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Email Warm-Up: Understanding and Importance of Email Warm-Up in Improving Deliverability
Have you ever experienced sending out personalized emails for and email campaign, only to receive zero responses? It can be frustrating when your emails are not being delivered in the first place. This is where email warm-up comes into play.
What is Email Warm-up?
Email warm-up refers to the practice of gradually sending emails from a new email account in order to establish a positive reputation with email providers and avoid spam filters. In the past, warm-up was based solely on the number of emails sent. However, today, email service providers take into account recipients' engagement with your emails to determine your reputation.
In the past, the amount of emails sent was the main factor in warming up an email account. For example, if a new account sent 15 emails on its first day, that was considered reasonable. However, if it suddenly jumped from zero to a thousand emails in one day, it would raise suspicions. As long as the numbers appeared normal, a good reputation could be built.
However, today email service providers also consider other factors in determining reputation. They now look at how recipients interact with the emails. Are the emails being opened, replied to, and marked as important? Or are they being ignored, deleted, or marked as spam? To maintain a positive reputation, email warm-up must demonstrate that recipients find value in the emails.
When defining email warm-up, it's important to note that warming up a completely new domain (e.g., example.com) will take longer than warming up a new email account on an existing domain (e.g.,
Why is Email Warm-Up Needed?
you may question the need for a distinct email warm-up process. After all, if you plan to send emails, why not begin using your new account immediately to communicate with potential leads, albeit on a smaller scale initially?
Unlike a typical email campaign, email warm-up focuses on enhancing the likelihood of successful delivery. Even the most successful email marketing campaigns targeted at highly engaged recipients can still experience low open and reply rates. All it takes is a few individuals marking your campaign as spam, potentially resulting in your email being blacklisted.
Sending cold emails without engaging in proper warm-up can have negative consequences on your ability to successfully deliver your messages. This applies whether it is a newly created email account or an existing one. These consequences may include having your emails marked as spam or being routed to junk folders, having your domain added to a blacklist, and even being completely blocked from sending any further emails.
Consequently, there are multiple reasons to engage in email warm-up before utilizing it for outreach purposes.
1. to develop a positive sender reputation.
In order to ensure the best user experience for their customers, email service providers (ESPs) like Gmail and Outlook assess a sender's reputation before allowing their emails to be delivered.
When you initially set up an email account, it possesses a neutral reputation. From that point forward, every action taken by you and your email recipients is evaluated and used to determine the reputation score. Activities that resemble normal, everyday email behavior, such as sending and receiving a small number of emails each day, contribute to a positive reputation.
Conversely, sending a significant quantity of emails that are disregarded or marked as spam will diminish your reputation. If your reputation drops too low, ESPs will no longer accept your emails.
By engaging in natural email practices, such as sending and receiving emails in a regular manner, email warm-up assists in building a positive reputation. This applies whether you are starting with a neutral reputation or attempting to repair a damaged one.
2. Improving the deliverability of sales outreach emails is crucial for success.
However, certain techniques used in effective sales emails can raise concerns with email service providers (ESPs).
For instance, incorporating personalized images in your outreach is an excellent way to grab your reader's attention. Unfortunately, spammers also use images instead of text to evade filters, making any image in an email a potential concern subjected to scrutiny by ESPs.
Likewise, sales emails often include links as part of their call-to-action, such as booking appointments or viewing product demos. While URL shortening services like bit.ly may make your links appear neater, they are also employed by spammers to deceive recipients and redirect them to different addresses.
To avoid spam filters, it is important to adhere to best practices for email deliverability. This includes ensuring that at least 80% of your message is text-based and using complete links to reputable domains.
To further enhance inbox placement, it is recommended to conduct a thorough account warm-up using the exact email templates and signatures planned for outreach. When these messages are opened and replied to, it sends a clear message to ESPs that the included images and links are trustworthy and safe for delivery to recipients' inboxes.
3. email warm-up strategy is essential for expediting your outreach efforts.
Despite the initial perception of it being time-consuming, the practice significantly reduces the time required for establishing your credibility. Manually warming up your email account necessitates a span of two to three weeks, after which you can gradually initiate sending cold emails. This involves gradually escalating the volume of emails sent every few days, as illustrated in the sample 3-day ramp-up framework provided below.
Using a specialized tool and automating warm-up emails can expedite the process even more, as we will explore in the upcoming section. Although it is possible to bypass the warm-up phase and immediately begin your email campaign, it will take a significant amount of time before you observe any positive indicators that contribute to your reputation. Additionally, a few dissatisfied recipients can severely damage your reputation and prolong the process even further.
How to warm-up your email account
To warm up your email account, you have two options: manual or automated. The manual method gives you full control over the process. Start by sending emails to friendly accounts, beginning with those you own, such as your old Hotmail or personal Gmail account. However, if you don't have many accounts, you'll need others to assist you. Ask friends, family, and colleagues for their help. It's best to send emails to a wide range of accounts to establish a positive reputation with different email service providers.
Remember that engagement is crucial. Encourage recipients to open, reply to, and mark your messages as important. If a message lands in the spam folder, ask them to move it to the inbox and mark it as safe.
Although this manual approach is free, it requires time, patience, and understanding friends and family.
Using automated email warm-up tools
If you want to save time sending and responding to warm-up emails, you can opt for an email warm-up tool that automates the process. Simply connect your email account to the tool and let it do the work while your sender reputation improves.
Although this method is quick and convenient, it is crucial to select the right tool. Before choosing an email warm-up service, consider the following questions:
- Do they use legitimate accounts to enhance your reputation, or do they rely on free or temporary email accounts?
- Do they send meaningful messages, or do they use unintelligible text?
- Do they only send and receive messages, or do they also ensure active engagement with those messages?
Each of these factors can significantly impact your sender reputation.
Continue your email marketing efforts
Moving forward with your email outreach requires some patience and strategy. We want to remind you that it typically takes about 2-3 weeks for your new email account to be prepared for outreach. However, if you consistently follow a sending schedule and prioritize positive engagement, you can establish a strong sender reputation more quickly.
It's important to note that this doesn't mean you should start a full-scale cold outreach immediately after the initial setup period. Rushing to send a large number of emails right away can lead to deliverability issues and potentially harm your reputation.
To avoid these pitfalls, there are two key considerations:
First, gradually increase the volume of emails you send to avoid triggering any red flags. Following the schedule mentioned earlier allows you to steadily increase the number of daily sent emails, ensuring a safe and scalable outreach approach.
Secondly, even after you've achieved your desired delivery rate, it's crucial to continue the warm-up process. By incorporating automated messages that generate high engagement alongside your cold emails, you maintain a consistent sender score and counterbalance any potential fluctuations.
By following these steps, you can effectively navigate the complexities of email outreach and maximize your success.
it is important to note that email warm-up is a crucial aspect of any email campaign, despite not being the foremost consideration in sales outreach. By incorporating email warm-up before and during cold outreach, it enhances the chances of delivering emails successfully and increases the likelihood of prospects actually viewing them.
