‍Guide to Unlocking the Power of Email Warm Up

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In email marketing, your domain reputation is like your credit score—it can either open doors to inboxes or shut them, diverting your messages to spam folders (or completely block them from the server).

A trusted domain reputation signals email service providers (ESPs) that your messages are trustworthy and welcomed by recipients.

However, a poor domain reputation can lead to low open rates, diminished ROI, and ultimately, damage to your brand’s credibility.

Let's quickly explore the key factors that impact your domain reputation before we dive into how email warm-up can help build it

9 Factors Directly Impacting Domain Reputation

1. Domain Age

Fresh domains lack history, which can be a red flag for spam filters if you start sending in high volumes right away.

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Tip: Allow your domain to rest at least 30 days before sending your first email campaign.  Also, start by sending in small batches of email and gruadually increase your volume as you build a positive reputation.

Using automated email warm up tools can help you establish credibility over time (more on it in the next section).

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2. Authentication Protocols

Proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is a requirement and helps establish legitimacy

Tip:  Ensure your domain is fully authenticated by setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records.

- Guide on setting up DMARC and DKIM

- Guide to setting up MX Records and SPF

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3. Email Content

Using certain keywords or phrases can trigger spam filters, affecting how your emails are perceived.

Tip: Avoid using overly promotional or spammy language.  Focus on creating value-rich content that resonates with your audience.

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Take a look at below for examples of potential spam words and phrases to avoid.

4. Engagement Metrics‍

Opens, clicks, and replies are positive indicators to ESPs that people want your emails, which enhances your reputation.

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Tip: Try improving engagement by using personalized content, compelling subject lines, and clear calls to action.

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5. Sending History

Having a history of sending emails consistently with predictable sending patterns helps establish reliability.

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Tip: Avoid sending large bursts of emails infrequently. Instead, maintain a regular sending schedule (daily, once a week, twice a week, etc.).  

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If you’re running campaigns, plan them in advance so you don’t overwhelm your audience with irregular surges of emails…..and yes, warm up can help with establishing a sending history as well.

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6. Spam Complaint Rates

‍High rates of recipients marking emails as spam negatively impact reputation

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Tip: Only send emails to people who have explicitly opted in. Make your unsubscribe link easily accessible, and regularly check your email content to ensure it aligns with what your subscribers signed up for.

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7. Spam Traps & Blacklists

Hitting spam traps email addresses or being on a blacklist (blocklist) indicates poor list hygiene and severely damages reputation.  

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Tip: Implement the following list cleaning practices:

• Use email cleaning and verification tools to weed out invalid addresses and protect your reputation.
• Remove inactive subscribers who haven’t engaged in a while.

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8. Bounce Rates

Excessive hard bounces due to invalid email addresses harm reputation by signaling to email providers that your list is outdated.

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Tip: If you're seeing high bounce rates, then it means your list is old and needs to be cleaned. Make sure to remove and email addresses that cause hard bounces.

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9. Unsubscribe rates

A high unsubscribe rate can indicate that your content is not resonating with your audience or that you are sending too frequently.

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Tip: Segment your audience to deliver more personalized, targeted content that resonates with each group.

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How Email Warm Up Builds Domain Reputation

Email warm up tools like Mailivery play a pivotal role in building a trusted domain reputation.

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By connecting your email account to a network of inboxes, warm up tools help simulate genuine engagement, which is crucial for establishing a trusted domain reputation.

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How is Mailivery establishing positive domain reputation?

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Provides Network of real interactions

• Mailivery operates a vast network of inboxes across major consumer and business email providers such as Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google.
• This network facilitates guaranteed positive interactions, including opening emails, replying to them, and moving them from the spam folder to the inbox.

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Builds Sending History

• Connecting your domain’s inbox to Mailivery integrates it into our large peer-to-peer network of real inboxes.
• Engagements through this network help create and maintain a positive sending history, essential for building trust with email service providers.

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Consistently Delivers Positive Engagement

• Continuous interaction with Mailivery’s network ensures ongoing positive email activities.
• These activities demonstrate to ESPs that your emails are valued and interacted with by recipients, which enhances your domain's reputation.

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Automates The Entire Warm Up Process:

• Mailivery automates the email warm up process, systematically increasing the volume and frequency of emails sent.
• This gradual increase is crucial for new domains or after significant changes in email strategy, as it helps establish a stable reputation without triggering spam filters.

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Final Thoughts

Following the steps above will help you quickly establish a positive reputation, but reputation isn’t a one time thing- You’ll have to regularly keep an eye on it and make appropriate adjustments.

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Here’s a few things to keep in mind when it comes to domain reputation:

• Monitor blacklists and hard bounces
  • Regularly check if your domain has been blacklisted and take steps to rectify this immediately.
  • If you start seeing a spike in hard bounces, remove those contacts from your list immediately (a good email marketing platform should automatically remove them for you)

• Monitor engagement rates and make proper adjustments to your email campaigns
  • If you’re getting low engagement rates, take another look at your content and check for spam words.
  • Remove inactive subscribers who haven’t engaged in a while.
  • Get a quick boost in reputation by increasing warm up speed and reply rates in Mailivery

• Always keep warm up on
  • Keep using warm up services to ensure your emails consistently get positive engagement and keep building a positive sending history
  • Monitor your domain health directly in the system and keep an eye on your warm up performance

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If want to try Mailivery for email warm up before committing, you can start with our Free Forever Plan, and then scale your warm up when ready.