25+ Must-Have Tools for Cold Email Marketing Services Success

25+ Must-Have Tools for Cold Email Marketing Services Success

25+ Must-Have Tools for Cold Email Marketing Services Success

Nov 23, 2024

Person Working - Cold Email Marketing Services

When starting a cold email marketing campaign, figuring out the best way to reach your audience can feel overwhelming. After all, the success of cold email outreach hinges on getting the basics right. First, you need to establish a reliable email infrastructure that supports your outreach efforts. Next, you need to ensure that your emails reach your prospects’ inboxes. Only then can you start working on crafting engaging emails that resonate with your audience. In this article, we’ll explore cold email marketing services, which you can use to efficiently deliver high-performing cold email campaigns that generate quality leads and boost client satisfaction using the best tools available. 

One solution that can help you achieve your cold email deliverability goals is Inframail's email infrastructure. This tool can help you build a solid foundation for your cold email outreach to improve deliverability and reach more prospects.

Table of Contents

What Is Cold Email Marketing and Its Importance

Laptop Laying - Cold Email Marketing Services

Cold email is a message you send to a contact with whom you have no prior relationship. Cold emails have a legitimate business purpose and make relevant offers to targeted prospects (which differentiates cold email from spam). There’s little difference between the goal of a cold email vs. cold call, other than the medium. (And that cold emailing is usually a lot easier to do at scale than cold calling.) 

In both cases, you’re: 

  • Reaching out to a stranger

  • Making a personal connection

  • Trying to achieve a business-related result. 

Crafting Cold Emails That Drive Engagement: Best Practices and Examples for Building Connections

And if that result also benefits your potential client, odds are, you’ll find success. 

Examples of cold emails you might send: 

  • A sales email to a CEO or manager on your prospect list you’ve never met when you want to set up a demo. 

  • Email someone in your industry so you can build brand awareness and network with them. 

Mastering Cold Emails: Strategies to Connect with Investors and Unlock Career Opportunities

An email to a potential investor you don’t know to establish the beginning of a relationship. An email to a company hiring (or might one day be hiring) someone in my area of expertise to try to set up an informational interview. What makes a cold email “cold” is that there is no direct connection or relationship between you and the other person. Your email needs to hit their inbox. Something needs to compel them to open it. Then something needs to compel them to reply.

What is Cold Email Marketing?

Cold email marketing is reaching out to prospects you don’t know by email rather than by cold calling, messages on social media, or any other method. The purpose is the same between a cold email and a cold call, but email is much easier to scale for the sender and far less intrusive for recipients. Because of this, prospects are more receptive to a series of cold emails than repeated cold calls. 

Crafting Cost-Effective Cold Email Campaigns: Personalization, Meaningful Content, and Strong CTAs

Like advertising, cold marketing email aims to introduce your company or product to a targeted recipient (or ad viewer) and persuade them to respond or buy. Email outreach is far more cost-effective and often more precisely targeted than advertising. A successful email campaign message combines: 

  • Relevant and accurate personalization

  • Content that is meaningful to the audience

  • A specific call-to-action

Maximizing the Impact of Cold Email Outreach: Beyond Replies to Building Brand Awareness

It’s the right message for the right person at the right time. Beyond the message, reply rates can be increased by technical performance aspects such as list: 

  • Accuracy

  • Email timing

  • Deliverability

  • Testing

  • Sender reputation

Although the immediate goal of cold mail outreach is a response, it’s important to remember that many more people will read your email than respond. Every message you send affects a larger audience than those who reply. Therefore, it informs, creates a lasting impression of your brand, can influence referrals, and sets the foundation for a potential relationship. 

Exploring the Versatility of Cold Email Campaigns: Tailoring Strategies for Diverse Goals

There are many types of cold email campaigns. While B2B sales emails comprise the majority of outreach emails, businesses also use mass emails for: 

  • Public relations

  • Community awareness

  • Brand engagement among consumers

  • Networking and influencing within their sector

  • Persuading other businesses to collaborate with their company

  • Hunting for jobs

  • Recruiting candidates for jobs

  • Building links to boost SEO for specific content. 

Because of this, no two email outreach campaigns are the same.

Is Cold Email Spam?

No. When done right, cold email is not spam. Though a cold message and spam message are both types of unsolicited email, cold emails are: 

  • Targeted

  • Personal 

  • Relevant 

They have a legitimate business purpose and come from a verifiable source. (It’s always good, however, to check with a lawyer if you’re worried about violating the U.S. CAN SPAM Act or other regulations.) 

Building Trust Through Transparency: Crafting Credible Cold Emails with the Right Contact Information

An effective cold email should include: 

  • Your full, real name 

  • Other relevant contact information, such as: 

  • Your website

  • Social profiles

  • Physical business address

  • Phone number 

  • Content personalized to the email recipient 

  • Your reason for contacting them, in plain English 

  • No clickbait in the subject line 

A cold email, when done right, is far from spam. A successful cold email is not vague or general, its grammar and language aren’t questionable, and it allows the recipient to verify the sender via real contact information

Distinguishing Cold Emails from Spam: Key Differences and How to Avoid Common Pitfalls

While spam, on the other hand, often: 

  • Is sent from an email address without much service history (spammers have to change email IDs and services constantly because they get flagged as, well, spammers) 

  • Uses a fake name or company name 

  • Adds clickbait to the subject line 

  • Is copied and pasted (no personalization) 

  • Uses deceptive copy to get you to click on a dubious link 

  • Is often commercial. 

That is, they’re trying to sell you a product in the initial email without any relationship-building first.

Related Reading

Automated Lead Generation
Email Prospecting
How to Generate B2B Leads
How to Warm Up Email Domain
How Many Emails Can You Send Before Considered Spam
Best Time to Send Cold Emails
How to Cold Email
Best Cold Email Templates B2B
Email Outreach Best Practices
Email Outreach Strategy

25+ Best Tools for Winning Cold Email Marketing Services

Lady Working - Cold Email Marketing Services

1. Inframail: The Cold Email Infrastructure Tool Designed to Help You Send Emails Efficiently

Inframail is an email infrastructure tool designed for cold emailers, like you and me, who need to send lots of emails efficiently. It provides private email infrastructure, so you get your dedicated IP address instead of your shared IPs with Outlook and Gmail. That means you can influence your deliverability because you’re not sharing your IP address with others. If you’re not following the best email-sending practices, you will ruin your server’s reputation. 

With Inframail, you can create unlimited email inboxes at a flat rate, avoiding the high costs of platforms like Google Workspace. It also automates the setup of vital email records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, saving you time and hassle. 

Cost-Effective Solutions for Scaling Email Operations: Comparing Pricing Plans for Google Workspace vs. Inframail

Let’s put this into perspective with a quick example. Say you’re using Google Workspace, where each email inbox costs around $6 monthly. If you need 50 inboxes, that’s $300 a month. With Inframail’s flat rate of $99, you save $201 monthly. Over a year, that saves $2,412—pretty significant, right? 

Simplifying Email Setup: How Inframail Automates DNS Configuration for Effortless Cold Email Campaigns

Inframail starts by simplifying one of the most tedious parts of cold emailing—setting up email inboxes. You know how frustrating it can be to manually configure DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records for each new email domain, right? With Inframail, you don’t have to worry about that. The platform automates the entire setup process, meaning you can get your inboxes up and running in minutes instead of hours. 

Streamlining Domain Setup for Cold Emails: How Inframail Simplifies DKIM, SPF, and DMARC Configuration

Here’s how it goes: You begin by purchasing domains directly from Inframail’s platform. Once you’ve got your domain, the tool automatically sets up all the necessary email records. I’m talking about the technical stuff—DKIM, SPF, and DMARC—that you’d typically need to configure manually. Inframail takes care of this at lightning speed, which is 700% faster than traditional methods. We handle the complex infrastructure setup while you focus on reaching more prospects. 

Scaling Outreach and Recruitment: How Inframail Helps Agencies, Recruiters, and SDRs Build Efficient Email Infrastructure

InfraMail provides a robust email infrastructure without the usual technical headaches and per-inbox costs, whether you're: 

  • An agency looking to scale outreach

  • A recruiter connecting with candidates

  • An SDR driving sales

Start buying domains now and set up your email infrastructure today with our email infrastructure tool.

2. Hunter: The Versatile Cold Email Tool for Finding and Verifying Email Addresses

Hunter is a versatile cold email tool designed to find professional email addresses and verify their accuracy. It also offers features to manage outreach campaigns, making it a comprehensive email prospecting and outreach solution. 

Enhancing Email Campaign Success with Tools for Finding, Verifying, and Managing Outreach

Best for: 

Finding and verifying email addresses. 

Key Features: 

  • Email Finder. Easily find email addresses associated with specific domains. 

  • Email Verifier. Verify the accuracy of email addresses to ensure high deliverability—outreach Campaigns. Set up and manage personalized email campaigns with follow-up sequences. 

  • Chrome Extension. It saves time with a single click and helps gather email structures directly from websites. 

The Pros and Cons of Using Email Finder and Verifier Tools for Outreach Campaigns

Pros 

  • High Accuracy: The email finder and verifier are known for their high accuracy, making it easy to discover and confirm email addresses. 

  • User-Friendly Interface: The platform is intuitive and easy to navigate, reducing the learning curve. 

  • Seamless Integration: Integrates well with various tools and CRMs like HubSpot. 

  • Efficient Campaign Management: The outreach campaigns feature allows you to set up and manage personalized email sequences, improving engagement

Cons 

  • Pricing for High Usage: Costs can escalate if you need more searches and verifications. 

Demo What I Like: I like Hunter’s email finder and verifier's accuracy, which gives me confidence that my emails will reach the right people. The interface is straightforward, and the Chrome extension is super convenient. 

User Experiences and Pricing Insights for Email Finder and Verifier Tools

What Users Say

  • “Solving all of our cold outreach problems.” - Soner A., Product Manager, Small Business 

  • “Contacts are found very easily, which enables me to hit my monthly quota of cold emailing, and because the emails are verified, the response rates I get are pretty high.”

Pricing 

  • The Starter plan starts at $49/month, 

  • Higher tiers are available for more features and usage limits.

3. Woodpecker: The Automated Cold Email Tool That Streamlines Your Email Outreach

Woodpecker is an automated cold email tool that streamlines email outreach efforts. It offers robust automation and detailed analytics to help you manage your campaigns effectively. 

Enhancing Cold Email Campaigns with Automation and AI Tools

Best for: 

Automating follow-up sequences. 

Key Features: 

  • Automated Follow-ups: Automatically send follow-up emails based on the recipient's actions. 

  • A/B Testing: Test different email variations to optimize performance—detailed Analytics. Track open, click-through, and response rates to measure campaign success—

  • AI-Powered Email Warm-Up: Use AI to gradually warm your email accounts, improving deliverability and sender reputation before starting campaigns. 

Evaluating the Pros and Cons of Email Automation Tools for Campaign Optimization

Pros 

  • Robust Automation: The ability to automate follow-up sequences ensures consistent communication with prospects—actionable Insights. Detailed analytics provide insights into campaign performance, helping you optimize your strategy. 

  • Personalization: Advanced personalization options make emails more engaging and effective.

  • User-Friendly Interface: Easy to use, with excellent customer support to help you get the most out of the tool. 

  • Native Integrations: Integrates well with various CRMs and email service providers, including a native Woodpecker-Hubspot integration. 

Cons 

  • Limited Customization: Some users find that email templates have limited customization options.

  • Higher Pricing Tiers: Costs can add up with advanced features and higher usage needs. 

  • Basic Integration: Limited integrations with some third-party applications compared to other tools. 

Why Users Love Woodpecker: Key Features, Pricing, and User Experiences

What I Like: 

The automated follow-up sequences are a game-changer. I like how they save time and ensure every prospect runs smoothly. Woodpecker also has tailored features to support agencies. 

What Users Say: 

  • “Essential Tool for Email Automation” - Destina S., Co-founder, Small Business 

  • “I have been using Woodpecker daily for several years ... In my opinion, it is the best cold mailing tool. The platform is intuitive despite its advanced features. Even new team members can quickly create and manage campaigns on their own … I value that the email sequences are custom - I can plan everything exactly and personalize the sending of subsequent messages.” 

Pricing: 

  • Starting at $29/month 

  • For 500 prospects contacted. 

  • Free 7-day or 50-contact prospect trial.

4. Mailshake: The Intuitive Cold Email Tool for Campaign Management

Mailshake is an intuitive cold email tool designed to help you quickly create and manage email campaigns. It offers a range of features to enhance your email outreach efforts. 

Optimizing Cold Email Campaigns for SMBs: Key Features and Integrations That Drive Success

Best for: 

Small to medium-sized businesses want to streamline their cold email outreach and follow-ups with detailed tracking and analytics. 

Key Features: 

  • Email Templates: Pre-built templates to streamline email creation. 

  • Automated Follow-ups: Set up automatic follow-up emails to boost response rates—detailed Analytics. Analyze campaign performance with detailed metrics. 

  • AI Email Writing (SHAKEspeare): Intelligent email writing assists in crafting compelling emails. 

  • Extensive Integrations: Over 1,000 integrations are available through Zapier, making it adaptable to various workflows. 

Balancing Ease of Use with Advanced Features: Pros and Cons of Email Campaign Automation Tools

Pros 

  • Intuitive Interface: The user-friendly design makes setting up and managing email campaigns easy without extensive training. 

  • Robust Analytics: Provides detailed insights into campaign performance, helping to optimize strategies. 

  • Effective Automation: Automates follow-up sequences, saving time and ensuring consistent communication. 

  • Cost-Effective: Offers affordable pricing plans, making it accessible for small businesses and startups. 

Cons

  • Limited Integrations: There are fewer integration options with other tools compared to some competitors.

  • Template Customization: Limited customization options for email templates may restrict flexibility.

  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features: Some advanced features can take time to master. 

Streamlining Campaign Management and Tracking with Mailshake: Key Features and Pricing

What I Like 

I appreciate Mailshake’s straightforward approach to campaign management. The detailed analytics provided help track email success, making it easier to adjust strategies as needed. The email warm-up feature is handy for ensuring high deliverability rates. 

What Users Say 

“A+++ tool for multiple purposes.” - Jason B., CEO, Small Business. “Mailshake makes it easy for me to personalize cold outreach campaigns and keep track of potential leads. It is also a great tool for onboarding email campaigns and newsletters for existing customers.” 

Pricing: 

  • A starter account costs $29/month

  • No free trial is available

5. Reply: The Comprehensive Cold Email Tool for Multichannel Outreach

Reply is a comprehensive cold email tool that offers multichannel outreach and AI-powered email suggestions to help you engage with prospects more effectively. 

Leveraging Multiple Channels for Effective Cold Outreach

Best for: 

Multichannel outreach. 

Key Features: 

  • Multichannel Outreach: Contact prospects via email, phone, LinkedIn messages, SMS, and WhatsApp

  • AI-Powered Email Suggestions: Use AI to craft compelling email messages tailored to each prospect automatically

  • Detailed Analytics: Monitor campaign performance with in-depth analytics. 

  • Role-Based Access and Permissions: It is essential for larger teams or agencies, making managing different user roles and permissions within the platform more accessible. 

The Role of AI and Personalized Support in Optimizing Cold Outreach Campaigns

Pros 

  • AI Features: Jason AI's integration enhances automation and communication personalization

  • Dedicated Customer Success Manager (CSM): Available for higher plans, ensuring high-touch support and personalized assistance. 

  • Consolidated Inbox: It provides a streamlined view across all sequences, perfect for managing multiple mailboxes efficiently. Features sentiment analysis and customizable tags to prioritize and personalize messaging, ensuring efficient and meaningful interactions

Cons 

  • Steeper Learning Curve for Beginners: New users might find navigating and using all the features challenging. 

  • Pricing can be high: The cost can increase, especially for smaller teams or startups. 

Maximizing Engagement with AI-Powered Email Personalization and Multichannel Outreach

What I Like 

The AI-powered email suggestions are fantastic for crafting effective messages. While it takes some time to get used to all the features, the multichannel outreach capabilities are a big plus. 

What Users Say 

“Reply.io has revolutionized our prospecting efforts!” - Lila K., Director, Sales Operations, Small Business. “Reply.io is an outstanding platform with a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to navigate and set up campaigns, even for those who are not technically inclined. The platform offers a wide range of templates and customization options that enable users to tailor their emails to their target audience, resulting in more engaging and effective campaigns.” 

Pricing: 

  • Starts at $59/month

  • 14-day free trial available

6. Lemlist: The Cold Email Tool for Personalization

Lemlist is an email outreach tool focused on personalization and engagement. It helps businesses create compelling campaigns with personalized images, videos, and custom landing pages to boost response rates. Adding a personal touch to your emails is best—

Enhancing Email Outreach with Personalization, Automation, and Deliverability Boosters

Key Features: 

  • Customizable Personalization: Personalize your emails with personalized images, videos, and custom landing pages, making each message unique and engaging for the recipient. 

  • Automated Follow-ups: Schedule and automate follow-up emails based on recipient actions or specific time intervals to maintain consistent communication and ensure no leads are missed

  • Email Warm-Up: Automatically warm up your email accounts to enhance deliverability and avoid spam filters

Balancing Usability and Advanced Features: How to Maximize Lemlist’s Potential While Managing Its Drawbacks

Pros 

  • User-friendly interface: The interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, which helps users quickly set up and manage campaigns without extensive training 

  • Community and Support: Lemlist has a strong user community, and many users praise Lemlist’s fast, responsive, and helpful customer support

Cons 

  • Setup Challenges: Users say setting up the platform can be difficult, especially configuring email settings. 

  • Limited Email Accounts: Some users find the cap on email accounts (one in basic plans) restrictive

  • Pricing Structure: The pricing might be higher for smaller teams or startups with limited budgets. It can also add up for larger teams or organizations with many users, as additional features and higher tiers have a premium price. 

Boosting Cold Email Engagement with Personalized Images and Creative Outreach

What I Like 

Lemlist is the only tool with a personalized image feature. I’ve found images like these to be especially engaging for recipients, and I enjoy having a creative way to capture attention and help improve email response rates. 

