Warmup has always been part of the conversations between email marketers and variety of opinions on the same. I have been sending over 1 million emails per quarter using small sending tools with over 70% open rate. Hence I have tested a lot of stuff out there, went through plenty of books, podcasts and webinars. Below is my current campaign performance

What the heck is Email Warmup?

In simple terms, warmup means replicating human behavior for your emails so that the ESP’s won’t be able to flag your mailboxes to avoid getting into that “Spam Folder”. The Spam folder is like a permanent jail for your emails which could almost never get Infront of the prospects eyes.

Warming up your emails simply means we generate a dummy traffic of Incoming and Outgoing emails from these mailboxes which makes the ISP think this mailbox is genuine and it enhances our reputation with very less chances of getting into Spam.

How does Email warmup improve deliverability?

Delivering to the primary inbox is the goal and dream of every email marketer and that’s where Email warmup plays a picture.

Example 1: Failed to reach Primary Inbox

Lets suppose I purchased an email inbox and started sending 1000’s of mails in a given day to some random people who I don’t know!

The ESPs would flag me off as a spammer and I’d be pushed to various blacklists, Hence none of my emails would ever reach to prospects. It would be a dead game for me right there.

Example 2: Successfully landed in Primary Inbox

Lets suppose here we purchased an Email inbox but instead of sending over 1000’s emails on first day itself. We started to replicate human behavior by sending 5-10 outgoing emails and getting 3-4 incoming emails per day with reply rate of 20-30%. Our inbox is generating conversations as well which means email threads.

The ESPs won’t flag you and you’d be considered a genuine emailer which would help you to reach to primary inbox and hence you’d generate more leads and conversions

What is the best strategy for email warmup?

Guru’s talk about a lot of strategies but I’m share what has worked for me to keep my email reputation to 100% and average 70% open rates with 30-40% reply rates as shown above!

Tool vs Manual strategy

How to go from 0 to 50 emails/day per mailbox?

Going from 0 to 50 per day per mailbox needs to be very tactical, if you are flagged it could mean a lot. Below I’m going to share the strategy I follow week wise to go from 0 to 50 without getting flagged at all.

• Set up your DNS including SPF, DKIM, DMARC settings properly.
• Make sure you set up your profile pictures, social media links inside your mailboxes to look genuine
• Choose the right tool and connect your mailboxes like Smartlead.ai or Instantly
• Once the mailboxes are connected, switch on the warmup using below strategy

Weeks	Cold/day	Warmup/day	Reply Rate
Week 1	5	10	30%
Week 2	7	10	45%
Week 3	9	10	40%
Week 4	13	10	50%
Week 5	15	13	40%
Week 6	17	15	40%
Week 7	20	17	40%
Week 8	30	20	40%

Checklist for overall deliverability

1. Send emails as plain text, no HTML.
2. Disable open and click unless you’re testing copies.
3. Enable Custom tracking link if you’re tracking opens and clicks.
4. Spintax your email copy to safeguard your copy.
5. Spam check your email copy for keywords.
6. Sending gap between each email should be 10-15 mins.
7. Send your emails during working hours 9 am – 6 pm max

Check your Domain reputation often by using the following tools.

Talos Intelligence

Talos Intelligence, would help you to check overall health of your domain and if its in flagged in any of the blacklists.

Glock Apps

Glock Apps has variety of tools to check your domain, mailbox, copy health

Mx Toolbox

Mx Toolbox is widely used, it helps you to get a deep analysis on your domain, Plus it has plenty of tools to help you check end to end deliverability of your domains and emails.

Conclusion:

While I would say deliverability is a tricky thing out there with its dynamic nature, it is best to stay updated with latest knowledge and trends. The role of Artificial Intelligence from the ISPs is going to be a different game however we humans are the most intelligent beings. If one thing fails we come up with an alternate for the same. Email marketing has seen variety of changes since its inception and we have adapted and performed great. For anyone of you needing personal consultation do feel free to book a meet using link below 🙂

Book a free warmup strategy call