Good practices

1. Send from a separate domain

Send cold email from a domain that looks like yours but isn't your main one: getacme.com or acmehq.com instead of acme.com. If something goes wrong, your main domain, and the email your customers and team rely on, stays safe.

• Buy the domain (about $10 a year) and add a mailbox on it with the same provider you already use.
• Point the website on that domain to your real one, so anyone who checks lands somewhere real.
• Forward or check replies there: ScoutKite already watches that inbox for replies.

2. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC

These three DNS records prove the email really comes from you. Without them, Gmail and Outlook send you to spam. Your email provider's help pages give you the exact records:

• SPF: one TXT record listing who may send for the domain.
• DKIM: turn it on in your email provider and add the record it gives you.
• DMARC: start with v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected] on _dmarc.yourdomain.com.

3. Start slow

• A new mailbox: 10 to 20 emails a day for the first two weeks, then raise it slowly. ScoutKite's default is 30 a day.
• ScoutKite already sends at a human pace, inside the hours you set, at least 90 seconds apart.
• Need more volume? Add a second mailbox rather than pushing one past 50 a day.

4. Use an app password

Give ScoutKite an app password, not your real one. It only works for email, and you can revoke it any time without changing your main password.

• Google Workspace or Gmail: turn on 2-Step Verification, then create one at myaccount.google.com/apppasswords.
• Microsoft 365 or Outlook: app passwords need 2-step verification, and your admin may need to allow SMTP sign-in for your mailbox. If it won't connect, ask them or write to us.
• Zoho and most hosts: look for "app-specific passwords" in security settings.
• When you stop using ScoutKite, remove the mailbox in ScoutKite and revoke the app password.

5. Write like a person

• Plain text, short, one idea, one question. No images, no attachments.
• At most one link. Leave click tracking off unless you really need it: links rewritten for tracking look less personal to spam filters.
• Read the fact Scout picked and the source it came from. If it's wrong or odd, fix it or skip the person.
• An honest subject. Never a fake "re:".

6. Personal addresses in the EU and UK

When a draft is going to a personal inbox (Gmail, Outlook and the like) of someone who looks to be in the EU or UK, ScoutKite marks it. Data-protection rules there treat that person as a private individual rather than a company, and cold email to individuals usually needs their consent. Company addresses ([email protected]) are on firmer ground. When in doubt, skip.

7. Follow the rules where they are

• US (CAN-SPAM): real sender, honest subject, a postal address and a working unsubscribe. ScoutKite adds the last two; fill in your postal address in Mailbox.
• Canada (CASL) and Australia: an address the person published themselves is fine to write to about their work. Keep it relevant to their role.
• UK: emails to company addresses are fine; to individuals, see above.
• EU: be relevant to their business, say who you are, make saying no easy. Germany and Austria are stricter than most: consider skipping them.

This is general guidance, not legal advice.

8. Watch your numbers

• Bounces under 3%. More means old or wrong addresses: ScoutKite checks each one before sending and drops dead ones.
• Unsubscribes under 2%. More means the email isn't relevant to them: change who you target or what you say.
• Stop when they say no. ScoutKite stops follow-ups when someone replies or unsubscribes. Never add them again.
• Above 8% bounces or 5% unsubscribes, ScoutKite pauses sending so we can look at it with you (see acceptable use).