What Users Say 

  • “Outreach to prospects at scale.” - Zach Y., Founder, Small Business 

  • “Lemlist has been my best email tool. … Being able to stand out and be unique with cold email is getting harder and harder, and Lemlist is better than many other tools because it gives you the tools to be unique AND send emails in a slick manner.” 

Pricing: 

  • Starts at $39/month

  • 14-day free trial available.

7. SalesHandy: The Affordable Cold Email Tool with Robust Tracking Features

SalesHandy is an affordable cold email tool with robust email tracking and automated follow-ups. 

Leveraging Advanced Email Analytics and A/B Testing for Optimized Cold Outreach Campaigns

Best for: Tracking email opens and clicks

Key Features: 

  • Sender Rotation: The basic plan includes a sender rotation feature to minimize spam risks, while advanced plans offer optimized delivery across multiple sender accounts for even better results. 

  • Unified Inbox: Centralized inbox for seamless email management. Higher-tier plans include enhanced functionalities, more integrations, and better management tools to streamline communications.

  • Sequence Score: Analyze and score your email sequences based on performance metrics. This will help you identify areas for improvement and optimize your outreach strategy. 

  • A/Z Testing: Go beyond typical A/B testing by creating up to 26 variants, enabling you to determine your audience's most effective email strategies.

Scaling Team Collaboration and Streamlining Email Campaigns with Integrated CRMs and User-Friendly Tools

Pros 

  • Unlimited Team Members: All plans support collaboration by allowing unlimited team members to manage and execute email outreach, enhancing teamwork and productivity. 

  • Cost-Effective: Affordable pricing plans make it accessible for small businesses and startups. 

  • Easy to Use: The user-friendly interface makes setting up and managing campaigns without extensive training easy, reducing the learning curve. 

  • CRM Integration: Native integrations with Pipedrive, Zoho, and HubSpot CRMs. 

Cons 

  • Limited Customization: There are fewer options for customizing email templates than other tools, such as basic integration options. Integration with third-party applications and CRMs is more limited, which might be restrictive for specific workflows. Advanced 

  • Feature Learning Curve: Users say that while basic features are straightforward, mastering advanced functionalities can take time. 

Maximizing Cold Outreach Efficiency with Accurate Email Tracking and Unlimited Accounts

What I Like 

I appreciate SalesHandy’s accuracy in its email tracking features, which allow you to see who opens your emails and when. I also like that users get unlimited email accounts, which most other cold email outreach software charges for. 

What Users Say 

  • “The perfect outreach platform for our business.”​ - Gino T., CEO, Small Business 

  • “SalesHandy checked all the right boxes ... A/B Split Testing, a special email spam filter that removes any spammy words found in your outreach sequences or templates, Custom Domain tracking, and the best part about Saleshandy is that you can add unlimited email accounts to increase scale and volume when it comes to cold outreach.” 

Pricing: 

  • Starts at $36/month. 

  • 7-day free trial available.

8. Apollo: The All-in-One Sales Intelligence Platform

Apollo.io is an “all-in-one sales intelligence platform with tools to help you prospect, engage, and drive more revenue.” The platform combines lead generation, multichannel outreach, and advanced analytics to help businesses streamline their sales processes and improve prospect engagement. 

Maximizing Lead Generation with Multichannel Outreach and AI Insights

Best for: 

Comprehensive lead generation and multichannel sales engagement. 

Key Features: 

  • Lead Generation: Tap into an extensive database of potential leads, complete with detailed contact information and company insights, making it easier to target the right prospects. 

  • Multichannel Outreach: To increase your chances of engagement, connect with prospects across multiple channels, including email, phone, and LinkedIn. 

  • Email Sequences: Automate and personalize your email sequences to nurture leads.

  • AI-Powered Insights: Use AI to gain actionable insights, optimize your outreach strategies, and make data-driven decisions that enhance your campaigns. 

Leveraging Apollo.io’s Extensive Database and Automation for Efficient Lead Generation

Pros 

  • Comprehensive Lead Generation: Apollo.io’s extensive database offers over 275 million contacts and 60 million companies, significantly improving your prospecting efforts by providing a wealth of potential leads. 

  • Data-Driven Decisions: Advanced analytics and AI-powered insights provide a deep understanding of your outreach performance, enabling you to optimize your strategies effectively. 

  • Streamlined Workflow: Integrated features like the sales dialer and meeting scheduler streamline your sales processes, saving time and effort: 

  • Integration and Automation: Seamless integration with LinkedIn, Salesforce, HubSpot, and other CRM systems, along with robust task automation, improves workflow efficiency and data management. 

Cons 

  • Higher Cost: The premium features come at a higher price point, which may be limiting for smaller businesses or startups

  • Complex Setup: Users say the initial setup and integration can be complex and time-consuming. 

  • Learning Curve: The range of features and advanced functionalities require time to master, which can be challenging for new users. 

Streamlining Lead Generation and Outreach: How Apollo.io Combines Prospecting, Email Marketing, and Call Recording into One Platform

What I Like

I appreciate that Apollo combines multiple functionalities (prospecting, email marketing, call recording) in one platform, minimizing the need for various tools. 

What Users Say 

“A Game-Changer for Cold Email Outreach, Especially for Startups.” - Grigorijs K., CEO and Co-founder, Small Business. “Apollo.io is tackling the dual challenges of lead generation and email outreach efficiency. Its robust database has streamlined my lead targeting, ensuring I connect with the most promising prospects. The platform's automated sequences have drastically reduced my time writing emails, allowing me to communicate consistently and timely with potential leads.” 

Pricing: 

  • The paid version starts at $49/month

  • A free version with limited features is available.

9. Outreach: The Premium Cold Email Tool for Multichannel Sales Engagement

Outreach.io is a sales execution platform that offers advanced features for multichannel sales engagement and AI-driven insights. 

Best for: 

Multichannel sales engagement and large enterprises. 

Key Features: 

  • Multichannel Sales Engagement: Engage with prospects through email, phone, and social media. 

  • Smart Email Assist: Draft AI-based emails that respond faster with auto-generated, personalized messages based on prior conversations, allowing reps to review, edit, and send from their inbox. 

  • Smart Sequence Assist: Automatically generate and optimize email sequences, tasks, and calls tailored to specific sales goals and personas, streamlining the content creation process

  • Task Automation: Automate repetitive tasks to increase efficiency and productivity.

Pros 

  • Enhanced Engagement: Multichannel capabilities allow you to connect with prospects through various touchpoints, increasing engagement opportunities. 

  • Strategic Optimization: AI-driven insights provide actionable recommendations to improve your outreach strategies, ensuring you focus on high-value activities

  • Thorough Metrics: Detailed analytics offer deep insights into campaign performance, enabling data-driven decision-making and optimization. 

  • Efficiency Boost: Task automation and integrated tools like the sales dialer and meeting scheduler streamline workflows and save time, enhancing productivity through seamless integration. Strong integration with major CRM systems ensures your data is synchronized and your sales processes are cohesive. 

Cons 

  • High Cost: The premium features come at a higher price point, which might be prohibitive for smaller businesses or startups

  • Complex Setup: The initial setup and integration can be complex and time-consuming, requiring significant implementation effort. 

  • Learning Curve: The advanced features and functionalities require time to master, which might be challenging for new users. 

What I Like 

I like that Outreach.io allows users to reach out to prospects through email, phone, and social media all in one place. The AI provides excellent tips to improve outreach and offers detailed stats to help make data-driven decisions. The automation and integrated tools like the sales dialer and meeting scheduler make everything much more accessible. 

What Users Say 

“Outreach has allowed us to quickly and efficiently engage with prospects from our webinars, whitepapers, and other events. By using software, we guarantee each prospect will get a minimum number of touches (emails or calls).” - Marissa Wajda, ​​Demand Generation Marketing Manager, Notable 

Pricing: 

  • Custom pricing based on needs. 

  • No free trial is available.

10. Instantly: An Affordable Cold Email Tool for Agencies

Instantly is one of the most recent tools we’ve included in our comparison. Raul Kaevand started Instantly in 2021 after noticing that most cold email tools were too expensive and not adapted to the needs of lead generation agencies. 

Maximizing Email Outreach with Inexpensive, Scalable Solutions for Agencies: Exploring Instantly’s UI, Pricing, and Limitations

Strengths 

  • Nice, modern UI and ease of use 

  • Advanced (and exclusive) features such as an advanced email service provider matching option 

  • Pricing works very well for agencies managing a lot of email accounts (they don’t charge per email account) 

  • Support team is responsive and professional They even provide a B2B sales leads database (recent addition, I haven’t tested it yet) 

Weaknesses 

  • Instantly’s pricing structure is limiting if you have a lot of active leads

  • They don’t have any native integrations, so you’ll have to rely on Zapier to sync your data to your CRM. 

Maximizing Email Outreach Efficiency: How Instantly’s Aggressive Pricing and Unlimited Email Accounts Benefit High-Volume Agencies

Pricing 

Instantly is available for other use cases from $37/month and offers a free trial. Their aggressive pricing took the market by surprise. Because of its pricing model and core mission, the product is particularly well-suited for agencies with high sending volume. 

The expert’s opinion: Instantly stands out because you can add an unlimited number of email accounts. This has saved our agency thousands of dollars and increased our client results, as we could send more volume.

11. Quickmail: The Cold Email Tool with Email Account Rotation

Quickmail was started in 2014 to scratch his itch. Since then, the product has become a favorite among email outreach agencies, especially after they pioneered email account rotation (a way to send more emails by spreading the message over multiple email accounts). 

Strengths 

  • Advanced features like email account rotation and detailed reporting 

  • Agency-specific features make reporting to the client and account management easier 

  • Native 2-way HubSpot and Pipedrive integrations According to most reviewers, the product has a nice, modern UI and is easy to use. Plenty of users praise the quality of their support team. 

Weakness 

  • The UI is outdated. 

  • The warmup feature depends on a third-party partner. 

Pricing

Quickmail’s pricing starts at $49/month and includes a free trial. 

The expert’s opinion:

In my opinion, Quickmail’s founder’s enthusiasm is contagious. Their focus on volume made Quickmail one of the best cold email tools for running an agency or sending many cold emails. The expert believes I’ve been using Quickmail for about 18 months. My favorite thing about 

Quickmail is conditional email logic, allowing journey emails to change dynamically based on opens, replies, and custom indicators. I also particularly appreciate their transparent roadmap and list of recent feature releases. Before they had to sunset, their auto email warming was fantastic. Quickmail is particularly popular with agencies, but I also recommend it for individual non-experts (like founders) looking to minimize time spent on outbound emails.

12. Smartlead.ai: A Cold Email Tool for Deliverability

Smartlead started only in 2022 but already has lots of raving fans. That's because the founder, Vaibhav Naibhuri, is focused on serving the needs of a specific audience: lead generation agencies. Smartlead is optimized for people who want to send as many emails as possible, so they must constantly fight the deliverability limitations associated with bulk sending. 

Strengths 

  • Advanced deliverability optimizations feature.

  • Aggressive pricing makes it the cheapest option to scale your outbound strategy.

  • According to user reviews, their customer service is very responsive. Some of their clients also praised their agency management features. 

Weaknesses 

  • On its own, it's not enough – you need other tools to run your outreach 

  • Based on some conversations I had, the tool can be buggy. Still, these issues should slowly be resolved, given how new they are

Pricing 

  • From $39/month. 

  • A free trial is available. 

The expert’s opinion:

In my opinion, Smartlead is a recent player, but they’re worth keeping on your radar as they’re improving quickly, and their product is surprisingly inexpensive. The expert believes I’ve been using Smartlead.ai for eight months, which is fantastic! I am not a techie, but everything is straightforward to learn and understand. If you need help, the team delivers the best service I have ever experienced online! 

“I love the AI tools and the personalization options that are getting better and better. But what I love the most is that they listen to their community, ask us what we want, and release the options we need. I recommend it to everyone who wants to get serious about cold email. There is no better software on the Market. I am on a Mastermind with 220 Cold Emailers, and 80% use Smartlead.” Johannes Fessler, CEO at Rock Solid Lead Generation

13. Gmass: The Cold Email Tool That Operates Inside Gmail

Gmass was started in 2015 by Ajay Joel to allow marketers to send mass emails straight from Google Sheets and Gmail. With 300,000 users on the Chrome store, it might be the most widely used cold email tool. 

Strengths 

  • If you’re using Gmail, you’ll love being able to send your cold emails directly from there.

  • It includes advanced cold email tool options like A/B testing, a spam checker, etc. 

  • A lot of their users praise the reporting options included in the tool. 

Weaknesses 

  • As it’s a complete tool, many users complain that there’s a steep learning curve before they can use Gmass (our tests confirmed this). 

  • The UI and their onboarding content are a bit confusing. 

  • Pricing is generous, and a free plan is available. Gmass is probably interesting if your priority is picking a free cold email software that works in Gmail. 

  • Apart from that, I found it the hardest-to-use tool of our benchmark. You can also check MailMeteor if you want a free tool to send your cold emails from Gmail. 

The expert’s opinion: 

In my journey as an SEO and content manager, I've explored a variety of tools for cold emailing and outreach. Amongst them all, Gmass stood out due to its clean and straightforward interface. I've been using this tool for half a dozen years, and its features have never ceased to impress me. What sets this tool apart is that it operates directly within Gmail. There's no need to switch between web apps; everything you need is in your inbox. 

You can track emails, access analytics, launch mass email campaigns, set up automated follow-ups, and more from within Gmail. Furthermore, this tool allows you to send up to 50 emails in a free mass campaign daily. It's an excellent resource for beginners and intermediate marketers looking to enhance their cold email marketing strategies.

14. Klenty: A Step-by-Step Approach to Email Automation

Klenty is a sales engagement platform designed to automate outreach processes for sales and marketing teams. This tool allows you to send personalized emails with automated follow-up messages at scale. 

Essential Features 

  • A/B Testing Mail merge 

  • Native CRM integrations – Pipedrive, Salesforce, Zoho, and Freshsales 

  • Auto-import from Google Sheets, CRM software, or CSV file 

  • Duplicate and forward email detection 

  • Cadence and team reports 

  • Prospect activity history 

Pricing 

  • Startup $50 Per (Billed Annually) 

  • Growth $70 Per Month (Billed Annually) 

  • Enterprise $100 Per Month (Billed Annually) 

  • 14 days free trial available 

15. Yesware: The Email Tracking Tool for Sales Teams

Yesware is a simple and effective cold emailing tool for email tracking for prospecting teams. It is regarded as the ‘all-in-one toolkit’ for a salesperson. The tool helps automate email campaigns and make your sales prospecting efficient. 

Key Features 

  • Multi-channel campaigns 

  • Email tracking Gmail and Outlook extension 

  • Meeting scheduler 

  • Email templates 

  • Detailed analytics 

  • LinkedIn and CRM integrations 

Pricing 

  • Pro $15 (Per User/Month) 

  • Premium $35 (Per User/Month) 

  • Enterprise $65 (Per User/Month) 

  • 14 days free trial available

16. Sendinblue: The Versatile Cold Email Tool for Small Businesses

Sendinblue is an effective cold email software generally used by SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses). This software best suits those with a limited budget for their outreach campaigns. 

Key Features 

  • Email and SMS marketing options 

  • Personalization Custom forms creator 

  • Landing page generator 

  • Real-time statistics 

  • Email heat map 

  • A/B testing 

Pricing 

  • Free version (Unlimited contacts, Up to 300 emails per day) 

  • Lite: $25 (Per Month) 

  • Premium: $65 (Per Month) 

  • Enterprise: (quotation required)

17. Outreach.io: The AI-Powered Email Tool for Sales Teams

Outreach.io is an AI-powered engagement and intelligence platform for sales teams. This email outreach tool uses machine learning to improve sales performance. 

Key Features 

  • Multi-touch sequences 

  • Detailed email analytics 

  • Unique sales cadences 

  • Automated sequences 

  • Integration of all sales tools and CRM activities on one platform 

Pricing 

  • Outreach pricing is unavailable online. 

  • You will have to reach out to their sales team for a quotation.

 

18. Streak: A CRM System Designed for Gmail Users

Streak is customer relationship management (CRM) software for Gmail users. Its main aim is to minimize switching back and forth between your inbox and other tools. This CRM software is a plug-in for Google Chrome that can be accessed through your Gmail account. 

Key Features 

  • Mail merge 

  • Automated emails and follow-ups 

  • In-depth email tracking reports 

  • Gmail Plug-in Task/Activity management 

  • Lead management 

Pricing 

  • Free version available 

  • Pro: $59 (Per User/Month) 

  • Pro+: $89 (Per User/Month) 

  • Enterprise $159 (Per User/Month)

19. Close: The Sales CRM with Cold Emailing Features

Close is a sales CRM tool with cold emailing features. The sales enablement tool has a calling integration that allows you to include cold calls in your campaign. It is an effective tool for personalized cold emails and contains features that support all your sales efforts. 

Key Features 

  • All CRM features 

  • Import your existing inbox into the platform 

  • Automated follow-ups with sequences 

  • Drip automation 

Pricing 

  • Startup: $59/month 

  • Professional: $329/month 

  • Enterprise: $749/month

20. MixMax: The Cold Email Tool for Scheduling Meetings

MixMax is an excellent tool if you regularly book meetings with prospects. Its built-in scheduling feature integrates your calendar into your email, allowing the prospect to book a meeting quickly. MixMax has all the standard features of cold emailing software. 

Key Features 

  • Email tracking 

  • Meeting scheduler 

  • Polls & survey creator 

  • Phone dialer 

  • Templates Integrations

  • Pipedrive

  • Salesforce

  • Google Calendar

  • Giphy

  • SMS

  • Twitter

  • Dropbox, etc 

Pricing 

  • Free Plan $0 SMB $29 (Per User/Month) (Billed Annually) 

  • Growth $49 (Per User/Month) (Billed Annually) 

  • Growth+Salesforce (Per User/Month) (Billed Annually)

21. Vocus.io: The Chrome Extension for Cold Outreach

Vocus.io is an all-in-one solution cold outreach tool for Gmail. This tool works as a Chrome extension and can be used directly from your inbox. 

