Guides · Product · For owners setting up cold email for the first time
How to send cold email from your own domain
By the Lead Friendly team · Published October 4, 2026 · Updated October 4, 2026
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Short answer: Cold email campaigns stay locked until your own domain is verified, because a cold campaign may only go out from a domain you own. This keeps every cold campaign tied to a domain the sender actually controls. A cold send attempted without your own verified domain is refused outright, and the refusal names the page to go and fix it.
Why cold email is locked
Cold email campaigns stay locked until your own domain is verified, because a cold campaign may only go out from a domain you own. This keeps every cold campaign tied to a domain the sender actually controls. A cold send attempted without your own verified domain is refused outright, and the refusal names the page to go and fix it.
Cold mail going out on your own domain means a spam flag lands on your domain and not on a shared one.
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Where the sending domain page is
Setting it up is one page in settings, listed in the settings tabs as Sending domain. Only an owner or an admin on the account can add a sending domain. That keeps control of the account's sending identity limited to people who manage it.
Somebody who would rather not touch DNS can have staff register the domain and send the records over to publish.
Adding the domain
The page asks for a subdomain you control, like mail.yourbrand.com, and the From address becomes notifications@ that domain. A free mailbox domain like gmail.com, and leadfriendly.com itself, are refused as sending domains. Choosing a subdomain keeps your main website's domain reputation separate from cold outreach.
Verifying your own domain sends your email from your own brand address instead of noreply@leadfriendly.com.
Publishing the records
Adding the domain hands back the DNS records you need to publish. The page tells you to add those records at your DNS provider, then click Verify. The DKIM key does not exist until the domain is registered, so nobody can send you the records before that.
Until those records are live, the domain cannot be used for cold sending.
Waiting for DNS
DNS can take a few minutes to a few hours to spread. While a domain sits on Pending DNS, the page keeps re-checking on its own for about ten minutes. Pressing Verify again does no harm.
Regular transactional email keeps sending from leadfriendly.com while you wait, so nothing breaks in the meantime. This step requires no action beyond waiting for the records to take effect.
What you may send at the start
A newly verified domain is held to 25 cold emails on its first day. That daily ceiling rises on its own, roughly doubling each step, and the ramp ends after four weeks. Sending pauses while the list is reviewed if bounce or spam-complaint rates climb.
Removing the domain asks you to confirm, and email reverts to the leadfriendly.com sender. These limits exist to protect deliverability for every sender using the platform.
Frequently asked questions
Why is cold email locked on my account?
Cold email campaigns stay locked until your own domain is verified, because a cold campaign may only go out from a domain you own. This keeps every cold campaign tied to a domain the sender actually controls. A cold send attempted without your own verified domain is refused outright, and the refusal names the page to go and fix it.
Where do I add a sending domain?
Setting it up is one page in settings, listed in the settings tabs as Sending domain. Only an owner or an admin on the account can add a sending domain. That keeps control of the account's sending identity limited to people who manage it.
What do I put in the two fields?
The page asks for a subdomain you control, like mail.yourbrand.com, and the From address becomes notifications@ that domain. A free mailbox domain like gmail.com, and leadfriendly.com itself, are refused as sending domains. Choosing a subdomain keeps your main website's domain reputation separate from cold outreach.
Where do the DNS records go?
Adding the domain hands back the DNS records you need to publish. The page tells you to add those records at your DNS provider, then click Verify. The DKIM key does not exist until the domain is registered, so nobody can send you the records before that.
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- Lead Friendly — sending domain · accessed 2026-10-04Where a sending domain is added and verified.
- Lead Friendly — is AI cold calling legal · accessed 2026-10-04The rules cold outreach runs under.