Email warm up refers to the practice of gradually increasing the number of emails being sent from a newly created domain or mailbox with the goal of building a stronger reputation with mailbox providers and having SPAM filters trust your behaviour.
A new domain is especially vulnerable to be categorised as a risky sender - because the lack history and reputation. Beware spammers often buy new domains and immediately start sending large volumes through them. If your newly created domains and email addresses are scaling sending volume too quickly, your are actually behaving like these suspicious senders, increasing the chances of being classified as spam.
This is why warming up your recently created domains and mailboxes is absolutely critical for the success of your outbound campaigns. In order to do this, your activity should be very close to human behaviour. The first set of emails are particularly important because they will define whether your emails are trustworthy.
First steps after creating new domains
- Ensure email domain is properly authenticated. Properly configure MX Records, SPF, DKIM, DMARC.
- Upon mailbox creation, the mailbox owners should set up their own personal information: set up a profile picture and profile name. This makes your mailboxes look authentic and humanly managed.
- Refrain from outbound activities in the first 2 weeks (if you want to be extra careful increase this period for up to 4 weeks).
- In the beginning, you want to aim for engagement (especially replies), they also matter when rating your email score:
- Enable Amplemarket's Email Warm Up
- Have the different users exchange emails with one another and with contacts outside of that domain.
- Subscribe to Daily Newsletters to have daily flow of incoming emails that will also help even out your sent/received ratio.
- Personalisation is key!
- You need to ramp up new domains slowly. Refrain from scaling volume too quickly!
- The content of your emails can also affect your deliverability:
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Limit follow-ups during the warmup phase to a maximum of three. Overloading inboxes with too many follow-ups can hurt your sender reputation.
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Be cautious with your wording. Spam filters are triggered by overly salesy language, symbols, exaggerated numbers or claims, and unnecessary urgency. Avoid terms like “Free,” “Price,” “Exclusive,” “Low Cost,” “Read Here,” and “No Hidden Fees” - but there's way more spam trigger words out there!
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Minimize the use of images, links, and HTML. These elements can flag your emails as spam.
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Keep your email signature simple. Avoid logos or images, and limit hyperlinks to just one.
- Keep your email body simple. Avoid logos or images and overly formatting your email (bold, bullets, different fonts/colours).
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