Key Features 

  • Personalized email campaigns with automated follow-ups 

  • Detailed shareable reports 

  • Message scheduling 

  • Link tracking 

  • CRM integrations 

  • Email tracking 

  • Vocus calendar 

Pricing 

  • Basic $5 (Per Month) 

  • Starter $10 (Per Month) 

  • Professional $20 (Per Month) 

  • 30 days free trial available (no credit card required) 

22. Salesloft: The Cold Email Tool for B2B Teams

Salesloft is a sales engagement platform used by B2B sales teams to manage prospects and track activities across their team. The tool is well-rounded and includes features required for large teams. 

Key Features 

  • Templates with dynamic tags 

  • A/B testing 

  • Email deliverability checks 

  • Gmail and Outlook integration 

  • Automated cadences with engagement triggers 

  • Timezone detection 

  • Email tracking 

Pricing 

Consultation required for quotation

 

23. Uptics.io: The Sales Engagement Tools for Outbound Sales Teams

Uptics.io is a sales engagement platform for businesses looking to streamline their sales processes. It combines advanced email outreach with sales automation and CRM functionalities, making it a tool for sales teams. 

Key Features 

  • Unlimited Email Warm-up and Sending 

  • Import Contacts and Leads Light Sales 

  • CRM Functionality 

  • AI-Powered A/B Testing and Email Writing Assistant 

  • Multi-Channel Outreach

  • Email

  • SMS

  • Call 

  • Advanced Sales Automation

  • Task Management 

Pricing 

Contact the Sales team for pricing

24. Expandi: The LinkedIn Automation Tool for Cold Emailing

Expandi.io is a solution that lets you send your prospecting emails automatically, combined with LinkedIn actions like viewing a profile, sending LinkedIn messages, or adding a new contact. To do so, you can create personalized workflows by adding several end-to-end steps launched by defined triggers or after the time you choose. Furthermore, these workflows can have as many steps as you want. 

Maximizing LinkedIn Outreach: How Expandi.io Bridges LinkedIn and Email for Personalized Campaigns

Pros 

  • Expandi.io can connect with all email service providers (Google, Exchange, Outlook, etc.) 

  • Expandi lets you import contacts directly from LinkedIn and contact them via email. 

  • You can, for instance, extract Contacts via Sales Navigator, Contacts who participated in an event, Contacts who reacted to a survey, Contacts who saw your LinkedIn profile, etc. The goal is then to target them in your personalized email campaigns. 

  • With Expandi.io, you can add customized variables such as your prospect's occupation, first and last names, company, or even custom images to which you can add dynamic texts!

Cons 

  • Expandi's pricing policy is relatively high compared to several competitors. This means that it will not be suitable for all companies. 

  • The free trial is also relatively short to test the solution truly. 

Pricing

  • Expandi.io's pricing plan starts at 99$ per user per month to enjoy the basic features of the solution. 

  • Pricing decreases gradually if you have several users. 

25. Mailmeteor: The Cold Email Tool for Gmail Users

Mailmeteor is a cold email platform that allows you to send massive emails—up to 2,000—daily through Gmail. Thanks to variables that change depending on your content and recipient, you can personalize your email dispatch. 

Thanks to the dedicated menu, these variables can be easily inserted into the body of your email. You can import your contact list with a CSV file, a Google Sheet, or manually, one by one. You can select pre-defined templates or crate my email structure when creating your campaign. 

Pros 

  • Mailmeteor allows you to send hyper-personalized campaigns thanks to Dynamic variables and contact segmentation with the creation of filters directly in your Google Sheets to target the right prospects. 

  • The tool allows you to use aliases for my email addresses when I send Cold Emails from another of your Gmail addresses. 

  • Mailmeteor offers a Google Add-on, enabling you to email your contacts directly from Google Sheets with your contacts' information. 

Cons 

  • Mailmeteor is only compatible with Gmail; if you're using a different email service provider, you won't be able to benefit from Mailmeteor. 

Pricing:

  • The Premium subscription costs 9,99$ monthly to send up to 2000 emails daily with Gmail. 

  • The Pro plan costs 24,99$ per month and allows you to create automated email follow-ups, verify and validate the email addresses already in your base, and detect bounces.

26. Overloop: The Cold Email and LinkedIn Automation Tool

Overloop is a platform that combines Cold Emails with LinkedIn Automation. 

The tools allow you to manage your prospecting strategy through several steps: 

  • Building your database with scraping and data enrichment made directly via LinkedIn 

  • Creation and management of multichannel campaigns

  • Management and tracking of the sales process, from first contact to closing

  • Campaign performance tracking to optimize my strategy. 

Pros 

  • Overloop is an all-in-one tool that increases your response rate and your involvement with your leads. 

  • You can create Cold Email campaigns using the tool while connecting your email service provider to it (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) Your messages can then be personalized with pre-made templates and dynamic variables adapted to your recipients. 

  • Overloop also offers additional services directly integrated with the tool, such as an Email Finder, a Chrome extension with which you can instantly create contacts, integrated templates to tailor your messages to your target audience, automated workflows, and accurate reports that provide optimized performance tracking. 

Cons 

  • Overloop has a single subscription plan that gives access to its services. 

  • The price is relatively high compared to its competitors. 

Pricing 

  • Overloop's monthly subscription plan is 99$ per user to enjoy all of the tool's features. 

  • Free Plan Overloop does not have a free plan but offers a 14-day free trial. 

27. Skylead: The LinkedIn and Cold Email Automation Tool

Skylead is a LinkedIn automation and Cold Email tool. It allows you to send over 500 LinkedIn invitations per week, find and verify your leads' emails, or manage all of your Cold Email prospecting campaigns directly in the tool. With Skylead, you can customize your prospecting campaigns by adding dynamic images and gifs. 

Pros 

  • Skylead is a multi-purpose tool that combines your LinkedIn prospects directly with your Cold Emails. 

  • You can build hyper-personalized "Smart Sequences": for instance, I can add as many actions and steps as I want while defining the time frames between each action of my campaign. 

Cons 

  • Skylead has a single subscription for all of its services. 

  • The price is relatively high compared to its competitors. 

Pricing 

  • Skylead only has the "All-in-one" plan for 100$ per month and per user, including all of the solution's features. 

  • Free Plan Skylead does not have a free plan but does offer a free trial for its All-in-one subscription.

28. SmartReach: The Cold Email Tool for Prospect Management

SmartReach is a platform dedicated to Cold Emails and prospect management. The tool lets you personalize your messages' content and set up automated follow-up campaigns. With SmartReach, you can add merge fields that will enable you to address each of my recipients personally. I can also add predefined text elements such as their company name, occupation, etc. 

Pros 

  • SmartReach is an intelligent solution that pauses when a prospect replies to one of my campaigns; interactions are therefore stopped so that you can start an honest conversation with them. 

  • The tool also automatically determines your recipients' time zones and… adapts the time of email dispatch to ensure they receive it during their working hours! 

  • SmartReach offers A/B Testing to help you determine which campaigns perform best. 

  • SmartReach's tracking tools can help you track your campaigns' real-time performances. 

Cons 

  • To subscribe, you must have at least two members on your team. 

Pricing 

From 29/month per user (for a minimum of 10 users) to benefit from SmartReach's basic features such as email campaign creation, A/B Testing, CRM integration, workflows created with Zapier, etc.

Related Reading

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How Long Should a Cold Email Be
B2B Cold Email Response Rates
How to Improve Email Deliverability
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Best Email Deliverability Tools
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How to Choose the Right Cold Email Tool?

Person Using laptop - Cold Email Marketing Services

Selecting the Right Tool for Cold Emailing

Picking the right cold emailing software is not a one-size-fits-all process. Various options offer: 

  • Distinct features

  • Pricing models

  • Integrations

You are choosing a solution that aligns with your existing processes and business goals. For starters, evaluate how a cold email tool would fit your: 

  • Sales stack

  • Budget

  • Other elements

Analyze Your Existing Tool Stack

If you work alone and don’t use a CRM, then any cold email tool can work for you. If you’re using HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, or any other CRM, I recommend you choose a tool that offers native integration with them. It will save you the trouble and additional costs of manually connecting the tool to your CRM via Zapier or the API. 

The Importance of Integration Types in Cold Email Campaigns: 1-Way vs 2-Way Integrations

I also recommend checking the type of integration: 

  • 1-way integrations (like SalesHandy offers) allow you to pull out contact lists into your cold email software to reach out to them automatically

  • 2-way integrations let you pull data from your CRM and synchronize your cold email activities back to your CRM. 

The best cold email tools automate everything else so you can focus your efforts on high-impact activities instead of redundant manual tasks. 

Must-Have Features of Great Cold Email Software

Cold email tools can help you automate: 

  • Tedious processes

  • Optimize deliverability

  • Track performance

  • Integrate with your existing tools. 

Here are a few essential features to look for in a cold email tool: 

Automation

When sending emails manually, you need to create each message separately. Most cold email software lets you make one message and send it to multiple recipients simultaneously. You can create entire email sequences automatically sent by the cold email tool until your recipient replies. When your recipients unsubscribe, cold email tools handle the unsubscriptions and prevent you from accidentally contacting the unsubscribed recipients again. 

Deliverability 

Cold email tools let you automatically optimize your sending volume. You can configure a campaign with a thousand recipients. Instead of sending the emails at once (which flags you as a potential spammer), they can be sent over time, which protects your deliverability. When you send emails at scale using multiple inboxes, cold email software can automatically spread the sending volume over your email accounts to prevent sending spikes from individual inboxes.

Tracking performance

Cold email tools automatically collect the key metrics for your campaigns: they let you track your: 

  • Replies

  • Opens

  • Clicks

  • Unsubscribes

The best cold email software also gives you high-level insights into your performance; for example, Hunter Campaigns provides reports on the performance of your campaigns, email accounts, and team members over time. 

Integrations

Your cold email tool should let you integrate with your mailbox (whether it’s Gmail, Outlook, or any other email service provider.) This lets you automate sending cold emails from your own email account. It should also integrate with your CRM so that you can easily keep track of the conversations I start with cold emails. For more advanced workflows, you might want to use webhooks or Zapier to send email data anywhere you need it. 

Data collection 

Some cold email tools, like Hunter Campaigns, also offer help with other parts of the outreach process. For example, every Hunter user can access Discover, which helps you find qualified prospects. We also help you find and verify email addresses using our Email Finder and Email Verifier.

Personalization

Instead of manually editing every message you want to send, you can use a cold email tool to create distinct emails using custom attributes. This way, personalized information is injected into your message based on the attributes you have saved for your recipients. 

Check If the Tool Is Within Your Budget

You found the perfect tool but it ends up being too expensive. Sounds familiar? To avoid this problem, I recommend you check the pricing of the tools you’re considering purchasing. Look at the tool's pricing model. Simply put, there are two pricing models:

  • Tools that charge you based on the number of users (or email) you will connect. This is the case for Lemlist and Reply.io. This pricing works excellently if you must send below 50 cold emails daily. If you need to send more, you’ll likely need to connect more email accounts to protect your sender's reputation. In that case, you’ll pay for the additional email accounts, which could cost more than expected.

  • Tools that charge you based on the number of emails you send and active leads. 

Check for Multichannel Options

For some teams, reaching out to prospects via multiple channels, not only email, is essential. If that’s your case, I recommend you check the available options. Some cold email tools let you automate LinkedIn connection requests or emails. Others allow you to reach your prospects via WhatsApp or text message. 

Customer Support and Reputation

Cold outreach can be difficult, especially if you’re starting out. That’s why it's essential to pick a tool that provides professional assistance with any issues. To understand the level of customer support you may expect from a given tool, check the verified reviews on websites like G2 or Trustpilot.

Related Reading

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Mailgun Alternatives
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Mailreef
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Salesforge Alternatives

Start Buying Domains Now and Setup Your Email Infrastructure Today

Inframail revolutionizes cold email infrastructure so you can scale your outreach without technical headaches. Our service stands out from traditional providers by offering unlimited inboxes for a single flat rate. 

With: 

  • Microsoft-backed deliverability

  • Dedicated IP addresses

  • Automated technical setup

It scales its cold email outreach efforts efficiently:

  • Agencies

  • Recruiters

  • SDRs  

Start by buying domains. Then, let our email infrastructure tool set up your cold email infrastructure so you don't have to. 

Automated Technical Setup to Streamline Your Cold Email Marketing Services

With Inframails cold email marketing services, you can skip the confusing technical setup and focus on reaching your goals. Our automated infrastructure setup includes SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, which means you can improve your deliverability without the tedious manual configuration. 

Inframail also provides dedicated email servers for each user to improve your security and reputation. Forget about the usual technical headaches and start sending effective cold emails today. 

When starting a cold email marketing campaign, figuring out the best way to reach your audience can feel overwhelming. After all, the success of cold email outreach hinges on getting the basics right. First, you need to establish a reliable email infrastructure that supports your outreach efforts. Next, you need to ensure that your emails reach your prospects’ inboxes. Only then can you start working on crafting engaging emails that resonate with your audience. In this article, we’ll explore cold email marketing services, which you can use to efficiently deliver high-performing cold email campaigns that generate quality leads and boost client satisfaction using the best tools available. 

One solution that can help you achieve your cold email deliverability goals is Inframail's email infrastructure. This tool can help you build a solid foundation for your cold email outreach to improve deliverability and reach more prospects.

Table of Contents

What Is Cold Email Marketing and Its Importance

Laptop Laying - Cold Email Marketing Services

Cold email is a message you send to a contact with whom you have no prior relationship. Cold emails have a legitimate business purpose and make relevant offers to targeted prospects (which differentiates cold email from spam). There’s little difference between the goal of a cold email vs. cold call, other than the medium. (And that cold emailing is usually a lot easier to do at scale than cold calling.) 

In both cases, you’re: 

  • Reaching out to a stranger

  • Making a personal connection

  • Trying to achieve a business-related result. 

Crafting Cold Emails That Drive Engagement: Best Practices and Examples for Building Connections

And if that result also benefits your potential client, odds are, you’ll find success. 

Examples of cold emails you might send: 

  • A sales email to a CEO or manager on your prospect list you’ve never met when you want to set up a demo. 

  • Email someone in your industry so you can build brand awareness and network with them. 

Mastering Cold Emails: Strategies to Connect with Investors and Unlock Career Opportunities

An email to a potential investor you don’t know to establish the beginning of a relationship. An email to a company hiring (or might one day be hiring) someone in my area of expertise to try to set up an informational interview. What makes a cold email “cold” is that there is no direct connection or relationship between you and the other person. Your email needs to hit their inbox. Something needs to compel them to open it. Then something needs to compel them to reply.

What is Cold Email Marketing?

Cold email marketing is reaching out to prospects you don’t know by email rather than by cold calling, messages on social media, or any other method. The purpose is the same between a cold email and a cold call, but email is much easier to scale for the sender and far less intrusive for recipients. Because of this, prospects are more receptive to a series of cold emails than repeated cold calls. 

Crafting Cost-Effective Cold Email Campaigns: Personalization, Meaningful Content, and Strong CTAs

Like advertising, cold marketing email aims to introduce your company or product to a targeted recipient (or ad viewer) and persuade them to respond or buy. Email outreach is far more cost-effective and often more precisely targeted than advertising. A successful email campaign message combines: 

  • Relevant and accurate personalization

  • Content that is meaningful to the audience

  • A specific call-to-action

Maximizing the Impact of Cold Email Outreach: Beyond Replies to Building Brand Awareness

It’s the right message for the right person at the right time. Beyond the message, reply rates can be increased by technical performance aspects such as list: 

  • Accuracy

  • Email timing

  • Deliverability

  • Testing

  • Sender reputation

Although the immediate goal of cold mail outreach is a response, it’s important to remember that many more people will read your email than respond. Every message you send affects a larger audience than those who reply. Therefore, it informs, creates a lasting impression of your brand, can influence referrals, and sets the foundation for a potential relationship. 

Exploring the Versatility of Cold Email Campaigns: Tailoring Strategies for Diverse Goals

There are many types of cold email campaigns. While B2B sales emails comprise the majority of outreach emails, businesses also use mass emails for: 

  • Public relations

  • Community awareness

  • Brand engagement among consumers

  • Networking and influencing within their sector

  • Persuading other businesses to collaborate with their company

  • Hunting for jobs

  • Recruiting candidates for jobs

  • Building links to boost SEO for specific content. 

Because of this, no two email outreach campaigns are the same.

Is Cold Email Spam?

No. When done right, cold email is not spam. Though a cold message and spam message are both types of unsolicited email, cold emails are: 

  • Targeted

  • Personal 

  • Relevant 

They have a legitimate business purpose and come from a verifiable source. (It’s always good, however, to check with a lawyer if you’re worried about violating the U.S. CAN SPAM Act or other regulations.) 

Building Trust Through Transparency: Crafting Credible Cold Emails with the Right Contact Information

An effective cold email should include: 

  • Your full, real name 

  • Other relevant contact information, such as: 

  • Your website

  • Social profiles

  • Physical business address

  • Phone number 

  • Content personalized to the email recipient 

  • Your reason for contacting them, in plain English 

  • No clickbait in the subject line 

A cold email, when done right, is far from spam. A successful cold email is not vague or general, its grammar and language aren’t questionable, and it allows the recipient to verify the sender via real contact information

Distinguishing Cold Emails from Spam: Key Differences and How to Avoid Common Pitfalls

While spam, on the other hand, often: 

  • Is sent from an email address without much service history (spammers have to change email IDs and services constantly because they get flagged as, well, spammers) 

  • Uses a fake name or company name 

  • Adds clickbait to the subject line 

  • Is copied and pasted (no personalization) 

  • Uses deceptive copy to get you to click on a dubious link 

  • Is often commercial. 

That is, they’re trying to sell you a product in the initial email without any relationship-building first.

Related Reading

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How to Generate B2B Leads
How to Warm Up Email Domain
How Many Emails Can You Send Before Considered Spam
Best Time to Send Cold Emails
How to Cold Email
Best Cold Email Templates B2B
Email Outreach Best Practices
Email Outreach Strategy

25+ Best Tools for Winning Cold Email Marketing Services

Lady Working - Cold Email Marketing Services

1. Inframail: The Cold Email Infrastructure Tool Designed to Help You Send Emails Efficiently

Inframail is an email infrastructure tool designed for cold emailers, like you and me, who need to send lots of emails efficiently. It provides private email infrastructure, so you get your dedicated IP address instead of your shared IPs with Outlook and Gmail. That means you can influence your deliverability because you’re not sharing your IP address with others. If you’re not following the best email-sending practices, you will ruin your server’s reputation. 

