How should ESPs warm up a large number of new IPs on shared pools while avoiding Spamhaus listings?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares the gradual rollout strategy is critical. Start with a small percentage of your total sending volume and gradually increase it daily or weekly, while carefully watching your metrics.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum suggests to try to isolate larger clients to dedicated IPs. This ensures their email marketing practices don't impact the reputation of the shared pools for other clients.
Email marketer from Email Geeks advises to stop trying to warm up so many IPs at once and validates Chace's point about likely hitting spam traps, which can significantly impact reputation during IP warm-up.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares the method of warming up 50 IPs at once by breaking the 50 IPs into 10 groups of 5 and warming them up with messages from 10 different senders.
Email marketer from Neil Patel's Blog explains that IP warming involves gradually increasing the volume of emails sent from a new IP address to establish a positive sending reputation with ISPs. It's crucial for avoiding spam filters and ensuring emails reach the inbox.
Email marketer from Litmus states that keeping the email volume relatively consistent is good. Avoid big changes or erratic sending behavior, as these fluctuations can look suspicious to mailbox providers, resulting in issues with spamhaus listings.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is a MUST. This helps prove your legitimacy and avoids being flagged as a potential spam source. Ensure they are configured correctly.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that spreading emails over many IPs can be seen as snowshoeing by Spamhaus, especially if hitting spam traps. Suggests sending to high-quality addresses during early warmup.
Email marketer from Reddit suggests that with shared IP pools, segmenting clients based on sending behavior and reputation is key. Assigning new IPs to low-risk clients initially can help establish a positive reputation.
Email marketer from SendGrid shares that to avoid spam traps during IP warm-up, ensure your email list is clean and up-to-date. Regularly remove inactive subscribers and use double opt-in to confirm subscriber interest.
Email marketer from Validity shares that it is very important to actively monitor the reputation of IPs using blocklist monitoring tools in order to identify deliverability issues early on. Take immediate action, or you risk getting Spamhaus or similar.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that segmenting your email list and warming up IPs with your most engaged subscribers is key. These subscribers are more likely to open and click your emails, sending positive signals to mailbox providers.
What the experts say7Expert opinions
Expert from Spam Resource explains that Spamhaus listings often stem from compromised systems sending spam, rather than intentional spamming. Securing systems is crucial.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that the described behavior looks like snowshoeing and spamtraps are seldom the direct cause of the listing - it's the poor behavior. Also explains that "warmup" isn't magic, it's about introducing providers to good behavior through real traffic.
Expert from Email Geeks shares to send real traffic to real recipients at each mailbox provider to build reputation. This avoids sudden spikes that look like bot or snowshoe behaviour.
Expert from Word to the Wise states that DMARC implementation is vital for protecting your domain reputation and ensuring that unauthorized emails are not delivered as originating from your domain. Implement this ASAP.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that most of the larger providers use block lists in some fashion as part of the filter decision-making process or to block mail.
Expert from Email Geeks recommends checking for misconfigurations on new IPs as a cause for CSS listing, while also acknowledging that mistakes can happen. Also re-iterates that spreading a small mail stream across many IPs looks like snowshoe behaviour.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that a solid IP warmup strategy involves gradually increasing email volume with a focus on sending to engaged subscribers first, monitoring response and engagement rates to inform adjustments to sending patterns.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Amazon Web Services states that when warming up a new IP address, start by sending small volumes of email to engaged subscribers. Gradually increase the volume over time, monitoring deliverability and engagement metrics closely to adjust the warm-up strategy as needed.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools explains that monitoring your IP reputation through tools like Postmaster Tools is crucial during IP warm-up. It allows you to identify and address any deliverability issues proactively before they impact your sending reputation.
Documentation from Microsoft states that using Microsoft's Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) can help monitor your sending reputation with Microsoft email services, providing valuable insights into deliverability issues during IP warm-up.
Documentation from Spamhaus explains that to avoid CSS (Composite Blocking List) listings, ensure your IPs are not exhibiting suspicious behavior or misconfigurations. Check for open relays, malware activity, and compromised systems.