Learn about how to warm your new IP address to ensure email is delivered.
Email warm up establishes and protects sender reputation for an email account by gradually increasing sending limits. To ensure high deliverability and avoid spam filters, your IP address must be viewed as trustworthy and must be warmed up to build its reputation.
What is an IP? Why warm it up?
An IP address is the unique identifier of your email domain. Your IP address’ reputation is crucial to your ability to send email at volume. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Gmail and Yahoo use your IP to track sending behavior and assign reputation scores.
IP warming involves gradually increasing the number of emails from a new IP over time, allowing ISPs to evaluate whether your sending practices are credible before delivering to your entire list.
How to warm up your IP
To increase your email reputation, follow these steps during the IP warmup process:
1. Start small: Begin by sending your initial campaigns to reliable email addresses, such as internal accounts or personal email addresses. This helps minimize bounces and spam reports.
2. Increase gradually: Follow a conservative timeline based on your total email volume. It may help to prepare an IP warming schedule that outlines how many emails you can send, increasing by a small amount each day.
For example, start by sending to 50 email addresses on day 1, 100 on day 2, 200 on day 3 and so on. Dutchie helps protect your email sender reputation during warmup by gradually increasing the max number of emails per day. This gradual increase simulates realistic email engagement and helps to establish a reputation with ISPs as a legitimate email sender.
You can use this detailed IP warmup schedule as your guide:
Day 1 - 50 emails
Day 2 - 100 emails
Day 3 - 500 emails
Day 4 - 1,000 emails
Day 5 - 2,000 emails
Day 6 - 4,000 emails
Day 7 - 8,000 emails
Day 8 - 16,000 emails
Day 9 - 25,000 emails
Day 10 - 35,000 emails
Note: You are able to see the campaign size in the Campaign Builder.
3. Monitor engagement: Keep a close eye on key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and delivery rates. This data will help you gauge the effectiveness of your warmup efforts.
4. Maintain consistency: Ensure that you send emails steadily during the warmup period to build a reliable reputation.
5. Be patient: The warmup process typically takes around 30 days. Consistency and patience are key.
Important
Avoid going 30 or more days without sending emails from your IP address, as this may require you to restart the warmup process. Create automated campaigns for triggers like upcoming birthdays or post-purchase to maintain usage.
Warmup best practices
To maximize the effectiveness of your IP warmup, consider the following best practices:
Select permission based content: Welcome emails are particularly effective due to their clear permission and high engagement rates.
Target engaged users: Start by sending emails to your most active subscribers; then gradually include less engaged recipients.
Setup automated campaigns: Create automated campaigns for post-purchase, new loyalty sign-ups, upcoming birthdays, and other events.
Evaluate content quality: Ensure that your subject lines are clear and that your email content provides value to recipients.
Adjust as needed: If you encounter delivery issues, be prepared to slow down your sending rate until this improves.
Top tips for repairing and maintaining reputation
1. Start cautiously: Repairing a damaged reputation can take four weeks or more, so it's essential to approach the process with care.
2. Use data to optimize: Continuously monitor your email metrics to identify areas for improvement in your email program.
3. Follow best practices: Regularly assess engagement, personalize content, and remove inactive recipients from your list.