With Inframail, you can create unlimited email inboxes at a flat rate, avoiding the high costs of platforms like Google Workspace. It also automates the setup of vital email records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, saving you time and hassle. 

Cost-Effective Solutions for Scaling Email Operations: Comparing Pricing Plans for Google Workspace vs. Inframail

Let’s put this into perspective with a quick example. Say you’re using Google Workspace, where each email inbox costs around $6 monthly. If you need 50 inboxes, that’s $300 a month. With Inframail’s flat rate of $99, you save $201 monthly. Over a year, that saves $2,412—pretty significant, right? 

Simplifying Email Setup: How Inframail Automates DNS Configuration for Effortless Cold Email Campaigns

Inframail starts by simplifying one of the most tedious parts of cold emailing—setting up email inboxes. You know how frustrating it can be to manually configure DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records for each new email domain, right? With Inframail, you don’t have to worry about that. The platform automates the entire setup process, meaning you can get your inboxes up and running in minutes instead of hours. 

Streamlining Domain Setup for Cold Emails: How Inframail Simplifies DKIM, SPF, and DMARC Configuration

Here’s how it goes: You begin by purchasing domains directly from Inframail’s platform. Once you’ve got your domain, the tool automatically sets up all the necessary email records. I’m talking about the technical stuff—DKIM, SPF, and DMARC—that you’d typically need to configure manually. Inframail takes care of this at lightning speed, which is 700% faster than traditional methods. We handle the complex infrastructure setup while you focus on reaching more prospects. 

Scaling Outreach and Recruitment: How Inframail Helps Agencies, Recruiters, and SDRs Build Efficient Email Infrastructure

InfraMail provides a robust email infrastructure without the usual technical headaches and per-inbox costs, whether you're: 

  • An agency looking to scale outreach

  • A recruiter connecting with candidates

  • An SDR driving sales

Start buying domains now and set up your email infrastructure today with our email infrastructure tool.

2. Hunter: The Versatile Cold Email Tool for Finding and Verifying Email Addresses

Hunter is a versatile cold email tool designed to find professional email addresses and verify their accuracy. It also offers features to manage outreach campaigns, making it a comprehensive email prospecting and outreach solution. 

Enhancing Email Campaign Success with Tools for Finding, Verifying, and Managing Outreach

Best for: 

Finding and verifying email addresses. 

Key Features: 

  • Email Finder. Easily find email addresses associated with specific domains. 

  • Email Verifier. Verify the accuracy of email addresses to ensure high deliverability—outreach Campaigns. Set up and manage personalized email campaigns with follow-up sequences. 

  • Chrome Extension. It saves time with a single click and helps gather email structures directly from websites. 

The Pros and Cons of Using Email Finder and Verifier Tools for Outreach Campaigns

Pros 

  • High Accuracy: The email finder and verifier are known for their high accuracy, making it easy to discover and confirm email addresses. 

  • User-Friendly Interface: The platform is intuitive and easy to navigate, reducing the learning curve. 

  • Seamless Integration: Integrates well with various tools and CRMs like HubSpot. 

  • Efficient Campaign Management: The outreach campaigns feature allows you to set up and manage personalized email sequences, improving engagement

Cons 

  • Pricing for High Usage: Costs can escalate if you need more searches and verifications. 

Demo What I Like: I like Hunter’s email finder and verifier's accuracy, which gives me confidence that my emails will reach the right people. The interface is straightforward, and the Chrome extension is super convenient. 

User Experiences and Pricing Insights for Email Finder and Verifier Tools

What Users Say

  • “Solving all of our cold outreach problems.” - Soner A., Product Manager, Small Business 

  • “Contacts are found very easily, which enables me to hit my monthly quota of cold emailing, and because the emails are verified, the response rates I get are pretty high.”

Pricing 

  • The Starter plan starts at $49/month, 

  • Higher tiers are available for more features and usage limits.

3. Woodpecker: The Automated Cold Email Tool That Streamlines Your Email Outreach

Woodpecker is an automated cold email tool that streamlines email outreach efforts. It offers robust automation and detailed analytics to help you manage your campaigns effectively. 

Enhancing Cold Email Campaigns with Automation and AI Tools

Best for: 

Automating follow-up sequences. 

Key Features: 

  • Automated Follow-ups: Automatically send follow-up emails based on the recipient's actions. 

  • A/B Testing: Test different email variations to optimize performance—detailed Analytics. Track open, click-through, and response rates to measure campaign success—

  • AI-Powered Email Warm-Up: Use AI to gradually warm your email accounts, improving deliverability and sender reputation before starting campaigns. 

Evaluating the Pros and Cons of Email Automation Tools for Campaign Optimization

Pros 

  • Robust Automation: The ability to automate follow-up sequences ensures consistent communication with prospects—actionable Insights. Detailed analytics provide insights into campaign performance, helping you optimize your strategy. 

  • Personalization: Advanced personalization options make emails more engaging and effective.

  • User-Friendly Interface: Easy to use, with excellent customer support to help you get the most out of the tool. 

  • Native Integrations: Integrates well with various CRMs and email service providers, including a native Woodpecker-Hubspot integration. 

Cons 

  • Limited Customization: Some users find that email templates have limited customization options.

  • Higher Pricing Tiers: Costs can add up with advanced features and higher usage needs. 

  • Basic Integration: Limited integrations with some third-party applications compared to other tools. 

Why Users Love Woodpecker: Key Features, Pricing, and User Experiences

What I Like: 

The automated follow-up sequences are a game-changer. I like how they save time and ensure every prospect runs smoothly. Woodpecker also has tailored features to support agencies. 

What Users Say: 

  • “Essential Tool for Email Automation” - Destina S., Co-founder, Small Business 

  • “I have been using Woodpecker daily for several years ... In my opinion, it is the best cold mailing tool. The platform is intuitive despite its advanced features. Even new team members can quickly create and manage campaigns on their own … I value that the email sequences are custom - I can plan everything exactly and personalize the sending of subsequent messages.” 

Pricing: 

  • Starting at $29/month 

  • For 500 prospects contacted. 

  • Free 7-day or 50-contact prospect trial.

4. Mailshake: The Intuitive Cold Email Tool for Campaign Management

Mailshake is an intuitive cold email tool designed to help you quickly create and manage email campaigns. It offers a range of features to enhance your email outreach efforts. 

Optimizing Cold Email Campaigns for SMBs: Key Features and Integrations That Drive Success

Best for: 

Small to medium-sized businesses want to streamline their cold email outreach and follow-ups with detailed tracking and analytics. 

Key Features: 

  • Email Templates: Pre-built templates to streamline email creation. 

  • Automated Follow-ups: Set up automatic follow-up emails to boost response rates—detailed Analytics. Analyze campaign performance with detailed metrics. 

  • AI Email Writing (SHAKEspeare): Intelligent email writing assists in crafting compelling emails. 

  • Extensive Integrations: Over 1,000 integrations are available through Zapier, making it adaptable to various workflows. 

Balancing Ease of Use with Advanced Features: Pros and Cons of Email Campaign Automation Tools

Pros 

  • Intuitive Interface: The user-friendly design makes setting up and managing email campaigns easy without extensive training. 

  • Robust Analytics: Provides detailed insights into campaign performance, helping to optimize strategies. 

  • Effective Automation: Automates follow-up sequences, saving time and ensuring consistent communication. 

  • Cost-Effective: Offers affordable pricing plans, making it accessible for small businesses and startups. 

Cons

  • Limited Integrations: There are fewer integration options with other tools compared to some competitors.

  • Template Customization: Limited customization options for email templates may restrict flexibility.

  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features: Some advanced features can take time to master. 

Streamlining Campaign Management and Tracking with Mailshake: Key Features and Pricing

What I Like 

I appreciate Mailshake’s straightforward approach to campaign management. The detailed analytics provided help track email success, making it easier to adjust strategies as needed. The email warm-up feature is handy for ensuring high deliverability rates. 

What Users Say 

“A+++ tool for multiple purposes.” - Jason B., CEO, Small Business. “Mailshake makes it easy for me to personalize cold outreach campaigns and keep track of potential leads. It is also a great tool for onboarding email campaigns and newsletters for existing customers.” 

Pricing: 

  • A starter account costs $29/month

  • No free trial is available

5. Reply: The Comprehensive Cold Email Tool for Multichannel Outreach

Reply is a comprehensive cold email tool that offers multichannel outreach and AI-powered email suggestions to help you engage with prospects more effectively. 

Leveraging Multiple Channels for Effective Cold Outreach

Best for: 

Multichannel outreach. 

Key Features: 

  • Multichannel Outreach: Contact prospects via email, phone, LinkedIn messages, SMS, and WhatsApp

  • AI-Powered Email Suggestions: Use AI to craft compelling email messages tailored to each prospect automatically

  • Detailed Analytics: Monitor campaign performance with in-depth analytics. 

  • Role-Based Access and Permissions: It is essential for larger teams or agencies, making managing different user roles and permissions within the platform more accessible. 

The Role of AI and Personalized Support in Optimizing Cold Outreach Campaigns

Pros 

  • AI Features: Jason AI's integration enhances automation and communication personalization

  • Dedicated Customer Success Manager (CSM): Available for higher plans, ensuring high-touch support and personalized assistance. 

  • Consolidated Inbox: It provides a streamlined view across all sequences, perfect for managing multiple mailboxes efficiently. Features sentiment analysis and customizable tags to prioritize and personalize messaging, ensuring efficient and meaningful interactions

Cons 

  • Steeper Learning Curve for Beginners: New users might find navigating and using all the features challenging. 

  • Pricing can be high: The cost can increase, especially for smaller teams or startups. 

Maximizing Engagement with AI-Powered Email Personalization and Multichannel Outreach

What I Like 

The AI-powered email suggestions are fantastic for crafting effective messages. While it takes some time to get used to all the features, the multichannel outreach capabilities are a big plus. 

What Users Say 

“Reply.io has revolutionized our prospecting efforts!” - Lila K., Director, Sales Operations, Small Business. “Reply.io is an outstanding platform with a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to navigate and set up campaigns, even for those who are not technically inclined. The platform offers a wide range of templates and customization options that enable users to tailor their emails to their target audience, resulting in more engaging and effective campaigns.” 

Pricing: 

  • Starts at $59/month

  • 14-day free trial available

6. Lemlist: The Cold Email Tool for Personalization

Lemlist is an email outreach tool focused on personalization and engagement. It helps businesses create compelling campaigns with personalized images, videos, and custom landing pages to boost response rates. Adding a personal touch to your emails is best—

Enhancing Email Outreach with Personalization, Automation, and Deliverability Boosters

Key Features: 

  • Customizable Personalization: Personalize your emails with personalized images, videos, and custom landing pages, making each message unique and engaging for the recipient. 

  • Automated Follow-ups: Schedule and automate follow-up emails based on recipient actions or specific time intervals to maintain consistent communication and ensure no leads are missed

  • Email Warm-Up: Automatically warm up your email accounts to enhance deliverability and avoid spam filters

Balancing Usability and Advanced Features: How to Maximize Lemlist’s Potential While Managing Its Drawbacks

Pros 

  • User-friendly interface: The interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, which helps users quickly set up and manage campaigns without extensive training 

  • Community and Support: Lemlist has a strong user community, and many users praise Lemlist’s fast, responsive, and helpful customer support

Cons 

  • Setup Challenges: Users say setting up the platform can be difficult, especially configuring email settings. 

  • Limited Email Accounts: Some users find the cap on email accounts (one in basic plans) restrictive

  • Pricing Structure: The pricing might be higher for smaller teams or startups with limited budgets. It can also add up for larger teams or organizations with many users, as additional features and higher tiers have a premium price. 

Boosting Cold Email Engagement with Personalized Images and Creative Outreach

What I Like 

Lemlist is the only tool with a personalized image feature. I’ve found images like these to be especially engaging for recipients, and I enjoy having a creative way to capture attention and help improve email response rates. 

What Users Say 

  • “Outreach to prospects at scale.” - Zach Y., Founder, Small Business 

  • “Lemlist has been my best email tool. … Being able to stand out and be unique with cold email is getting harder and harder, and Lemlist is better than many other tools because it gives you the tools to be unique AND send emails in a slick manner.” 

Pricing: 

  • Starts at $39/month

  • 14-day free trial available.

7. SalesHandy: The Affordable Cold Email Tool with Robust Tracking Features

SalesHandy is an affordable cold email tool with robust email tracking and automated follow-ups. 

Leveraging Advanced Email Analytics and A/B Testing for Optimized Cold Outreach Campaigns

Best for: Tracking email opens and clicks

Key Features: 

  • Sender Rotation: The basic plan includes a sender rotation feature to minimize spam risks, while advanced plans offer optimized delivery across multiple sender accounts for even better results. 

  • Unified Inbox: Centralized inbox for seamless email management. Higher-tier plans include enhanced functionalities, more integrations, and better management tools to streamline communications.

  • Sequence Score: Analyze and score your email sequences based on performance metrics. This will help you identify areas for improvement and optimize your outreach strategy. 

  • A/Z Testing: Go beyond typical A/B testing by creating up to 26 variants, enabling you to determine your audience's most effective email strategies.

Scaling Team Collaboration and Streamlining Email Campaigns with Integrated CRMs and User-Friendly Tools

Pros 

  • Unlimited Team Members: All plans support collaboration by allowing unlimited team members to manage and execute email outreach, enhancing teamwork and productivity. 

  • Cost-Effective: Affordable pricing plans make it accessible for small businesses and startups. 

  • Easy to Use: The user-friendly interface makes setting up and managing campaigns without extensive training easy, reducing the learning curve. 

  • CRM Integration: Native integrations with Pipedrive, Zoho, and HubSpot CRMs. 

Cons 

  • Limited Customization: There are fewer options for customizing email templates than other tools, such as basic integration options. Integration with third-party applications and CRMs is more limited, which might be restrictive for specific workflows. Advanced 

  • Feature Learning Curve: Users say that while basic features are straightforward, mastering advanced functionalities can take time. 

Maximizing Cold Outreach Efficiency with Accurate Email Tracking and Unlimited Accounts

What I Like 

I appreciate SalesHandy’s accuracy in its email tracking features, which allow you to see who opens your emails and when. I also like that users get unlimited email accounts, which most other cold email outreach software charges for. 

What Users Say 

  • “The perfect outreach platform for our business.”​ - Gino T., CEO, Small Business 

  • “SalesHandy checked all the right boxes ... A/B Split Testing, a special email spam filter that removes any spammy words found in your outreach sequences or templates, Custom Domain tracking, and the best part about Saleshandy is that you can add unlimited email accounts to increase scale and volume when it comes to cold outreach.” 

Pricing: 

  • Starts at $36/month. 

  • 7-day free trial available.

8. Apollo: The All-in-One Sales Intelligence Platform

Apollo.io is an “all-in-one sales intelligence platform with tools to help you prospect, engage, and drive more revenue.” The platform combines lead generation, multichannel outreach, and advanced analytics to help businesses streamline their sales processes and improve prospect engagement. 

Maximizing Lead Generation with Multichannel Outreach and AI Insights

Best for: 

Comprehensive lead generation and multichannel sales engagement. 

Key Features: 

  • Lead Generation: Tap into an extensive database of potential leads, complete with detailed contact information and company insights, making it easier to target the right prospects. 

  • Multichannel Outreach: To increase your chances of engagement, connect with prospects across multiple channels, including email, phone, and LinkedIn. 

  • Email Sequences: Automate and personalize your email sequences to nurture leads.

  • AI-Powered Insights: Use AI to gain actionable insights, optimize your outreach strategies, and make data-driven decisions that enhance your campaigns. 

Leveraging Apollo.io’s Extensive Database and Automation for Efficient Lead Generation

Pros 

  • Comprehensive Lead Generation: Apollo.io’s extensive database offers over 275 million contacts and 60 million companies, significantly improving your prospecting efforts by providing a wealth of potential leads. 

  • Data-Driven Decisions: Advanced analytics and AI-powered insights provide a deep understanding of your outreach performance, enabling you to optimize your strategies effectively. 

  • Streamlined Workflow: Integrated features like the sales dialer and meeting scheduler streamline your sales processes, saving time and effort: 

  • Integration and Automation: Seamless integration with LinkedIn, Salesforce, HubSpot, and other CRM systems, along with robust task automation, improves workflow efficiency and data management. 

Cons 

  • Higher Cost: The premium features come at a higher price point, which may be limiting for smaller businesses or startups

  • Complex Setup: Users say the initial setup and integration can be complex and time-consuming. 

  • Learning Curve: The range of features and advanced functionalities require time to master, which can be challenging for new users. 

Streamlining Lead Generation and Outreach: How Apollo.io Combines Prospecting, Email Marketing, and Call Recording into One Platform

What I Like

I appreciate that Apollo combines multiple functionalities (prospecting, email marketing, call recording) in one platform, minimizing the need for various tools. 

What Users Say 

“A Game-Changer for Cold Email Outreach, Especially for Startups.” - Grigorijs K., CEO and Co-founder, Small Business. “Apollo.io is tackling the dual challenges of lead generation and email outreach efficiency. Its robust database has streamlined my lead targeting, ensuring I connect with the most promising prospects. The platform's automated sequences have drastically reduced my time writing emails, allowing me to communicate consistently and timely with potential leads.” 

Pricing: 

  • The paid version starts at $49/month

  • A free version with limited features is available.

9. Outreach: The Premium Cold Email Tool for Multichannel Sales Engagement

Outreach.io is a sales execution platform that offers advanced features for multichannel sales engagement and AI-driven insights. 

Best for: 

Multichannel sales engagement and large enterprises. 

Key Features: 

  • Multichannel Sales Engagement: Engage with prospects through email, phone, and social media. 

  • Smart Email Assist: Draft AI-based emails that respond faster with auto-generated, personalized messages based on prior conversations, allowing reps to review, edit, and send from their inbox. 

