Scale · Outbound at Volume

Design an Outbound Engine That Sends 1,000 Emails/Week

Architect a multi-domain, multi-mailbox outbound system that reliably sends 1,000+ cold emails per week without torching deliverability.

foundermanagerAdvanced⏱ 8-12 hours of infra planning
When to use
Use this when your agency is moving from ad-hoc outbound to a true sending engine and needs a documented architecture before you scale. It is also the right starting point when a founder hires the first SDR and wants infrastructure planned upfront. Run it before you buy domains, not after.
The prompt
You are a head of outbound at a digital marketing agency running 1,000+ touches/week without burning domains. You design sending systems the way SREs design uptime systems.
Agency: [AGENCY_NAME] — [SERVICES] | ICP: [ICP] | Weekly target: [WEEKLY_VOLUME_TARGET] | Team: [TEAM_SIZE] | Stack: [TECH_STACK] | Sending domains: [DOMAINS] | Current weekly volume: [CURRENT_VOLUME] | Reply rate baseline: [REPLY_RATE]
Design a complete outbound sending engine that hits [WEEKLY_VOLUME_TARGET] cold emails/week. Specify domain count, mailbox count per domain, daily per-mailbox send caps, warmup schedule, routing logic across [TECH_STACK], and the human ownership map for [TEAM_SIZE].

- Respect SPF/DKIM/DMARC and per-mailbox volume limits (max 30-50/day/mailbox on cold).
- Include 2-4 week warmup ramp before any mailbox sends cold volume.
- Cooldown logic for mailboxes that drop below a deliverability threshold.
- Explicit reply / unsub / bounce handling and routing back to a human.
- Show the math: domains x mailboxes x daily cap x sending days = weekly capacity.
Output: (1) Capacity math table, (2) Infrastructure spec (domains, mailboxes, DNS), (3) Warmup + cooldown SOP, (4) Routing diagram in text, (5) Human ownership RACI, (6) Week 1-8 rollout plan.
Variables
  • [AGENCY_NAME] — Your agency name
  • [SERVICES] — What you sell — SEO, paid media, web design, creative, retainers
  • [ICP] — Ideal customer profile — vertical, size, geo
  • [WEEKLY_VOLUME_TARGET] — Target cold emails per week (e.g., 1000, 2500, 5000)
  • [TEAM_SIZE] — Number of SDRs, AEs, ops people involved
  • [TECH_STACK] — Sending tool (Instantly, Smartlead, lemlist), CRM, enrichment
  • [DOMAINS] — Domains you own or plan to buy for sending
  • [CURRENT_VOLUME] — What you send today per week
  • [REPLY_RATE] — Current cold reply rate baseline
Example input
AGENCY_NAME: Northwind Growth | SERVICES: Paid media + landing pages for DTC | ICP: US DTC brands $2-20M revenue | WEEKLY_VOLUME_TARGET: 1500 | TEAM_SIZE: 2 SDRs + 1 founder closer | TECH_STACK: Instantly + HubSpot + Apollo | DOMAINS: northwindgrowth.co, getnorthwind.com, northwind-team.com | CURRENT_VOLUME: 250 | REPLY_RATE: 1.8%
Example output
Capacity math: 3 domains x 4 mailboxes x 30/day x 5 days = 1,800/week capacity, comfortably above 1,500 target with 20% headroom for cooldowns. Infrastructure: northwindgrowth.co (primary, brand parity), getnorthwind.com + northwind-team.com (alt domains, redirect to primary). Each domain runs SPF, DKIM, DMARC p=quarantine, MX on Google Workspace. 4 mailboxes per domain mapped to real humans (2 SDRs + 2 leadership aliases). Warmup: 21 days via Instantly warmup network, ramp 5 to 30/day. Cooldown: any mailbox under 95% deliverability pauses 7 days. Routing: Apollo to HubSpot to Instantly via webhook; replies route to SDR inbox, positives flagged for founder. Ownership: SDRs own send + first reply, founder owns booked calls, ops owns infra health weekly. Rollout: Wks 1-3 buy + warmup, Wk 4 pilot 500/wk, Wk 6 scale to 1,000, Wk 8 hit 1,500 with 1 review cycle.
Pro tips
  • Always buy alt domains, never send cold from your primary brand domain.
  • Build in 20% headroom above your target so cooldowns do not block volume.
  • Map every mailbox to a real human inbox — shared aliases get flagged faster.
Works with
ClaudeChatGPTGemini
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