Chapter 2/10 • 15 min read

Email Accounts

Connect and configure sending accounts that stay out of spam.

⏱️ En bref : Email accounts are the engine of any Smartlead campaign. Each account should send 30-50 emails per day max, must have proper SPF/DKIM/DMARC, and needs 2-4 weeks of warmup before live campaigns. Rotation across multiple accounts (10-20 for active outreach) is mandatory at scale.

How many sending accounts do you need?

The math is simple: each Google Workspace or Outlook account should send 30 to 50 cold emails per day maximum to keep deliverability high. So if your goal is 500 emails/day, you need 10-15 accounts. For 1000/day, 20-30 accounts.

Why this limit? Cold email is increasingly filtered by Gmail and Outlook based on sender behavior signals: sending velocity, recipient engagement, complaint rate. Going above 50/day per account dramatically increases spam folder placement.

Setting up DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

Before connecting any account to Smartlead, ensure the sending domain has correct DNS:

  • SPF record: TXT record listing authorized senders. Example for Google Workspace: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
  • DKIM record: cryptographic signature. Generated in Google Admin Console / Outlook Admin Center, then added as TXT to DNS
  • DMARC record: policy on how to handle SPF/DKIM failures. Start with v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com (monitoring mode)

Verify all three with a tool like mxtoolbox.com before going live. A single missing DKIM record can tank your deliverability.

💡 Use sub-domains for cold outreach

Don't use your main domain (yourcompany.com) for cold email. Set up dedicated sub-domains like outreach.yourcompany.com or get-in-touch-yourcompany.com. If a campaign tanks deliverability, you protect your main brand from blacklists. Allow 1-2 weeks of warmup on the new domain before campaigns.

Connecting an account in Smartlead

In Smartlead → Email Accounts → Add Account. Three connection methods:

  • Google OAuth: cleanest method for Google Workspace. Click "Connect with Google", grant permissions
  • Microsoft OAuth: similar for Outlook 365 / Exchange Online
  • SMTP/IMAP manual: for any other provider (Zoho, Mailfence, custom). Need server addresses, ports, and an app password

For each account, configure:

  • Daily sending limit: start at 20/day, increase by 5/day per week up to 40-50
  • Time gap between emails: 5-10 minutes randomized (not 1 minute)
  • Sending hours: 9am-5pm in the recipient's timezone
  • Working days: Monday to Friday only

Warmup: don't skip this

A brand new email account has zero sender reputation. Sending 50 cold emails on day one = direct path to spam folder, possibly permanent. Smartlead has a built-in warmup feature:

  • Activate warmup on every new account before any campaign
  • Duration: 2 weeks minimum for new domains, 1 week for existing accounts
  • Daily warmup volume: start at 10/day, ramp to 30-40/day
  • Reply rate: 30-40% to mimic genuine conversation

The warmup network sends emails between Smartlead users, opens them, marks as important, and replies. This builds positive engagement signals with mailbox providers.

Account rotation in campaigns

When you launch a campaign, Smartlead lets you select which accounts to use. The system rotates through them automatically. Best practice: assign 8-15 accounts per campaign. With 100 leads/day to send and 10 accounts, each account sends 10/day = healthy load.

Avoid using the same accounts on multiple parallel campaigns: it concentrates risk. Better to dedicate account groups to specific campaigns.

Monitoring account health

Smartlead's "Master Inbox" shows real-time health metrics per account:

  • Spam rate: must stay below 1%. Above that, pause the account immediately
  • Bounce rate: keep below 3%. High bounces = bad list quality, also hurts sender reputation
  • Reply rate: 5%+ is healthy
  • Reputation score: Smartlead's internal score (0-100). Above 80 is good

⚠️ When to pause an account

Pause an account immediately if: spam rate goes above 2%, bounce rate above 5%, or reputation score drops below 60. Run warmup-only on it for 7 days before resuming campaigns. Continuing to send while reputation is bad will get the account permanently flagged.

Once accounts are healthy, build your outreach sequences (see Sequences) and feed them quality leads (see Leads).