  • Smart Sequence Assist: Automatically generate and optimize email sequences, tasks, and calls tailored to specific sales goals and personas, streamlining the content creation process

  • Task Automation: Automate repetitive tasks to increase efficiency and productivity.

Pros 

  • Enhanced Engagement: Multichannel capabilities allow you to connect with prospects through various touchpoints, increasing engagement opportunities. 

  • Strategic Optimization: AI-driven insights provide actionable recommendations to improve your outreach strategies, ensuring you focus on high-value activities

  • Thorough Metrics: Detailed analytics offer deep insights into campaign performance, enabling data-driven decision-making and optimization. 

  • Efficiency Boost: Task automation and integrated tools like the sales dialer and meeting scheduler streamline workflows and save time, enhancing productivity through seamless integration. Strong integration with major CRM systems ensures your data is synchronized and your sales processes are cohesive. 

Cons 

  • High Cost: The premium features come at a higher price point, which might be prohibitive for smaller businesses or startups

  • Complex Setup: The initial setup and integration can be complex and time-consuming, requiring significant implementation effort. 

  • Learning Curve: The advanced features and functionalities require time to master, which might be challenging for new users. 

What I Like 

I like that Outreach.io allows users to reach out to prospects through email, phone, and social media all in one place. The AI provides excellent tips to improve outreach and offers detailed stats to help make data-driven decisions. The automation and integrated tools like the sales dialer and meeting scheduler make everything much more accessible. 

What Users Say 

“Outreach has allowed us to quickly and efficiently engage with prospects from our webinars, whitepapers, and other events. By using software, we guarantee each prospect will get a minimum number of touches (emails or calls).” - Marissa Wajda, ​​Demand Generation Marketing Manager, Notable 

Pricing: 

  • Custom pricing based on needs. 

  • No free trial is available.

10. Instantly: An Affordable Cold Email Tool for Agencies

Instantly is one of the most recent tools we’ve included in our comparison. Raul Kaevand started Instantly in 2021 after noticing that most cold email tools were too expensive and not adapted to the needs of lead generation agencies. 

Maximizing Email Outreach with Inexpensive, Scalable Solutions for Agencies: Exploring Instantly’s UI, Pricing, and Limitations

Strengths 

  • Nice, modern UI and ease of use 

  • Advanced (and exclusive) features such as an advanced email service provider matching option 

  • Pricing works very well for agencies managing a lot of email accounts (they don’t charge per email account) 

  • Support team is responsive and professional They even provide a B2B sales leads database (recent addition, I haven’t tested it yet) 

Weaknesses 

  • Instantly’s pricing structure is limiting if you have a lot of active leads

  • They don’t have any native integrations, so you’ll have to rely on Zapier to sync your data to your CRM. 

Maximizing Email Outreach Efficiency: How Instantly’s Aggressive Pricing and Unlimited Email Accounts Benefit High-Volume Agencies

Pricing 

Instantly is available for other use cases from $37/month and offers a free trial. Their aggressive pricing took the market by surprise. Because of its pricing model and core mission, the product is particularly well-suited for agencies with high sending volume. 

The expert’s opinion: Instantly stands out because you can add an unlimited number of email accounts. This has saved our agency thousands of dollars and increased our client results, as we could send more volume.

11. Quickmail: The Cold Email Tool with Email Account Rotation

Quickmail was started in 2014 to scratch his itch. Since then, the product has become a favorite among email outreach agencies, especially after they pioneered email account rotation (a way to send more emails by spreading the message over multiple email accounts). 

Strengths 

  • Advanced features like email account rotation and detailed reporting 

  • Agency-specific features make reporting to the client and account management easier 

  • Native 2-way HubSpot and Pipedrive integrations According to most reviewers, the product has a nice, modern UI and is easy to use. Plenty of users praise the quality of their support team. 

Weakness 

  • The UI is outdated. 

  • The warmup feature depends on a third-party partner. 

Pricing

Quickmail’s pricing starts at $49/month and includes a free trial. 

The expert’s opinion:

In my opinion, Quickmail’s founder’s enthusiasm is contagious. Their focus on volume made Quickmail one of the best cold email tools for running an agency or sending many cold emails. The expert believes I’ve been using Quickmail for about 18 months. My favorite thing about 

Quickmail is conditional email logic, allowing journey emails to change dynamically based on opens, replies, and custom indicators. I also particularly appreciate their transparent roadmap and list of recent feature releases. Before they had to sunset, their auto email warming was fantastic. Quickmail is particularly popular with agencies, but I also recommend it for individual non-experts (like founders) looking to minimize time spent on outbound emails.

12. Smartlead.ai: A Cold Email Tool for Deliverability

Smartlead started only in 2022 but already has lots of raving fans. That's because the founder, Vaibhav Naibhuri, is focused on serving the needs of a specific audience: lead generation agencies. Smartlead is optimized for people who want to send as many emails as possible, so they must constantly fight the deliverability limitations associated with bulk sending. 

Strengths 

  • Advanced deliverability optimizations feature.

  • Aggressive pricing makes it the cheapest option to scale your outbound strategy.

  • According to user reviews, their customer service is very responsive. Some of their clients also praised their agency management features. 

Weaknesses 

  • On its own, it's not enough – you need other tools to run your outreach 

  • Based on some conversations I had, the tool can be buggy. Still, these issues should slowly be resolved, given how new they are

Pricing 

  • From $39/month. 

  • A free trial is available. 

The expert’s opinion:

In my opinion, Smartlead is a recent player, but they’re worth keeping on your radar as they’re improving quickly, and their product is surprisingly inexpensive. The expert believes I’ve been using Smartlead.ai for eight months, which is fantastic! I am not a techie, but everything is straightforward to learn and understand. If you need help, the team delivers the best service I have ever experienced online! 

“I love the AI tools and the personalization options that are getting better and better. But what I love the most is that they listen to their community, ask us what we want, and release the options we need. I recommend it to everyone who wants to get serious about cold email. There is no better software on the Market. I am on a Mastermind with 220 Cold Emailers, and 80% use Smartlead.” Johannes Fessler, CEO at Rock Solid Lead Generation

13. Gmass: The Cold Email Tool That Operates Inside Gmail

Gmass was started in 2015 by Ajay Joel to allow marketers to send mass emails straight from Google Sheets and Gmail. With 300,000 users on the Chrome store, it might be the most widely used cold email tool. 

Strengths 

  • If you’re using Gmail, you’ll love being able to send your cold emails directly from there.

  • It includes advanced cold email tool options like A/B testing, a spam checker, etc. 

  • A lot of their users praise the reporting options included in the tool. 

Weaknesses 

  • As it’s a complete tool, many users complain that there’s a steep learning curve before they can use Gmass (our tests confirmed this). 

  • The UI and their onboarding content are a bit confusing. 

  • Pricing is generous, and a free plan is available. Gmass is probably interesting if your priority is picking a free cold email software that works in Gmail. 

  • Apart from that, I found it the hardest-to-use tool of our benchmark. You can also check MailMeteor if you want a free tool to send your cold emails from Gmail. 

The expert’s opinion: 

In my journey as an SEO and content manager, I've explored a variety of tools for cold emailing and outreach. Amongst them all, Gmass stood out due to its clean and straightforward interface. I've been using this tool for half a dozen years, and its features have never ceased to impress me. What sets this tool apart is that it operates directly within Gmail. There's no need to switch between web apps; everything you need is in your inbox. 

You can track emails, access analytics, launch mass email campaigns, set up automated follow-ups, and more from within Gmail. Furthermore, this tool allows you to send up to 50 emails in a free mass campaign daily. It's an excellent resource for beginners and intermediate marketers looking to enhance their cold email marketing strategies.

14. Klenty: A Step-by-Step Approach to Email Automation

Klenty is a sales engagement platform designed to automate outreach processes for sales and marketing teams. This tool allows you to send personalized emails with automated follow-up messages at scale. 

Essential Features 

  • A/B Testing Mail merge 

  • Native CRM integrations – Pipedrive, Salesforce, Zoho, and Freshsales 

  • Auto-import from Google Sheets, CRM software, or CSV file 

  • Duplicate and forward email detection 

  • Cadence and team reports 

  • Prospect activity history 

Pricing 

  • Startup $50 Per (Billed Annually) 

  • Growth $70 Per Month (Billed Annually) 

  • Enterprise $100 Per Month (Billed Annually) 

  • 14 days free trial available 

15. Yesware: The Email Tracking Tool for Sales Teams

Yesware is a simple and effective cold emailing tool for email tracking for prospecting teams. It is regarded as the ‘all-in-one toolkit’ for a salesperson. The tool helps automate email campaigns and make your sales prospecting efficient. 

Key Features 

  • Multi-channel campaigns 

  • Email tracking Gmail and Outlook extension 

  • Meeting scheduler 

  • Email templates 

  • Detailed analytics 

  • LinkedIn and CRM integrations 

Pricing 

  • Pro $15 (Per User/Month) 

  • Premium $35 (Per User/Month) 

  • Enterprise $65 (Per User/Month) 

  • 14 days free trial available

16. Sendinblue: The Versatile Cold Email Tool for Small Businesses

Sendinblue is an effective cold email software generally used by SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses). This software best suits those with a limited budget for their outreach campaigns. 

Key Features 

  • Email and SMS marketing options 

  • Personalization Custom forms creator 

  • Landing page generator 

  • Real-time statistics 

  • Email heat map 

  • A/B testing 

Pricing 

  • Free version (Unlimited contacts, Up to 300 emails per day) 

  • Lite: $25 (Per Month) 

  • Premium: $65 (Per Month) 

  • Enterprise: (quotation required)

17. Outreach.io: The AI-Powered Email Tool for Sales Teams

Outreach.io is an AI-powered engagement and intelligence platform for sales teams. This email outreach tool uses machine learning to improve sales performance. 

Key Features 

  • Multi-touch sequences 

  • Detailed email analytics 

  • Unique sales cadences 

  • Automated sequences 

  • Integration of all sales tools and CRM activities on one platform 

Pricing 

  • Outreach pricing is unavailable online. 

  • You will have to reach out to their sales team for a quotation.

 

18. Streak: A CRM System Designed for Gmail Users

Streak is customer relationship management (CRM) software for Gmail users. Its main aim is to minimize switching back and forth between your inbox and other tools. This CRM software is a plug-in for Google Chrome that can be accessed through your Gmail account. 

Key Features 

  • Mail merge 

  • Automated emails and follow-ups 

  • In-depth email tracking reports 

  • Gmail Plug-in Task/Activity management 

  • Lead management 

Pricing 

  • Free version available 

  • Pro: $59 (Per User/Month) 

  • Pro+: $89 (Per User/Month) 

  • Enterprise $159 (Per User/Month)

19. Close: The Sales CRM with Cold Emailing Features

Close is a sales CRM tool with cold emailing features. The sales enablement tool has a calling integration that allows you to include cold calls in your campaign. It is an effective tool for personalized cold emails and contains features that support all your sales efforts. 

Key Features 

  • All CRM features 

  • Import your existing inbox into the platform 

  • Automated follow-ups with sequences 

  • Drip automation 

Pricing 

  • Startup: $59/month 

  • Professional: $329/month 

  • Enterprise: $749/month

20. MixMax: The Cold Email Tool for Scheduling Meetings

MixMax is an excellent tool if you regularly book meetings with prospects. Its built-in scheduling feature integrates your calendar into your email, allowing the prospect to book a meeting quickly. MixMax has all the standard features of cold emailing software. 

Key Features 

  • Email tracking 

  • Meeting scheduler 

  • Polls & survey creator 

  • Phone dialer 

  • Templates Integrations

  • Pipedrive

  • Salesforce

  • Google Calendar

  • Giphy

  • SMS

  • Twitter

  • Dropbox, etc 

Pricing 

  • Free Plan $0 SMB $29 (Per User/Month) (Billed Annually) 

  • Growth $49 (Per User/Month) (Billed Annually) 

  • Growth+Salesforce (Per User/Month) (Billed Annually)

21. Vocus.io: The Chrome Extension for Cold Outreach

Vocus.io is an all-in-one solution cold outreach tool for Gmail. This tool works as a Chrome extension and can be used directly from your inbox. 

Key Features 

  • Personalized email campaigns with automated follow-ups 

  • Detailed shareable reports 

  • Message scheduling 

  • Link tracking 

  • CRM integrations 

  • Email tracking 

  • Vocus calendar 

Pricing 

  • Basic $5 (Per Month) 

  • Starter $10 (Per Month) 

  • Professional $20 (Per Month) 

  • 30 days free trial available (no credit card required) 

22. Salesloft: The Cold Email Tool for B2B Teams

Salesloft is a sales engagement platform used by B2B sales teams to manage prospects and track activities across their team. The tool is well-rounded and includes features required for large teams. 

Key Features 

  • Templates with dynamic tags 

  • A/B testing 

  • Email deliverability checks 

  • Gmail and Outlook integration 

  • Automated cadences with engagement triggers 

  • Timezone detection 

  • Email tracking 

Pricing 

Consultation required for quotation

 

23. Uptics.io: The Sales Engagement Tools for Outbound Sales Teams

Uptics.io is a sales engagement platform for businesses looking to streamline their sales processes. It combines advanced email outreach with sales automation and CRM functionalities, making it a tool for sales teams. 

Key Features 

  • Unlimited Email Warm-up and Sending 

  • Import Contacts and Leads Light Sales 

  • CRM Functionality 

  • AI-Powered A/B Testing and Email Writing Assistant 

  • Multi-Channel Outreach

  • Email

  • SMS

  • Call 

  • Advanced Sales Automation

  • Task Management 

Pricing 

Contact the Sales team for pricing

24. Expandi: The LinkedIn Automation Tool for Cold Emailing

Expandi.io is a solution that lets you send your prospecting emails automatically, combined with LinkedIn actions like viewing a profile, sending LinkedIn messages, or adding a new contact. To do so, you can create personalized workflows by adding several end-to-end steps launched by defined triggers or after the time you choose. Furthermore, these workflows can have as many steps as you want. 

Maximizing LinkedIn Outreach: How Expandi.io Bridges LinkedIn and Email for Personalized Campaigns

Pros 

  • Expandi.io can connect with all email service providers (Google, Exchange, Outlook, etc.) 

  • Expandi lets you import contacts directly from LinkedIn and contact them via email. 

  • You can, for instance, extract Contacts via Sales Navigator, Contacts who participated in an event, Contacts who reacted to a survey, Contacts who saw your LinkedIn profile, etc. The goal is then to target them in your personalized email campaigns. 

  • With Expandi.io, you can add customized variables such as your prospect's occupation, first and last names, company, or even custom images to which you can add dynamic texts!

Cons 

  • Expandi's pricing policy is relatively high compared to several competitors. This means that it will not be suitable for all companies. 

  • The free trial is also relatively short to test the solution truly. 

Pricing

  • Expandi.io's pricing plan starts at 99$ per user per month to enjoy the basic features of the solution. 

  • Pricing decreases gradually if you have several users. 

25. Mailmeteor: The Cold Email Tool for Gmail Users

Mailmeteor is a cold email platform that allows you to send massive emails—up to 2,000—daily through Gmail. Thanks to variables that change depending on your content and recipient, you can personalize your email dispatch. 

Thanks to the dedicated menu, these variables can be easily inserted into the body of your email. You can import your contact list with a CSV file, a Google Sheet, or manually, one by one. You can select pre-defined templates or crate my email structure when creating your campaign. 

Pros 

  • Mailmeteor allows you to send hyper-personalized campaigns thanks to Dynamic variables and contact segmentation with the creation of filters directly in your Google Sheets to target the right prospects. 

  • The tool allows you to use aliases for my email addresses when I send Cold Emails from another of your Gmail addresses. 

  • Mailmeteor offers a Google Add-on, enabling you to email your contacts directly from Google Sheets with your contacts' information. 

Cons 

  • Mailmeteor is only compatible with Gmail; if you're using a different email service provider, you won't be able to benefit from Mailmeteor. 

Pricing:

  • The Premium subscription costs 9,99$ monthly to send up to 2000 emails daily with Gmail. 

  • The Pro plan costs 24,99$ per month and allows you to create automated email follow-ups, verify and validate the email addresses already in your base, and detect bounces.

26. Overloop: The Cold Email and LinkedIn Automation Tool

Overloop is a platform that combines Cold Emails with LinkedIn Automation. 

The tools allow you to manage your prospecting strategy through several steps: 

  • Building your database with scraping and data enrichment made directly via LinkedIn 

  • Creation and management of multichannel campaigns

  • Management and tracking of the sales process, from first contact to closing

  • Campaign performance tracking to optimize my strategy. 

Pros 

  • Overloop is an all-in-one tool that increases your response rate and your involvement with your leads. 

  • You can create Cold Email campaigns using the tool while connecting your email service provider to it (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) Your messages can then be personalized with pre-made templates and dynamic variables adapted to your recipients. 

  • Overloop also offers additional services directly integrated with the tool, such as an Email Finder, a Chrome extension with which you can instantly create contacts, integrated templates to tailor your messages to your target audience, automated workflows, and accurate reports that provide optimized performance tracking. 

Cons 

  • Overloop has a single subscription plan that gives access to its services. 

  • The price is relatively high compared to its competitors. 

Pricing 

  • Overloop's monthly subscription plan is 99$ per user to enjoy all of the tool's features. 

  • Free Plan Overloop does not have a free plan but offers a 14-day free trial. 

27. Skylead: The LinkedIn and Cold Email Automation Tool

Skylead is a LinkedIn automation and Cold Email tool. It allows you to send over 500 LinkedIn invitations per week, find and verify your leads' emails, or manage all of your Cold Email prospecting campaigns directly in the tool. With Skylead, you can customize your prospecting campaigns by adding dynamic images and gifs. 

Pros 

  • Skylead is a multi-purpose tool that combines your LinkedIn prospects directly with your Cold Emails. 

  • You can build hyper-personalized "Smart Sequences": for instance, I can add as many actions and steps as I want while defining the time frames between each action of my campaign. 

Cons 

  • Skylead has a single subscription for all of its services. 

  • The price is relatively high compared to its competitors. 

Pricing 

  • Skylead only has the "All-in-one" plan for 100$ per month and per user, including all of the solution's features. 

