeps your emails landing in the inbox—and getting replies.