No. You own your domains. You own your IPs. You own your ESP. You own your tools. You own the decision to implement (or not implement) what we recommend. Deliverability Consulting is advisory. We guide, you execute. You retain full control and full ownership.
This is intentional by design.
Why You Retain Ownership
There are two reasons we don’t implement changes ourselves, and both matter.
First, you should understand exactly what’s in your email infrastructure and why. If a consultant implements DNS changes, makes ESP configuration updates, and adjusts your sending behavior all without your involvement, you won’t understand what actually changed or why it matters. You’ll see mail starts landing in the inbox again, but you won’t know what you did or how to prevent the problem next time. Six months later, if something breaks again, you’ll be dependent on that consultant because you didn’t learn the system.
Second, you need to own your infrastructure for competitive advantage. Email operations are not something you should outsource your understanding of. If you understand your authentication, you can migrate ESPs without hiring consultants. If you understand your reputation strategy, you can scale new sending streams without crisis. If you understand your compliance and list hygiene practices, you can make confident decisions about your strategy.
We want you to own the system. You learn from the engagement. Your team gains confidence in email operations. You’re building internal capability, not creating a dependency on an external consultant.
What You Actually Execute
When you work with us, you’re responsible for:
- Making configuration changes to your ESP (updating sending settings, authentication, sending addresses, etc.)
- Making DNS changes (updating SPF, DKIM, DMARC, BIMI, reverse DNS records, etc.) or coordinating with your infrastructure team if you have one
- Implementing sending behavior changes (adjusting list hygiene practices, changing cadence, adjusting volume ramps, updating re-engagement workflows)
- Monitoring compliance and regulatory requirements (managing CAN-SPAM compliance, GDPR requirements, industry-specific regulations)
- Making decisions about infrastructure changes (whether to get a new IP, whether to move to a new domain, whether to switch ESPs)
We provide detailed guidance on all of these. We explain exactly what needs to change and why. We help you validate that changes are working correctly. We help you troubleshoot if something doesn’t work as expected. But you’re doing the actual work.
Why This Matters for Your Business
Understanding your email infrastructure is a competitive advantage in ways that aren’t obvious. If you operate your email safely and consistently, you can scale much faster than competitors who don’t. If you’ve thought through your reputation strategy and your sending segmentation, you can onboard new sending streams without crisis. If you understand your authentication setup, you can migrate providers without losing deliverability.
Companies that outsource all email infrastructure management without learning how it works often find themselves in painful dependency situations. They can’t make changes without hiring consultants. They can’t evaluate new ESPs or tools because they don’t understand their email system. They can’t scale because they don’t know their reputation baseline or capacity.
By retaining ownership and understanding your system, you’re building internal capability that compounds over time.
What the Advisory Model Looks Like in Practice
Here’s a concrete example. A company comes in with a deliverability problem. During the diagnostic, we identify that they need to implement DMARC enforcement (moving from p=none to p=reject). We explain why it matters, what it does, what could break if implemented incorrectly, and what the validation process looks like. We walk them through the implementation steps. They make the DNS change. They monitor for a week to see if legitimate mail is being rejected (it’s not). They move to enforcement. Problem solved.
The company now understands DMARC enforcement. Next time a team member asks “should we be rejecting mail that fails DMARC alignment?” they can answer the question from experience instead of guessing.
Different example. A company needs to warm a new sending IP for high-volume email. We provide a warming schedule (start with 1k emails a day, ramp to 10k over two weeks, then 50k, then full volume). We explain why we’re ramping at this specific pace. We tell them what to monitor (reputation scores, complaint rates, engagement patterns). They execute the warming schedule. We validate that reputation is building as expected. We adjust if needed. When the IP is fully warmed, the company understands warming strategy and can repeat it if they need another IP.
Distinct From Managed Infrastructure
This is why we offer a separate Managed Email Infrastructure service. If you don’t want to own and manage the infrastructure, if you want someone else to handle all the operational work and be responsible for outcomes, that service is available.
But that’s a different engagement level with different costs and benefits. Deliverability Consulting is advisory work where you retain control and build internal capability. Managed Infrastructure is operational work where we handle all the work and take operational responsibility.
For Managed Infrastructure Customers
If you’re already on Managed Email Infrastructure, the consulting is included at no additional cost. We’re already running your infrastructure, managing your IPs and domains, monitoring your reputation, handling your authentication. Highest-level consulting is just built into the service at no extra fee.
You get system-level oversight and strategic guidance integrated with actual infrastructure management. You get the benefit of someone who understands your entire email ecosystem making decisions about your sending.
We’d love to learn more about your business, email deliverability and outreach goals, and see if we might be able to help.
Whether you have questions about what we do, how Protocol works, or you’d just like to pick our brains on some of our best practices, we’d be happy to chat.
Schedule a call with our Revenue Director, Chrisley Ceme.