  • Free Plan Skylead does not have a free plan but does offer a free trial for its All-in-one subscription.

28. SmartReach: The Cold Email Tool for Prospect Management

SmartReach is a platform dedicated to Cold Emails and prospect management. The tool lets you personalize your messages' content and set up automated follow-up campaigns. With SmartReach, you can add merge fields that will enable you to address each of my recipients personally. I can also add predefined text elements such as their company name, occupation, etc. 

Pros 

  • SmartReach is an intelligent solution that pauses when a prospect replies to one of my campaigns; interactions are therefore stopped so that you can start an honest conversation with them. 

  • The tool also automatically determines your recipients' time zones and… adapts the time of email dispatch to ensure they receive it during their working hours! 

  • SmartReach offers A/B Testing to help you determine which campaigns perform best. 

  • SmartReach's tracking tools can help you track your campaigns' real-time performances. 

Cons 

  • To subscribe, you must have at least two members on your team. 

Pricing 

From 29/month per user (for a minimum of 10 users) to benefit from SmartReach's basic features such as email campaign creation, A/B Testing, CRM integration, workflows created with Zapier, etc.

Related Reading

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How to Choose the Right Cold Email Tool?

Person Using laptop - Cold Email Marketing Services

Selecting the Right Tool for Cold Emailing

Picking the right cold emailing software is not a one-size-fits-all process. Various options offer: 

  • Distinct features

  • Pricing models

  • Integrations

You are choosing a solution that aligns with your existing processes and business goals. For starters, evaluate how a cold email tool would fit your: 

  • Sales stack

  • Budget

  • Other elements

Analyze Your Existing Tool Stack

If you work alone and don’t use a CRM, then any cold email tool can work for you. If you’re using HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, or any other CRM, I recommend you choose a tool that offers native integration with them. It will save you the trouble and additional costs of manually connecting the tool to your CRM via Zapier or the API. 

The Importance of Integration Types in Cold Email Campaigns: 1-Way vs 2-Way Integrations

I also recommend checking the type of integration: 

  • 1-way integrations (like SalesHandy offers) allow you to pull out contact lists into your cold email software to reach out to them automatically

  • 2-way integrations let you pull data from your CRM and synchronize your cold email activities back to your CRM. 

The best cold email tools automate everything else so you can focus your efforts on high-impact activities instead of redundant manual tasks. 

Must-Have Features of Great Cold Email Software

Cold email tools can help you automate: 

  • Tedious processes

  • Optimize deliverability

  • Track performance

  • Integrate with your existing tools. 

Here are a few essential features to look for in a cold email tool: 

Automation

When sending emails manually, you need to create each message separately. Most cold email software lets you make one message and send it to multiple recipients simultaneously. You can create entire email sequences automatically sent by the cold email tool until your recipient replies. When your recipients unsubscribe, cold email tools handle the unsubscriptions and prevent you from accidentally contacting the unsubscribed recipients again. 

Deliverability 

Cold email tools let you automatically optimize your sending volume. You can configure a campaign with a thousand recipients. Instead of sending the emails at once (which flags you as a potential spammer), they can be sent over time, which protects your deliverability. When you send emails at scale using multiple inboxes, cold email software can automatically spread the sending volume over your email accounts to prevent sending spikes from individual inboxes.

Tracking performance

Cold email tools automatically collect the key metrics for your campaigns: they let you track your: 

  • Replies

  • Opens

  • Clicks

  • Unsubscribes

The best cold email software also gives you high-level insights into your performance; for example, Hunter Campaigns provides reports on the performance of your campaigns, email accounts, and team members over time. 

Integrations

Your cold email tool should let you integrate with your mailbox (whether it’s Gmail, Outlook, or any other email service provider.) This lets you automate sending cold emails from your own email account. It should also integrate with your CRM so that you can easily keep track of the conversations I start with cold emails. For more advanced workflows, you might want to use webhooks or Zapier to send email data anywhere you need it. 

Data collection 

Some cold email tools, like Hunter Campaigns, also offer help with other parts of the outreach process. For example, every Hunter user can access Discover, which helps you find qualified prospects. We also help you find and verify email addresses using our Email Finder and Email Verifier.

Personalization

Instead of manually editing every message you want to send, you can use a cold email tool to create distinct emails using custom attributes. This way, personalized information is injected into your message based on the attributes you have saved for your recipients. 

Check If the Tool Is Within Your Budget

You found the perfect tool but it ends up being too expensive. Sounds familiar? To avoid this problem, I recommend you check the pricing of the tools you’re considering purchasing. Look at the tool's pricing model. Simply put, there are two pricing models:

  • Tools that charge you based on the number of users (or email) you will connect. This is the case for Lemlist and Reply.io. This pricing works excellently if you must send below 50 cold emails daily. If you need to send more, you’ll likely need to connect more email accounts to protect your sender's reputation. In that case, you’ll pay for the additional email accounts, which could cost more than expected.

  • Tools that charge you based on the number of emails you send and active leads. 

Check for Multichannel Options

For some teams, reaching out to prospects via multiple channels, not only email, is essential. If that’s your case, I recommend you check the available options. Some cold email tools let you automate LinkedIn connection requests or emails. Others allow you to reach your prospects via WhatsApp or text message. 

Customer Support and Reputation

Cold outreach can be difficult, especially if you’re starting out. That’s why it's essential to pick a tool that provides professional assistance with any issues. To understand the level of customer support you may expect from a given tool, check the verified reviews on websites like G2 or Trustpilot.

Related Reading

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Mailgun Alternatives
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Mailreef
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Start Buying Domains Now and Setup Your Email Infrastructure Today

Inframail revolutionizes cold email infrastructure so you can scale your outreach without technical headaches. Our service stands out from traditional providers by offering unlimited inboxes for a single flat rate. 

With: 

  • Microsoft-backed deliverability

  • Dedicated IP addresses

  • Automated technical setup

It scales its cold email outreach efforts efficiently:

  • Agencies

  • Recruiters

  • SDRs  

Start by buying domains. Then, let our email infrastructure tool set up your cold email infrastructure so you don't have to. 

Automated Technical Setup to Streamline Your Cold Email Marketing Services

With Inframails cold email marketing services, you can skip the confusing technical setup and focus on reaching your goals. Our automated infrastructure setup includes SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, which means you can improve your deliverability without the tedious manual configuration. 

Inframail also provides dedicated email servers for each user to improve your security and reputation. Forget about the usual technical headaches and start sending effective cold emails today. 

When starting a cold email marketing campaign, figuring out the best way to reach your audience can feel overwhelming. After all, the success of cold email outreach hinges on getting the basics right. First, you need to establish a reliable email infrastructure that supports your outreach efforts. Next, you need to ensure that your emails reach your prospects’ inboxes. Only then can you start working on crafting engaging emails that resonate with your audience. In this article, we’ll explore cold email marketing services, which you can use to efficiently deliver high-performing cold email campaigns that generate quality leads and boost client satisfaction using the best tools available. 

One solution that can help you achieve your cold email deliverability goals is Inframail's email infrastructure. This tool can help you build a solid foundation for your cold email outreach to improve deliverability and reach more prospects.

Table of Contents

What Is Cold Email Marketing and Its Importance

Laptop Laying - Cold Email Marketing Services

Cold email is a message you send to a contact with whom you have no prior relationship. Cold emails have a legitimate business purpose and make relevant offers to targeted prospects (which differentiates cold email from spam). There’s little difference between the goal of a cold email vs. cold call, other than the medium. (And that cold emailing is usually a lot easier to do at scale than cold calling.) 

In both cases, you’re: 

  • Reaching out to a stranger

  • Making a personal connection

  • Trying to achieve a business-related result. 

Crafting Cold Emails That Drive Engagement: Best Practices and Examples for Building Connections

And if that result also benefits your potential client, odds are, you’ll find success. 

Examples of cold emails you might send: 

  • A sales email to a CEO or manager on your prospect list you’ve never met when you want to set up a demo. 

  • Email someone in your industry so you can build brand awareness and network with them. 

Mastering Cold Emails: Strategies to Connect with Investors and Unlock Career Opportunities

An email to a potential investor you don’t know to establish the beginning of a relationship. An email to a company hiring (or might one day be hiring) someone in my area of expertise to try to set up an informational interview. What makes a cold email “cold” is that there is no direct connection or relationship between you and the other person. Your email needs to hit their inbox. Something needs to compel them to open it. Then something needs to compel them to reply.

What is Cold Email Marketing?

Cold email marketing is reaching out to prospects you don’t know by email rather than by cold calling, messages on social media, or any other method. The purpose is the same between a cold email and a cold call, but email is much easier to scale for the sender and far less intrusive for recipients. Because of this, prospects are more receptive to a series of cold emails than repeated cold calls. 

Crafting Cost-Effective Cold Email Campaigns: Personalization, Meaningful Content, and Strong CTAs

Like advertising, cold marketing email aims to introduce your company or product to a targeted recipient (or ad viewer) and persuade them to respond or buy. Email outreach is far more cost-effective and often more precisely targeted than advertising. A successful email campaign message combines: 

  • Relevant and accurate personalization

  • Content that is meaningful to the audience

  • A specific call-to-action

Maximizing the Impact of Cold Email Outreach: Beyond Replies to Building Brand Awareness

It’s the right message for the right person at the right time. Beyond the message, reply rates can be increased by technical performance aspects such as list: 

  • Accuracy

  • Email timing

  • Deliverability

  • Testing

  • Sender reputation

Although the immediate goal of cold mail outreach is a response, it’s important to remember that many more people will read your email than respond. Every message you send affects a larger audience than those who reply. Therefore, it informs, creates a lasting impression of your brand, can influence referrals, and sets the foundation for a potential relationship. 

Exploring the Versatility of Cold Email Campaigns: Tailoring Strategies for Diverse Goals

There are many types of cold email campaigns. While B2B sales emails comprise the majority of outreach emails, businesses also use mass emails for: 

  • Public relations

  • Community awareness

  • Brand engagement among consumers

  • Networking and influencing within their sector

  • Persuading other businesses to collaborate with their company

  • Hunting for jobs

  • Recruiting candidates for jobs

  • Building links to boost SEO for specific content. 

Because of this, no two email outreach campaigns are the same.

Is Cold Email Spam?

No. When done right, cold email is not spam. Though a cold message and spam message are both types of unsolicited email, cold emails are: 

  • Targeted

  • Personal 

  • Relevant 

They have a legitimate business purpose and come from a verifiable source. (It’s always good, however, to check with a lawyer if you’re worried about violating the U.S. CAN SPAM Act or other regulations.) 

Building Trust Through Transparency: Crafting Credible Cold Emails with the Right Contact Information

An effective cold email should include: 

  • Your full, real name 

  • Other relevant contact information, such as: 

  • Your website

  • Social profiles

  • Physical business address

  • Phone number 

  • Content personalized to the email recipient 

  • Your reason for contacting them, in plain English 

  • No clickbait in the subject line 

A cold email, when done right, is far from spam. A successful cold email is not vague or general, its grammar and language aren’t questionable, and it allows the recipient to verify the sender via real contact information

Distinguishing Cold Emails from Spam: Key Differences and How to Avoid Common Pitfalls

While spam, on the other hand, often: 

  • Is sent from an email address without much service history (spammers have to change email IDs and services constantly because they get flagged as, well, spammers) 

  • Uses a fake name or company name 

  • Adds clickbait to the subject line 

  • Is copied and pasted (no personalization) 

  • Uses deceptive copy to get you to click on a dubious link 

  • Is often commercial. 

That is, they’re trying to sell you a product in the initial email without any relationship-building first.

Related Reading

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How to Generate B2B Leads
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How Many Emails Can You Send Before Considered Spam
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Email Outreach Best Practices
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25+ Best Tools for Winning Cold Email Marketing Services

Lady Working - Cold Email Marketing Services

1. Inframail: The Cold Email Infrastructure Tool Designed to Help You Send Emails Efficiently

Inframail is an email infrastructure tool designed for cold emailers, like you and me, who need to send lots of emails efficiently. It provides private email infrastructure, so you get your dedicated IP address instead of your shared IPs with Outlook and Gmail. That means you can influence your deliverability because you’re not sharing your IP address with others. If you’re not following the best email-sending practices, you will ruin your server’s reputation. 

With Inframail, you can create unlimited email inboxes at a flat rate, avoiding the high costs of platforms like Google Workspace. It also automates the setup of vital email records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, saving you time and hassle. 

Cost-Effective Solutions for Scaling Email Operations: Comparing Pricing Plans for Google Workspace vs. Inframail

Let’s put this into perspective with a quick example. Say you’re using Google Workspace, where each email inbox costs around $6 monthly. If you need 50 inboxes, that’s $300 a month. With Inframail’s flat rate of $99, you save $201 monthly. Over a year, that saves $2,412—pretty significant, right? 

Simplifying Email Setup: How Inframail Automates DNS Configuration for Effortless Cold Email Campaigns

Inframail starts by simplifying one of the most tedious parts of cold emailing—setting up email inboxes. You know how frustrating it can be to manually configure DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records for each new email domain, right? With Inframail, you don’t have to worry about that. The platform automates the entire setup process, meaning you can get your inboxes up and running in minutes instead of hours. 

Streamlining Domain Setup for Cold Emails: How Inframail Simplifies DKIM, SPF, and DMARC Configuration

Here’s how it goes: You begin by purchasing domains directly from Inframail’s platform. Once you’ve got your domain, the tool automatically sets up all the necessary email records. I’m talking about the technical stuff—DKIM, SPF, and DMARC—that you’d typically need to configure manually. Inframail takes care of this at lightning speed, which is 700% faster than traditional methods. We handle the complex infrastructure setup while you focus on reaching more prospects. 

Scaling Outreach and Recruitment: How Inframail Helps Agencies, Recruiters, and SDRs Build Efficient Email Infrastructure

InfraMail provides a robust email infrastructure without the usual technical headaches and per-inbox costs, whether you're: 

  • An agency looking to scale outreach

  • A recruiter connecting with candidates

  • An SDR driving sales

Start buying domains now and set up your email infrastructure today with our email infrastructure tool.

2. Hunter: The Versatile Cold Email Tool for Finding and Verifying Email Addresses

Hunter is a versatile cold email tool designed to find professional email addresses and verify their accuracy. It also offers features to manage outreach campaigns, making it a comprehensive email prospecting and outreach solution. 

Enhancing Email Campaign Success with Tools for Finding, Verifying, and Managing Outreach

Best for: 

Finding and verifying email addresses. 

Key Features: 

  • Email Finder. Easily find email addresses associated with specific domains. 

  • Email Verifier. Verify the accuracy of email addresses to ensure high deliverability—outreach Campaigns. Set up and manage personalized email campaigns with follow-up sequences. 

  • Chrome Extension. It saves time with a single click and helps gather email structures directly from websites. 

The Pros and Cons of Using Email Finder and Verifier Tools for Outreach Campaigns

Pros 

  • High Accuracy: The email finder and verifier are known for their high accuracy, making it easy to discover and confirm email addresses. 

  • User-Friendly Interface: The platform is intuitive and easy to navigate, reducing the learning curve. 

  • Seamless Integration: Integrates well with various tools and CRMs like HubSpot. 

  • Efficient Campaign Management: The outreach campaigns feature allows you to set up and manage personalized email sequences, improving engagement

Cons 

  • Pricing for High Usage: Costs can escalate if you need more searches and verifications. 

Demo What I Like: I like Hunter’s email finder and verifier's accuracy, which gives me confidence that my emails will reach the right people. The interface is straightforward, and the Chrome extension is super convenient. 

User Experiences and Pricing Insights for Email Finder and Verifier Tools

What Users Say

  • “Solving all of our cold outreach problems.” - Soner A., Product Manager, Small Business 

  • “Contacts are found very easily, which enables me to hit my monthly quota of cold emailing, and because the emails are verified, the response rates I get are pretty high.”

Pricing 

  • The Starter plan starts at $49/month, 

  • Higher tiers are available for more features and usage limits.

3. Woodpecker: The Automated Cold Email Tool That Streamlines Your Email Outreach

Woodpecker is an automated cold email tool that streamlines email outreach efforts. It offers robust automation and detailed analytics to help you manage your campaigns effectively. 

Enhancing Cold Email Campaigns with Automation and AI Tools

Best for: 

Automating follow-up sequences. 

Key Features: 

  • Automated Follow-ups: Automatically send follow-up emails based on the recipient's actions. 

  • A/B Testing: Test different email variations to optimize performance—detailed Analytics. Track open, click-through, and response rates to measure campaign success—

  • AI-Powered Email Warm-Up: Use AI to gradually warm your email accounts, improving deliverability and sender reputation before starting campaigns. 

Evaluating the Pros and Cons of Email Automation Tools for Campaign Optimization

Pros 

  • Robust Automation: The ability to automate follow-up sequences ensures consistent communication with prospects—actionable Insights. Detailed analytics provide insights into campaign performance, helping you optimize your strategy. 

  • Personalization: Advanced personalization options make emails more engaging and effective.

  • User-Friendly Interface: Easy to use, with excellent customer support to help you get the most out of the tool. 

  • Native Integrations: Integrates well with various CRMs and email service providers, including a native Woodpecker-Hubspot integration. 

Cons 

  • Limited Customization: Some users find that email templates have limited customization options.

  • Higher Pricing Tiers: Costs can add up with advanced features and higher usage needs. 

  • Basic Integration: Limited integrations with some third-party applications compared to other tools. 

Why Users Love Woodpecker: Key Features, Pricing, and User Experiences

What I Like: 

The automated follow-up sequences are a game-changer. I like how they save time and ensure every prospect runs smoothly. Woodpecker also has tailored features to support agencies. 

What Users Say: 

  • “Essential Tool for Email Automation” - Destina S., Co-founder, Small Business 

  • “I have been using Woodpecker daily for several years ... In my opinion, it is the best cold mailing tool. The platform is intuitive despite its advanced features. Even new team members can quickly create and manage campaigns on their own … I value that the email sequences are custom - I can plan everything exactly and personalize the sending of subsequent messages.” 

Pricing: 

  • Starting at $29/month 

  • For 500 prospects contacted. 

