Cold email leader Smartlead partners with Mailreef to beef up scalable mailbox infra

Cold email, once the bread and butter of email marketing strategies, is feared to be dead (or at least as we once knew it). With the rise of agentic AIautomating outreach in a matter of clicks there is speculation this could be a race to the bottom for cold email. Businesses grasping for cold email that still works are looking for help, and this is where strategic partnerships are saving email marketing and the companies that rely on it.

Mailreef and Smartlead's integration: In the face of deliverability challenges, strategic partnerships are stepping in to save cold outreach as a viable option for businesses. Mailreef, a server infrastructure platform for cold email, paired up with Smartlead, frontrunners in the concept of multiple inboxes and one of the largest email sending platforms in the world.

Mailreef's Founder Michael Benson is a veteran in the cold email space and sheds light on email marketing today, revealing that while cold email is far from dead, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to execute effectively.

Deliverability dilemma: "Five years ago, deliverability wasn’t a thing. You didn’t have to understand it. Now it’s literally the number one thing," Benson notes. "You look at any kind of piece of content around email and it's saying you really have to focus on deliverability first and then focus on everything else.

Deliverability challenges are crushing businesses as AI algorithms improve at detecting spam-like behaviors. To face the challenge head on, businesses are shifting towards a multiple inbox strategy to spread risk.

Powerful partnership: "Smartlead wanted an easier way for users to not have to use multiple tools. Now users can basically get your own dedicated infrastructure directly in Mailreef," says Benson.

The integration offers a streamlined solution, allowing users to manage up to 75 mailboxes with ease. For businesses looking to scale, the flexibility to move directly to Mailreef for more granular control is a game-changer. "If you’re still scaling up your cold email, you can come directly to Mailreef and essentially control your server very specifically," Benson adds.

It reflects a broader industry shift towards improving deliverability through infrastructure diversification and robust support systems. "We’re starting to come out with more partnerships with clients where we’re either integrating with these drip tools or you can come directly to us. We’re trying to make it accessible for a lot of different people," Benson explains.

Multiple inboxes: "Maybe three years ago you only needed 10 mailboxes, now you need at least 50," Benson explains. This strategy, though resource-intensive, helps businesses flow with fluctuating deliverability rates. The goal is to avoid over-reliance on a single domain or infrastructure, thus reducing the impact of any single mailbox getting 'burned'."

Multiplying inboxes hasn’t been the cure-all for businesses. Benson set the scene, "The trend line that's basically happening here is it's just going to get harder and harder. And we essentially think a lot of these AI algorithms are being improved upon and are getting very good at spam detection. But on the flip side, they're getting very good at detecting what mailboxes are not doing what they're supposed to…that’s the general arc there."

The once simple act of sending an email now demands meticulous attention to domain reputation, server stability, and recipient engagement – leaving businesses relying on email to search for much-needed support.

Future of cold outbound: Despite the hurdles, cold outbound emails are far from obsolete. Benson is optimistic: "Cold email will be around for a very long time. It will get harder and harder, but for industries with good products, it will still be effective."

As businesses try to keep afloat with their email strategies, the key takeaway is clear: the era of "spray and pray" is over. Precision, compliance, and technological savvy are the pillars sustaining cold email success.