No. You own your domains. You own your IPs. You own your ESP. You own your tools. You own the decision to implement (or not implement) what we recommend. Deliverability Consulting is advisory. We guide, you execute. You retain full control and full ownership.
This is intentional by design.
Why You Retain Ownership
There are two reasons we don’t implement changes ourselves, and both matter.
First, you should understand exactly what’s in your email infrastructure and why. If a consultant implements DNS changes, makes ESP configuration updates, and adjusts your sending behavior all without your involvement, you won’t understand what actually changed or why it matters. You’ll see mail starts landing in the inbox again, but you won’t know what you did or how to prevent the problem next time. Six months later, if something breaks again, you’ll be dependent on that consultant because you didn’t learn the system.
Second, you need to own your infrastructure for competitive advantage. Email operations are not something you should outsource your understanding of. If you understand your authentication, you can migrate ESPs without hiring consultants. If you understand your reputation strategy, you can scale new sending streams without crisis. If you understand your compliance and list hygiene practices, you can make confident decisions about your strategy.
We want you to own the system. You learn from the engagement. Your team gains confidence in email operations. You’re building internal capability, not creating a dependency on an external consultant.
What You Actually Execute
When you work with us, you’re responsible for:
- Making configuration changes to your ESP (updating sending settings, authentication, sending addresses, etc.)
- Making DNS changes (updating SPF, DKIM, DMARC, BIMI, reverse DNS records, etc.) or coordinating with your infrastructure team if you have one
- Implementing sending behavior changes (adjusting list hygiene practices, changing cadence, adjusting volume ramps, updating re-engagement workflows)
- Monitoring compliance and regulatory requirements (managing CAN-SPAM compliance, GDPR requirements, industry-specific regulations)
- Making decisions about infrastructure changes (whether to get a new IP, whether to move to a new domain, whether to switch ESPs)
We provide detailed guidance on all of these. We explain exactly what needs to change and why. We help you validate that changes are working correctly. We help you troubleshoot if something doesn’t work as expected. But you’re doing the actual work.
Why This Matters for Your Business
Understanding your email infrastructure is a competitive advantage in ways that aren’t obvious. If you operate your email safely and consistently, you can scale much faster than competitors who don’t. If you’ve thought through your reputation strategy and your sending segmentation, you can onboard new sending streams without crisis. If you understand your authentication setup, you can migrate providers without losing deliverability.
Companies that outsource all email infrastructure management without learning how it works often find themselves in painful dependency situations. They can’t make changes without hiring consultants. They can’t evaluate new ESPs or tools because they don’t understand their email system. They can’t scale because they don’t know their reputation baseline or capacity.
By retaining ownership and understanding your system, you’re building internal capability that compounds over time.
What the Advisory Model Looks Like in Practice
Here’s a concrete example. A company comes in with a deliverability problem. During the diagnostic, we identify that they need to implement DMARC enforcement (moving from p=none to p=reject). We explain why it matters, what it does, what could break if implemented incorrectly, and what the validation process looks like. We walk them through the implementation steps. They make the DNS change. They monitor for a week to see if legitimate mail is being rejected (it’s not). They move to enforcement. Problem solved.
The company now understands DMARC enforcement. Next time a team member asks “should we be rejecting mail that fails DMARC alignment?” they can answer the question from experience instead of guessing.
Different example. A company needs to warm a new sending IP for high-volume email. We provide a warming schedule (start with 1k emails a day, ramp to 10k over two weeks, then 50k, then full volume). We explain why we’re ramping at this specific pace. We tell them what to monitor (reputation scores, complaint rates, engagement patterns). They execute the warming schedule. We validate that reputation is building as expected. We adjust if needed. When the IP is fully warmed, the company understands warming strategy and can repeat it if they need another IP.
Distinct From Managed Infrastructure
This is why we offer a separate Managed Email Infrastructure service. If you don’t want to own and manage the infrastructure, if you want someone else to handle all the operational work and be responsible for outcomes, that service is available.
But that’s a different engagement level with different costs and benefits. Deliverability Consulting is advisory work where you retain control and build internal capability. Managed Infrastructure is operational work where we handle all the work and take operational responsibility.
For Managed Infrastructure Customers
If you’re already on Managed Email Infrastructure, the consulting is included at no additional cost. We’re already running your infrastructure, managing your IPs and domains, monitoring your reputation, handling your authentication. Highest-level consulting is just built into the service at no extra fee.
You get system-level oversight and strategic guidance integrated with actual infrastructure management. You get the benefit of someone who understands your entire email ecosystem making decisions about your sending.
Our Revenue Director, Chrisley Ceme, is leading the Triggered Outbound program.Chrisley’s gone deep on this strategy and can walk you through:
- How Triggered Outbound fits with your outbound goals
- What triggers are available (and what’s possible within our platform)
- Pricing, onboarding, and getting started
