Case study / EdTech

How we helped Bullseye rebuild deliverability from zero after HubSpot tanked it

An EdTech platform for K-12 schools. After HubSpot's infrastructure killed their domain reputation, we rebuilt deliverability from zero.

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"Grow Surely got us up and running quickly, and we started seeing some exciting wins within the first month. Grow Surely has significantly improved our ability to reliably reach our audience."

Andrew Crystal Head of Brand, Bullseye for Schools
0 Deliverability for 6+ months
0 Qualified leads
0 Emails sent cleanly

A walkthrough, coaching, and feedback platform for schools to improve teacher performance and student test scores.

Industry

EdTech / SaaS for K-12

Headquarters

Ohio, USA

Company size

Around 15 employees

// The challenge

Deliverability crashed their engine.

Bullseye knew how to write good cold emails. They had the list, the offer, and the message. They just couldn't get into the inbox.

01

HubSpot killed their reputation

Sending through HubSpot's infrastructure tanked their domain reputation. Even after stopping, nothing worked.

02

From 10+ meetings/month to zero

Cold email used to bring 10+ meetings monthly. In 2024 deliverability collapsed and all outbound activity stopped cold.

03

No time to learn modern infrastructure

The team didn't have bandwidth to learn modern email infrastructure from scratch. They needed a partner to own one job: actually deliver.

// The approach

A deliverability-first rebuild.

We didn't touch their list. We didn't write their copy. We gave them the best technical setup in the game.

// 01

Setup & deliverability

  • Email accounts across Google, Microsoft, HyperTide, and AeroSend
  • 3-week warmup protocol before any campaigns went live
  • SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MX records fully aligned across every domain
  • Variant diversification using spintax to defeat spam filters
// 02

Reputation hygiene

  • No links in copy to reduce spam flags
  • Biweekly deliverability check-ins with our in-house expert
  • Proactive reputation monitoring, always one step ahead of issues
  • Domain warmth maintained continuously across the engagement
// 03

Volume scaling

  • Sending capacity built up gradually to protect domain reputation
  • Pre-warmed backup mailboxes ready for any underperformer rotation
  • Bullseye's existing copy and list used unchanged: only the rails were new
  • Zero deliverability incidents reported across the 5 months
// The results

Five months back in the game.

Same list, same copy, suddenly delivering.

0
Total emails sent
0
Average reply rate across campaigns
0
Qualified leads generated
0
Inbox placement for 6+ months
0
Deliverability incidents
0
Sending providers in rotation
// The outcome

From silent to consistently delivered.

The 5 month rebuild brought Bullseye's outbound channel back online.

  • 90 qualified leads generated after months of total silence
  • 100% inbox placement maintained across 6+ months of sending
  • 32,300 emails sent cleanly with zero deliverability incidents
  • Reply rate restored to a healthy 2.5% baseline
  • Bullseye's existing copy and list now actually reach the inbox
  • Modern email infrastructure expertise transferred to the internal team
// Key takeaways

What made this work.

// 01

Deliverability first

Technical infrastructure is the foundation of cold email. Without inbox placement, nothing else matters.

// 02

Infrastructure beats copy

Sometimes the problem isn't your message, it's the delivery system underneath. Bullseye's copy was already good.

// 03

Proactive monitoring prevents collapse

Regular reputation check-ins and rotation prevent the kind of deliverability crash that killed Bullseye's previous setup.

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