What are the legal foundations for cold outreach?

The line between cold email and spam is intent, targeting, and execution, not just whether someone opted in.

Spam is bulk and indiscriminate. Millions of messages blasted to scraped lists. No thought about recipient relevance. Often deceptive subject lines or sender identities. Frequently selling sketchy products or running scams.

Cold email is targeted and relevant. Researched recipients who genuinely might benefit. Personalized messaging that demonstrates understanding. Honest identification of sender and purpose. Legitimate business offers.

Volume patterns differ. Spam operates at massive scale because response rates are infinitesimal. Cold email works at smaller scale because targeting improves relevance.

Infrastructure differs. Spam often uses compromised servers, rotating domains, and evasion techniques. Cold email uses legitimate infrastructure with proper authentication.

Compliance differs. Spam ignores regulations entirely. Cold email adheres to CAN-SPAM, GDPR, or applicable laws.

From the recipient's perspective: Spam is obvious and unwelcome. Cold email might be unwelcome but at least makes sense. "Why am I getting this?" should have a reasonable answer for cold email. Spam has no good answer.