  • Free 7-day or 50-contact prospect trial.

4. Mailshake: The Intuitive Cold Email Tool for Campaign Management

Mailshake is an intuitive cold email tool designed to help you quickly create and manage email campaigns. It offers a range of features to enhance your email outreach efforts. 

Optimizing Cold Email Campaigns for SMBs: Key Features and Integrations That Drive Success

Best for: 

Small to medium-sized businesses want to streamline their cold email outreach and follow-ups with detailed tracking and analytics. 

Key Features: 

  • Email Templates: Pre-built templates to streamline email creation. 

  • Automated Follow-ups: Set up automatic follow-up emails to boost response rates—detailed Analytics. Analyze campaign performance with detailed metrics. 

  • AI Email Writing (SHAKEspeare): Intelligent email writing assists in crafting compelling emails. 

  • Extensive Integrations: Over 1,000 integrations are available through Zapier, making it adaptable to various workflows. 

Balancing Ease of Use with Advanced Features: Pros and Cons of Email Campaign Automation Tools

Pros 

  • Intuitive Interface: The user-friendly design makes setting up and managing email campaigns easy without extensive training. 

  • Robust Analytics: Provides detailed insights into campaign performance, helping to optimize strategies. 

  • Effective Automation: Automates follow-up sequences, saving time and ensuring consistent communication. 

  • Cost-Effective: Offers affordable pricing plans, making it accessible for small businesses and startups. 

Cons

  • Limited Integrations: There are fewer integration options with other tools compared to some competitors.

  • Template Customization: Limited customization options for email templates may restrict flexibility.

  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features: Some advanced features can take time to master. 

Streamlining Campaign Management and Tracking with Mailshake: Key Features and Pricing

What I Like 

I appreciate Mailshake’s straightforward approach to campaign management. The detailed analytics provided help track email success, making it easier to adjust strategies as needed. The email warm-up feature is handy for ensuring high deliverability rates. 

What Users Say 

“A+++ tool for multiple purposes.” - Jason B., CEO, Small Business. “Mailshake makes it easy for me to personalize cold outreach campaigns and keep track of potential leads. It is also a great tool for onboarding email campaigns and newsletters for existing customers.” 

Pricing: 

  • A starter account costs $29/month

  • No free trial is available

5. Reply: The Comprehensive Cold Email Tool for Multichannel Outreach

Reply is a comprehensive cold email tool that offers multichannel outreach and AI-powered email suggestions to help you engage with prospects more effectively. 

Leveraging Multiple Channels for Effective Cold Outreach

Best for: 

Multichannel outreach. 

Key Features: 

  • Multichannel Outreach: Contact prospects via email, phone, LinkedIn messages, SMS, and WhatsApp

  • AI-Powered Email Suggestions: Use AI to craft compelling email messages tailored to each prospect automatically

  • Detailed Analytics: Monitor campaign performance with in-depth analytics. 

  • Role-Based Access and Permissions: It is essential for larger teams or agencies, making managing different user roles and permissions within the platform more accessible. 

The Role of AI and Personalized Support in Optimizing Cold Outreach Campaigns

Pros 

  • AI Features: Jason AI's integration enhances automation and communication personalization

  • Dedicated Customer Success Manager (CSM): Available for higher plans, ensuring high-touch support and personalized assistance. 

  • Consolidated Inbox: It provides a streamlined view across all sequences, perfect for managing multiple mailboxes efficiently. Features sentiment analysis and customizable tags to prioritize and personalize messaging, ensuring efficient and meaningful interactions

Cons 

  • Steeper Learning Curve for Beginners: New users might find navigating and using all the features challenging. 

  • Pricing can be high: The cost can increase, especially for smaller teams or startups. 

Maximizing Engagement with AI-Powered Email Personalization and Multichannel Outreach

What I Like 

The AI-powered email suggestions are fantastic for crafting effective messages. While it takes some time to get used to all the features, the multichannel outreach capabilities are a big plus. 

What Users Say 

“Reply.io has revolutionized our prospecting efforts!” - Lila K., Director, Sales Operations, Small Business. “Reply.io is an outstanding platform with a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to navigate and set up campaigns, even for those who are not technically inclined. The platform offers a wide range of templates and customization options that enable users to tailor their emails to their target audience, resulting in more engaging and effective campaigns.” 

Pricing: 

  • Starts at $59/month

  • 14-day free trial available

6. Lemlist: The Cold Email Tool for Personalization

Lemlist is an email outreach tool focused on personalization and engagement. It helps businesses create compelling campaigns with personalized images, videos, and custom landing pages to boost response rates. Adding a personal touch to your emails is best—

Enhancing Email Outreach with Personalization, Automation, and Deliverability Boosters

Key Features: 

  • Customizable Personalization: Personalize your emails with personalized images, videos, and custom landing pages, making each message unique and engaging for the recipient. 

  • Automated Follow-ups: Schedule and automate follow-up emails based on recipient actions or specific time intervals to maintain consistent communication and ensure no leads are missed

  • Email Warm-Up: Automatically warm up your email accounts to enhance deliverability and avoid spam filters

Balancing Usability and Advanced Features: How to Maximize Lemlist’s Potential While Managing Its Drawbacks

Pros 

  • User-friendly interface: The interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, which helps users quickly set up and manage campaigns without extensive training 

  • Community and Support: Lemlist has a strong user community, and many users praise Lemlist’s fast, responsive, and helpful customer support

Cons 

  • Setup Challenges: Users say setting up the platform can be difficult, especially configuring email settings. 

  • Limited Email Accounts: Some users find the cap on email accounts (one in basic plans) restrictive

  • Pricing Structure: The pricing might be higher for smaller teams or startups with limited budgets. It can also add up for larger teams or organizations with many users, as additional features and higher tiers have a premium price. 

Boosting Cold Email Engagement with Personalized Images and Creative Outreach

What I Like 

Lemlist is the only tool with a personalized image feature. I’ve found images like these to be especially engaging for recipients, and I enjoy having a creative way to capture attention and help improve email response rates. 

What Users Say 

  • “Outreach to prospects at scale.” - Zach Y., Founder, Small Business 

  • “Lemlist has been my best email tool. … Being able to stand out and be unique with cold email is getting harder and harder, and Lemlist is better than many other tools because it gives you the tools to be unique AND send emails in a slick manner.” 

Pricing: 

  • Starts at $39/month

  • 14-day free trial available.

7. SalesHandy: The Affordable Cold Email Tool with Robust Tracking Features

SalesHandy is an affordable cold email tool with robust email tracking and automated follow-ups. 

Leveraging Advanced Email Analytics and A/B Testing for Optimized Cold Outreach Campaigns

Best for: Tracking email opens and clicks

Key Features: 

  • Sender Rotation: The basic plan includes a sender rotation feature to minimize spam risks, while advanced plans offer optimized delivery across multiple sender accounts for even better results. 

  • Unified Inbox: Centralized inbox for seamless email management. Higher-tier plans include enhanced functionalities, more integrations, and better management tools to streamline communications.

  • Sequence Score: Analyze and score your email sequences based on performance metrics. This will help you identify areas for improvement and optimize your outreach strategy. 

  • A/Z Testing: Go beyond typical A/B testing by creating up to 26 variants, enabling you to determine your audience's most effective email strategies.

Scaling Team Collaboration and Streamlining Email Campaigns with Integrated CRMs and User-Friendly Tools

Pros 

  • Unlimited Team Members: All plans support collaboration by allowing unlimited team members to manage and execute email outreach, enhancing teamwork and productivity. 

  • Cost-Effective: Affordable pricing plans make it accessible for small businesses and startups. 

  • Easy to Use: The user-friendly interface makes setting up and managing campaigns without extensive training easy, reducing the learning curve. 

  • CRM Integration: Native integrations with Pipedrive, Zoho, and HubSpot CRMs. 

Cons 

  • Limited Customization: There are fewer options for customizing email templates than other tools, such as basic integration options. Integration with third-party applications and CRMs is more limited, which might be restrictive for specific workflows. Advanced 

  • Feature Learning Curve: Users say that while basic features are straightforward, mastering advanced functionalities can take time. 

Maximizing Cold Outreach Efficiency with Accurate Email Tracking and Unlimited Accounts

What I Like 

I appreciate SalesHandy’s accuracy in its email tracking features, which allow you to see who opens your emails and when. I also like that users get unlimited email accounts, which most other cold email outreach software charges for. 

What Users Say 

  • “The perfect outreach platform for our business.”​ - Gino T., CEO, Small Business 

  • “SalesHandy checked all the right boxes ... A/B Split Testing, a special email spam filter that removes any spammy words found in your outreach sequences or templates, Custom Domain tracking, and the best part about Saleshandy is that you can add unlimited email accounts to increase scale and volume when it comes to cold outreach.” 

Pricing: 

  • Starts at $36/month. 

  • 7-day free trial available.

8. Apollo: The All-in-One Sales Intelligence Platform

Apollo.io is an “all-in-one sales intelligence platform with tools to help you prospect, engage, and drive more revenue.” The platform combines lead generation, multichannel outreach, and advanced analytics to help businesses streamline their sales processes and improve prospect engagement. 

Maximizing Lead Generation with Multichannel Outreach and AI Insights

Best for: 

Comprehensive lead generation and multichannel sales engagement. 

Key Features: 

  • Lead Generation: Tap into an extensive database of potential leads, complete with detailed contact information and company insights, making it easier to target the right prospects. 

  • Multichannel Outreach: To increase your chances of engagement, connect with prospects across multiple channels, including email, phone, and LinkedIn. 

  • Email Sequences: Automate and personalize your email sequences to nurture leads.

  • AI-Powered Insights: Use AI to gain actionable insights, optimize your outreach strategies, and make data-driven decisions that enhance your campaigns. 

Leveraging Apollo.io’s Extensive Database and Automation for Efficient Lead Generation

Pros 

  • Comprehensive Lead Generation: Apollo.io’s extensive database offers over 275 million contacts and 60 million companies, significantly improving your prospecting efforts by providing a wealth of potential leads. 

  • Data-Driven Decisions: Advanced analytics and AI-powered insights provide a deep understanding of your outreach performance, enabling you to optimize your strategies effectively. 

  • Streamlined Workflow: Integrated features like the sales dialer and meeting scheduler streamline your sales processes, saving time and effort: 

  • Integration and Automation: Seamless integration with LinkedIn, Salesforce, HubSpot, and other CRM systems, along with robust task automation, improves workflow efficiency and data management. 

Cons 

  • Higher Cost: The premium features come at a higher price point, which may be limiting for smaller businesses or startups

  • Complex Setup: Users say the initial setup and integration can be complex and time-consuming. 

  • Learning Curve: The range of features and advanced functionalities require time to master, which can be challenging for new users. 

Streamlining Lead Generation and Outreach: How Apollo.io Combines Prospecting, Email Marketing, and Call Recording into One Platform

What I Like

I appreciate that Apollo combines multiple functionalities (prospecting, email marketing, call recording) in one platform, minimizing the need for various tools. 

What Users Say 

“A Game-Changer for Cold Email Outreach, Especially for Startups.” - Grigorijs K., CEO and Co-founder, Small Business. “Apollo.io is tackling the dual challenges of lead generation and email outreach efficiency. Its robust database has streamlined my lead targeting, ensuring I connect with the most promising prospects. The platform's automated sequences have drastically reduced my time writing emails, allowing me to communicate consistently and timely with potential leads.” 

Pricing: 

  • The paid version starts at $49/month

  • A free version with limited features is available.

9. Outreach: The Premium Cold Email Tool for Multichannel Sales Engagement

Outreach.io is a sales execution platform that offers advanced features for multichannel sales engagement and AI-driven insights. 

Best for: 

Multichannel sales engagement and large enterprises. 

Key Features: 

  • Multichannel Sales Engagement: Engage with prospects through email, phone, and social media. 

  • Smart Email Assist: Draft AI-based emails that respond faster with auto-generated, personalized messages based on prior conversations, allowing reps to review, edit, and send from their inbox. 

  • Smart Sequence Assist: Automatically generate and optimize email sequences, tasks, and calls tailored to specific sales goals and personas, streamlining the content creation process

  • Task Automation: Automate repetitive tasks to increase efficiency and productivity.

Pros 

  • Enhanced Engagement: Multichannel capabilities allow you to connect with prospects through various touchpoints, increasing engagement opportunities. 

  • Strategic Optimization: AI-driven insights provide actionable recommendations to improve your outreach strategies, ensuring you focus on high-value activities

  • Thorough Metrics: Detailed analytics offer deep insights into campaign performance, enabling data-driven decision-making and optimization. 

  • Efficiency Boost: Task automation and integrated tools like the sales dialer and meeting scheduler streamline workflows and save time, enhancing productivity through seamless integration. Strong integration with major CRM systems ensures your data is synchronized and your sales processes are cohesive. 

Cons 

  • High Cost: The premium features come at a higher price point, which might be prohibitive for smaller businesses or startups

  • Complex Setup: The initial setup and integration can be complex and time-consuming, requiring significant implementation effort. 

  • Learning Curve: The advanced features and functionalities require time to master, which might be challenging for new users. 

What I Like 

I like that Outreach.io allows users to reach out to prospects through email, phone, and social media all in one place. The AI provides excellent tips to improve outreach and offers detailed stats to help make data-driven decisions. The automation and integrated tools like the sales dialer and meeting scheduler make everything much more accessible. 

What Users Say 

“Outreach has allowed us to quickly and efficiently engage with prospects from our webinars, whitepapers, and other events. By using software, we guarantee each prospect will get a minimum number of touches (emails or calls).” - Marissa Wajda, ​​Demand Generation Marketing Manager, Notable 

Pricing: 

  • Custom pricing based on needs. 

  • No free trial is available.

10. Instantly: An Affordable Cold Email Tool for Agencies

Instantly is one of the most recent tools we’ve included in our comparison. Raul Kaevand started Instantly in 2021 after noticing that most cold email tools were too expensive and not adapted to the needs of lead generation agencies. 

Maximizing Email Outreach with Inexpensive, Scalable Solutions for Agencies: Exploring Instantly’s UI, Pricing, and Limitations

Strengths 

  • Nice, modern UI and ease of use 

  • Advanced (and exclusive) features such as an advanced email service provider matching option 

  • Pricing works very well for agencies managing a lot of email accounts (they don’t charge per email account) 

  • Support team is responsive and professional They even provide a B2B sales leads database (recent addition, I haven’t tested it yet) 

Weaknesses 

  • Instantly’s pricing structure is limiting if you have a lot of active leads

  • They don’t have any native integrations, so you’ll have to rely on Zapier to sync your data to your CRM. 

Maximizing Email Outreach Efficiency: How Instantly’s Aggressive Pricing and Unlimited Email Accounts Benefit High-Volume Agencies

Pricing 

Instantly is available for other use cases from $37/month and offers a free trial. Their aggressive pricing took the market by surprise. Because of its pricing model and core mission, the product is particularly well-suited for agencies with high sending volume. 

The expert’s opinion: Instantly stands out because you can add an unlimited number of email accounts. This has saved our agency thousands of dollars and increased our client results, as we could send more volume.

11. Quickmail: The Cold Email Tool with Email Account Rotation

Quickmail was started in 2014 to scratch his itch. Since then, the product has become a favorite among email outreach agencies, especially after they pioneered email account rotation (a way to send more emails by spreading the message over multiple email accounts). 

Strengths 

  • Advanced features like email account rotation and detailed reporting 

  • Agency-specific features make reporting to the client and account management easier 

  • Native 2-way HubSpot and Pipedrive integrations According to most reviewers, the product has a nice, modern UI and is easy to use. Plenty of users praise the quality of their support team. 

Weakness 

  • The UI is outdated. 

  • The warmup feature depends on a third-party partner. 

Pricing

Quickmail’s pricing starts at $49/month and includes a free trial. 

The expert’s opinion:

In my opinion, Quickmail’s founder’s enthusiasm is contagious. Their focus on volume made Quickmail one of the best cold email tools for running an agency or sending many cold emails. The expert believes I’ve been using Quickmail for about 18 months. My favorite thing about 

Quickmail is conditional email logic, allowing journey emails to change dynamically based on opens, replies, and custom indicators. I also particularly appreciate their transparent roadmap and list of recent feature releases. Before they had to sunset, their auto email warming was fantastic. Quickmail is particularly popular with agencies, but I also recommend it for individual non-experts (like founders) looking to minimize time spent on outbound emails.

12. Smartlead.ai: A Cold Email Tool for Deliverability

Smartlead started only in 2022 but already has lots of raving fans. That's because the founder, Vaibhav Naibhuri, is focused on serving the needs of a specific audience: lead generation agencies. Smartlead is optimized for people who want to send as many emails as possible, so they must constantly fight the deliverability limitations associated with bulk sending. 

Strengths 

  • Advanced deliverability optimizations feature.

  • Aggressive pricing makes it the cheapest option to scale your outbound strategy.

  • According to user reviews, their customer service is very responsive. Some of their clients also praised their agency management features. 

Weaknesses 

  • On its own, it's not enough – you need other tools to run your outreach 

  • Based on some conversations I had, the tool can be buggy. Still, these issues should slowly be resolved, given how new they are

Pricing 

  • From $39/month. 

  • A free trial is available. 

The expert’s opinion:

In my opinion, Smartlead is a recent player, but they’re worth keeping on your radar as they’re improving quickly, and their product is surprisingly inexpensive. The expert believes I’ve been using Smartlead.ai for eight months, which is fantastic! I am not a techie, but everything is straightforward to learn and understand. If you need help, the team delivers the best service I have ever experienced online! 

“I love the AI tools and the personalization options that are getting better and better. But what I love the most is that they listen to their community, ask us what we want, and release the options we need. I recommend it to everyone who wants to get serious about cold email. There is no better software on the Market. I am on a Mastermind with 220 Cold Emailers, and 80% use Smartlead.” Johannes Fessler, CEO at Rock Solid Lead Generation

13. Gmass: The Cold Email Tool That Operates Inside Gmail

Gmass was started in 2015 by Ajay Joel to allow marketers to send mass emails straight from Google Sheets and Gmail. With 300,000 users on the Chrome store, it might be the most widely used cold email tool. 

