When it comes to cold emailing, one of the biggest myths is that adding videos in the initial message will immediately send your email straight to the spam folder.
Many professionals shy away from video outreach because they believe it’ll trigger spam filters, leading to poor deliverability and wasted efforts.
However, with the right strategies, it is possible to incorporate video in your first cold email without risking your email reputation. In this guide, we will break down how you can send videos effectively, enhance your deliverability, and increase engagement—all while avoiding spam traps.
By the end of this article, you’ll have the tools and techniques to send videos in your outreach with confidence and achieve high email deliverability.
What is the problem with sending videos in cold emails?
When you’re sending thousands of cold emails with the same video link, it’s easy for spam filters to pick up on repetitive patterns. These patterns are flagged by email service providers (ESPs), which increases the chances of your emails being marked as spam.
The two key factors that lead to spam flagging are:
- Repeated Links: When a single link is sent to thousands of prospects, it raises red flags with spam filters. These filters are designed to detect patterns, and links that appear frequently in a large number of emails can quickly be seen as suspicious.
- High Email Volume: Sending large batches of emails without proper safeguards can also increase the likelihood of being blacklisted. When emails are sent in bulk from a single domain or inbox, the risk of being flagged for spam increases, as ESPs are looking for signs of bulk messaging campaigns.
The solution? Smart domain management and proper email structure. In the following steps, we’ll explain how you can avoid these pitfalls while still using videos in your cold outreach.
How to Send Videos in the First Cold Email Without Landing in Spam
Step 1 – Rotating Domains to Bypass Spam Filters
One of the most effective ways to avoid spam detection is by rotating the domains used in your email links. Spam filters are much more likely to flag an email as spam if they detect the same URL appearing across numerous emails.
Why Domain Rotation is Crucial
By rotating domains, you can spread the traffic across multiple domains, significantly reducing the likelihood of any one domain getting flagged. This strategy breaks the repetition that spam filters look for.
Here’s how to rotate domains effectively:
- Link to Your Own Sending Domain: Instead of using third-party video hosting sites (like YouTube or Vimeo), you should host your video on your own domain. This ensures that the link is tied to your brand’s reputation and provides more control over deliverability.
- Use Custom Domains for Video Hosting: Tools like Vidsell allow you to set up multiple custom domains. By hosting your video on a subdomain (e.g., video.yourdomain.com), you create a professional, branded experience for your recipient and gain more flexibility in your domain rotation strategy.
- Set Up Automatic Domain Rotation: With platforms like Vidsell AI, you can easily configure domain rotation. This system allows you to automatically select from multiple custom domains for each email you send, minimizing the chance of your emails being flagged as spam. You can add up to 20 domains, and the system will rotate between them for each email sent.
To set this up:
- Go to your domain settings in Vidsell.
- Add your desired custom domains and configure them.
- Integrate the custom domains into your email sequences, ensuring they rotate automatically.
Step 2 – Embedding Videos Without Triggering Spam Filters
Embedding videos directly into your cold email can raise a red flag with spam filters, especially if the video comes with large attachments or animated GIFs. ESPs are cautious of emails with high file sizes or complex content, as these are often associated with spam or malicious activity.
Best Practices for Embedding Videos
- Static Thumbnails Over GIFs: Animated GIFs, while eye-catching, can significantly increase email size, which may trigger spam filters. Static thumbnails are a safer option as they load faster and are less likely to be blocked by ESPs. Additionally, using a simple static image thumbnail results in a cleaner, more professional appearance.
- Avoid External Hosting: Don’t link to video hosting platforms like YouTube or Vimeo. Instead, host the video on a subdomain of your domain. This links look more legitimate and decreases the likelihood of it being flagged as spam.
- Ensure Proper Thumbnail Customization: When selecting a thumbnail, choose one that aligns with your email’s context. Avoid using personalized first names in the thumbnail file name, as this could be seen as a potential spam trigger. Always choose a generic image that accurately represents the video content.
Once you have your video ready, follow these steps:
- Generate your video in Vidsell AI and copy the video snippet.
- A/B test between static thumbnails and GIFs – see which one performs the best.
- Embed the snippet into your cold email tool (e.g., Instantly).
- Ensure that your video link matches your sending domain.
Step 3 – Implementing Spintax for URL Rotation
Spintax is a powerful technique that can further reduce the risk of your emails being flagged as spam. By using Spintax, you can dynamically rotate your video links within the email body, ensuring that each email appears unique.
What is Spintax?
Spintax allows you to create multiple variations of the same content. By using curly braces, you can insert multiple domain options in the link, which will then be randomized each time the email is sent.
For example:
{random|domain1.com|domain2.com|domain3.com}/video
This would result in different video links being used for each email, reducing the risk of spam filters detecting a repetitive pattern.
How to Set Up Spintax
- Copy your video link from Vidsell AI.
- Replace the domain part of the link with Spintax formatting.
- Add multiple variations of your domain.
- Paste the Spintax version of the link into your cold email.
Additionally, remember to implement Spintax for both the video link and the image source (video thumbnail) to create a fully optimized, randomized experience for your recipients.
Step 4 – Keeping Your Sending Volume Low
While domain rotation and Spintax can significantly improve your deliverability, managing your sending volume is still a crucial factor. Sending too many emails in a short amount of time can trigger spam filters and increase the chances of your domains being blacklisted.
Control Your Sending Volume
Start by sending no more than 5 new contacts per day per inbox. This allows you to gradually build your email reputation without overwhelming ESPs. If you need to scale your outreach, consider setting up additional inboxes or domains to distribute the volume.
Additional Tips for Volume Control
- Use Multiple Domains and Inboxes: Distribute your email volume across several inboxes and domains. This will help you scale your outreach safely.
- Domain Reputation: Ensure your domains are at least 3 months old. Aged domains have a better reputation and are less likely to be flagged.
- Monitor Spam Complaints: Use email warming tools to check for potential issues and monitor spam complaints regularly.
Step 5 – Scaling Safely
Once you have fine-tuned your process for sending videos without triggering spam filters, you can start scaling your email outreach efforts. But scaling should be done gradually and with caution.
Best Practices for Scaling
- Start Slowly: Begin with a manageable number of emails per day (e.g., 5 per inbox). Monitor the performance and results before increasing the volume.
- Increase Gradually: As you see positive results, you can start increasing your sending volume while keeping an eye on bounce rates and spam complaints.
- Monitor Bounce Rates and Spam Complaints: As you scale, it’s important to closely track bounce rates and complaints. If you notice a rise in these metrics, slow down your outreach and assess your strategy.
Conclusion
Sending videos in the first cold email doesn’t have to result in low deliverability or spam issues. By rotating domains, embedding static thumbnails, using Spintax for URL rotation, controlling your sending volume, and scaling cautiously, you can send personalized video outreach without worrying about landing in the spam folder.
By implementing these steps, you can improve engagement with your emails, boost deliverability, and ensure that your cold email campaigns are effective.
Take Action
Ready to start sending video emails at scale? Try Vidsell AI and experiment with these techniques to see how video outreach can transform your cold email strategy.