Strengths 

  • If you’re using Gmail, you’ll love being able to send your cold emails directly from there.

  • It includes advanced cold email tool options like A/B testing, a spam checker, etc. 

  • A lot of their users praise the reporting options included in the tool. 

Weaknesses 

  • As it’s a complete tool, many users complain that there’s a steep learning curve before they can use Gmass (our tests confirmed this). 

  • The UI and their onboarding content are a bit confusing. 

  • Pricing is generous, and a free plan is available. Gmass is probably interesting if your priority is picking a free cold email software that works in Gmail. 

  • Apart from that, I found it the hardest-to-use tool of our benchmark. You can also check MailMeteor if you want a free tool to send your cold emails from Gmail. 

The expert’s opinion: 

In my journey as an SEO and content manager, I've explored a variety of tools for cold emailing and outreach. Amongst them all, Gmass stood out due to its clean and straightforward interface. I've been using this tool for half a dozen years, and its features have never ceased to impress me. What sets this tool apart is that it operates directly within Gmail. There's no need to switch between web apps; everything you need is in your inbox. 

You can track emails, access analytics, launch mass email campaigns, set up automated follow-ups, and more from within Gmail. Furthermore, this tool allows you to send up to 50 emails in a free mass campaign daily. It's an excellent resource for beginners and intermediate marketers looking to enhance their cold email marketing strategies.

14. Klenty: A Step-by-Step Approach to Email Automation

Klenty is a sales engagement platform designed to automate outreach processes for sales and marketing teams. This tool allows you to send personalized emails with automated follow-up messages at scale. 

Essential Features 

  • A/B Testing Mail merge 

  • Native CRM integrations – Pipedrive, Salesforce, Zoho, and Freshsales 

  • Auto-import from Google Sheets, CRM software, or CSV file 

  • Duplicate and forward email detection 

  • Cadence and team reports 

  • Prospect activity history 

Pricing 

  • Startup $50 Per (Billed Annually) 

  • Growth $70 Per Month (Billed Annually) 

  • Enterprise $100 Per Month (Billed Annually) 

  • 14 days free trial available 

15. Yesware: The Email Tracking Tool for Sales Teams

Yesware is a simple and effective cold emailing tool for email tracking for prospecting teams. It is regarded as the ‘all-in-one toolkit’ for a salesperson. The tool helps automate email campaigns and make your sales prospecting efficient. 

Key Features 

  • Multi-channel campaigns 

  • Email tracking Gmail and Outlook extension 

  • Meeting scheduler 

  • Email templates 

  • Detailed analytics 

  • LinkedIn and CRM integrations 

Pricing 

  • Pro $15 (Per User/Month) 

  • Premium $35 (Per User/Month) 

  • Enterprise $65 (Per User/Month) 

  • 14 days free trial available

16. Sendinblue: The Versatile Cold Email Tool for Small Businesses

Sendinblue is an effective cold email software generally used by SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses). This software best suits those with a limited budget for their outreach campaigns. 

Key Features 

  • Email and SMS marketing options 

  • Personalization Custom forms creator 

  • Landing page generator 

  • Real-time statistics 

  • Email heat map 

  • A/B testing 

Pricing 

  • Free version (Unlimited contacts, Up to 300 emails per day) 

  • Lite: $25 (Per Month) 

  • Premium: $65 (Per Month) 

  • Enterprise: (quotation required)

17. Outreach.io: The AI-Powered Email Tool for Sales Teams

Outreach.io is an AI-powered engagement and intelligence platform for sales teams. This email outreach tool uses machine learning to improve sales performance. 

Key Features 

  • Multi-touch sequences 

  • Detailed email analytics 

  • Unique sales cadences 

  • Automated sequences 

  • Integration of all sales tools and CRM activities on one platform 

Pricing 

  • Outreach pricing is unavailable online. 

  • You will have to reach out to their sales team for a quotation.

 

18. Streak: A CRM System Designed for Gmail Users

Streak is customer relationship management (CRM) software for Gmail users. Its main aim is to minimize switching back and forth between your inbox and other tools. This CRM software is a plug-in for Google Chrome that can be accessed through your Gmail account. 

Key Features 

  • Mail merge 

  • Automated emails and follow-ups 

  • In-depth email tracking reports 

  • Gmail Plug-in Task/Activity management 

  • Lead management 

Pricing 

  • Free version available 

  • Pro: $59 (Per User/Month) 

  • Pro+: $89 (Per User/Month) 

  • Enterprise $159 (Per User/Month)

19. Close: The Sales CRM with Cold Emailing Features

Close is a sales CRM tool with cold emailing features. The sales enablement tool has a calling integration that allows you to include cold calls in your campaign. It is an effective tool for personalized cold emails and contains features that support all your sales efforts. 

Key Features 

  • All CRM features 

  • Import your existing inbox into the platform 

  • Automated follow-ups with sequences 

  • Drip automation 

Pricing 

  • Startup: $59/month 

  • Professional: $329/month 

  • Enterprise: $749/month

20. MixMax: The Cold Email Tool for Scheduling Meetings

MixMax is an excellent tool if you regularly book meetings with prospects. Its built-in scheduling feature integrates your calendar into your email, allowing the prospect to book a meeting quickly. MixMax has all the standard features of cold emailing software. 

Key Features 

  • Email tracking 

  • Meeting scheduler 

  • Polls & survey creator 

  • Phone dialer 

  • Templates Integrations

  • Pipedrive

  • Salesforce

  • Google Calendar

  • Giphy

  • SMS

  • Twitter

  • Dropbox, etc 

Pricing 

  • Free Plan $0 SMB $29 (Per User/Month) (Billed Annually) 

  • Growth $49 (Per User/Month) (Billed Annually) 

  • Growth+Salesforce (Per User/Month) (Billed Annually)

21. Vocus.io: The Chrome Extension for Cold Outreach

Vocus.io is an all-in-one solution cold outreach tool for Gmail. This tool works as a Chrome extension and can be used directly from your inbox. 

Key Features 

  • Personalized email campaigns with automated follow-ups 

  • Detailed shareable reports 

  • Message scheduling 

  • Link tracking 

  • CRM integrations 

  • Email tracking 

  • Vocus calendar 

Pricing 

  • Basic $5 (Per Month) 

  • Starter $10 (Per Month) 

  • Professional $20 (Per Month) 

  • 30 days free trial available (no credit card required) 

22. Salesloft: The Cold Email Tool for B2B Teams

Salesloft is a sales engagement platform used by B2B sales teams to manage prospects and track activities across their team. The tool is well-rounded and includes features required for large teams. 

Key Features 

  • Templates with dynamic tags 

  • A/B testing 

  • Email deliverability checks 

  • Gmail and Outlook integration 

  • Automated cadences with engagement triggers 

  • Timezone detection 

  • Email tracking 

Pricing 

Consultation required for quotation

 

23. Uptics.io: The Sales Engagement Tools for Outbound Sales Teams

Uptics.io is a sales engagement platform for businesses looking to streamline their sales processes. It combines advanced email outreach with sales automation and CRM functionalities, making it a tool for sales teams. 

Key Features 

  • Unlimited Email Warm-up and Sending 

  • Import Contacts and Leads Light Sales 

  • CRM Functionality 

  • AI-Powered A/B Testing and Email Writing Assistant 

  • Multi-Channel Outreach

  • Email

  • SMS

  • Call 

  • Advanced Sales Automation

  • Task Management 

Pricing 

Contact the Sales team for pricing

24. Expandi: The LinkedIn Automation Tool for Cold Emailing

Expandi.io is a solution that lets you send your prospecting emails automatically, combined with LinkedIn actions like viewing a profile, sending LinkedIn messages, or adding a new contact. To do so, you can create personalized workflows by adding several end-to-end steps launched by defined triggers or after the time you choose. Furthermore, these workflows can have as many steps as you want. 

Maximizing LinkedIn Outreach: How Expandi.io Bridges LinkedIn and Email for Personalized Campaigns

Pros 

  • Expandi.io can connect with all email service providers (Google, Exchange, Outlook, etc.) 

  • Expandi lets you import contacts directly from LinkedIn and contact them via email. 

  • You can, for instance, extract Contacts via Sales Navigator, Contacts who participated in an event, Contacts who reacted to a survey, Contacts who saw your LinkedIn profile, etc. The goal is then to target them in your personalized email campaigns. 

  • With Expandi.io, you can add customized variables such as your prospect's occupation, first and last names, company, or even custom images to which you can add dynamic texts!

Cons 

  • Expandi's pricing policy is relatively high compared to several competitors. This means that it will not be suitable for all companies. 

  • The free trial is also relatively short to test the solution truly. 

Pricing

  • Expandi.io's pricing plan starts at 99$ per user per month to enjoy the basic features of the solution. 

  • Pricing decreases gradually if you have several users. 

25. Mailmeteor: The Cold Email Tool for Gmail Users

Mailmeteor is a cold email platform that allows you to send massive emails—up to 2,000—daily through Gmail. Thanks to variables that change depending on your content and recipient, you can personalize your email dispatch. 

Thanks to the dedicated menu, these variables can be easily inserted into the body of your email. You can import your contact list with a CSV file, a Google Sheet, or manually, one by one. You can select pre-defined templates or crate my email structure when creating your campaign. 

Pros 

  • Mailmeteor allows you to send hyper-personalized campaigns thanks to Dynamic variables and contact segmentation with the creation of filters directly in your Google Sheets to target the right prospects. 

  • The tool allows you to use aliases for my email addresses when I send Cold Emails from another of your Gmail addresses. 

  • Mailmeteor offers a Google Add-on, enabling you to email your contacts directly from Google Sheets with your contacts' information. 

Cons 

  • Mailmeteor is only compatible with Gmail; if you're using a different email service provider, you won't be able to benefit from Mailmeteor. 

Pricing:

  • The Premium subscription costs 9,99$ monthly to send up to 2000 emails daily with Gmail. 

  • The Pro plan costs 24,99$ per month and allows you to create automated email follow-ups, verify and validate the email addresses already in your base, and detect bounces.

26. Overloop: The Cold Email and LinkedIn Automation Tool

Overloop is a platform that combines Cold Emails with LinkedIn Automation. 

The tools allow you to manage your prospecting strategy through several steps: 

  • Building your database with scraping and data enrichment made directly via LinkedIn 

  • Creation and management of multichannel campaigns

  • Management and tracking of the sales process, from first contact to closing

  • Campaign performance tracking to optimize my strategy. 

Pros 

  • Overloop is an all-in-one tool that increases your response rate and your involvement with your leads. 

  • You can create Cold Email campaigns using the tool while connecting your email service provider to it (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) Your messages can then be personalized with pre-made templates and dynamic variables adapted to your recipients. 

  • Overloop also offers additional services directly integrated with the tool, such as an Email Finder, a Chrome extension with which you can instantly create contacts, integrated templates to tailor your messages to your target audience, automated workflows, and accurate reports that provide optimized performance tracking. 

Cons 

  • Overloop has a single subscription plan that gives access to its services. 

  • The price is relatively high compared to its competitors. 

Pricing 

  • Overloop's monthly subscription plan is 99$ per user to enjoy all of the tool's features. 

  • Free Plan Overloop does not have a free plan but offers a 14-day free trial. 

27. Skylead: The LinkedIn and Cold Email Automation Tool

Skylead is a LinkedIn automation and Cold Email tool. It allows you to send over 500 LinkedIn invitations per week, find and verify your leads' emails, or manage all of your Cold Email prospecting campaigns directly in the tool. With Skylead, you can customize your prospecting campaigns by adding dynamic images and gifs. 

Pros 

  • Skylead is a multi-purpose tool that combines your LinkedIn prospects directly with your Cold Emails. 

  • You can build hyper-personalized "Smart Sequences": for instance, I can add as many actions and steps as I want while defining the time frames between each action of my campaign. 

Cons 

  • Skylead has a single subscription for all of its services. 

  • The price is relatively high compared to its competitors. 

Pricing 

  • Skylead only has the "All-in-one" plan for 100$ per month and per user, including all of the solution's features. 

  • Free Plan Skylead does not have a free plan but does offer a free trial for its All-in-one subscription.

28. SmartReach: The Cold Email Tool for Prospect Management

SmartReach is a platform dedicated to Cold Emails and prospect management. The tool lets you personalize your messages' content and set up automated follow-up campaigns. With SmartReach, you can add merge fields that will enable you to address each of my recipients personally. I can also add predefined text elements such as their company name, occupation, etc. 

Pros 

  • SmartReach is an intelligent solution that pauses when a prospect replies to one of my campaigns; interactions are therefore stopped so that you can start an honest conversation with them. 

  • The tool also automatically determines your recipients' time zones and… adapts the time of email dispatch to ensure they receive it during their working hours! 

  • SmartReach offers A/B Testing to help you determine which campaigns perform best. 

  • SmartReach's tracking tools can help you track your campaigns' real-time performances. 

Cons 

  • To subscribe, you must have at least two members on your team. 

Pricing 

From 29/month per user (for a minimum of 10 users) to benefit from SmartReach's basic features such as email campaign creation, A/B Testing, CRM integration, workflows created with Zapier, etc.

Related Reading

Best Cold Email Software
How Long Should a Cold Email Be
B2B Cold Email Response Rates
How to Improve Email Deliverability
Unlimited Email Hosting
Email Testing Tools
Best Email Deliverability Tools
Email Scraping Tools
Best Sales Prospecting Tools
Email Warm Up Tools
Email Personalization Tools
Sales Email Automation Tools
Mailscale Alternatives
Mailforge Alternatives

How to Choose the Right Cold Email Tool?

Person Using laptop - Cold Email Marketing Services

Selecting the Right Tool for Cold Emailing

Picking the right cold emailing software is not a one-size-fits-all process. Various options offer: 

  • Distinct features

  • Pricing models

  • Integrations

You are choosing a solution that aligns with your existing processes and business goals. For starters, evaluate how a cold email tool would fit your: 

  • Sales stack

  • Budget

  • Other elements

Analyze Your Existing Tool Stack

If you work alone and don’t use a CRM, then any cold email tool can work for you. If you’re using HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, or any other CRM, I recommend you choose a tool that offers native integration with them. It will save you the trouble and additional costs of manually connecting the tool to your CRM via Zapier or the API. 

The Importance of Integration Types in Cold Email Campaigns: 1-Way vs 2-Way Integrations

I also recommend checking the type of integration: 

  • 1-way integrations (like SalesHandy offers) allow you to pull out contact lists into your cold email software to reach out to them automatically

  • 2-way integrations let you pull data from your CRM and synchronize your cold email activities back to your CRM. 

The best cold email tools automate everything else so you can focus your efforts on high-impact activities instead of redundant manual tasks. 

Must-Have Features of Great Cold Email Software

Cold email tools can help you automate: 

  • Tedious processes

  • Optimize deliverability

  • Track performance

  • Integrate with your existing tools. 

Here are a few essential features to look for in a cold email tool: 

Automation

When sending emails manually, you need to create each message separately. Most cold email software lets you make one message and send it to multiple recipients simultaneously. You can create entire email sequences automatically sent by the cold email tool until your recipient replies. When your recipients unsubscribe, cold email tools handle the unsubscriptions and prevent you from accidentally contacting the unsubscribed recipients again. 

Deliverability 

Cold email tools let you automatically optimize your sending volume. You can configure a campaign with a thousand recipients. Instead of sending the emails at once (which flags you as a potential spammer), they can be sent over time, which protects your deliverability. When you send emails at scale using multiple inboxes, cold email software can automatically spread the sending volume over your email accounts to prevent sending spikes from individual inboxes.

Tracking performance

Cold email tools automatically collect the key metrics for your campaigns: they let you track your: 

  • Replies

  • Opens

  • Clicks

  • Unsubscribes

The best cold email software also gives you high-level insights into your performance; for example, Hunter Campaigns provides reports on the performance of your campaigns, email accounts, and team members over time. 

Integrations

Your cold email tool should let you integrate with your mailbox (whether it’s Gmail, Outlook, or any other email service provider.) This lets you automate sending cold emails from your own email account. It should also integrate with your CRM so that you can easily keep track of the conversations I start with cold emails. For more advanced workflows, you might want to use webhooks or Zapier to send email data anywhere you need it. 

Data collection 

Some cold email tools, like Hunter Campaigns, also offer help with other parts of the outreach process. For example, every Hunter user can access Discover, which helps you find qualified prospects. We also help you find and verify email addresses using our Email Finder and Email Verifier.

Personalization

Instead of manually editing every message you want to send, you can use a cold email tool to create distinct emails using custom attributes. This way, personalized information is injected into your message based on the attributes you have saved for your recipients. 

Check If the Tool Is Within Your Budget

You found the perfect tool but it ends up being too expensive. Sounds familiar? To avoid this problem, I recommend you check the pricing of the tools you’re considering purchasing. Look at the tool's pricing model. Simply put, there are two pricing models:

  • Tools that charge you based on the number of users (or email) you will connect. This is the case for Lemlist and Reply.io. This pricing works excellently if you must send below 50 cold emails daily. If you need to send more, you’ll likely need to connect more email accounts to protect your sender's reputation. In that case, you’ll pay for the additional email accounts, which could cost more than expected.

  • Tools that charge you based on the number of emails you send and active leads. 

Check for Multichannel Options

For some teams, reaching out to prospects via multiple channels, not only email, is essential. If that’s your case, I recommend you check the available options. Some cold email tools let you automate LinkedIn connection requests or emails. Others allow you to reach your prospects via WhatsApp or text message. 

Customer Support and Reputation

Cold outreach can be difficult, especially if you’re starting out. That’s why it's essential to pick a tool that provides professional assistance with any issues. To understand the level of customer support you may expect from a given tool, check the verified reviews on websites like G2 or Trustpilot.

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It scales its cold email outreach efforts efficiently:

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Start by buying domains. Then, let our email infrastructure tool set up your cold email infrastructure so you don't have to. 

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With Inframails cold email marketing services, you can skip the confusing technical setup and focus on reaching your goals. Our automated infrastructure setup includes SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, which means you can improve your deliverability without the tedious manual configuration. 

Inframail also provides dedicated email servers for each user to improve your security and reputation. Forget about the usual technical headaches and start sending effective cold emails today.