How to warm up a new domain when moving email marketing and transactional emails to it?
Summary
What email marketers say15Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Reddit user email_pro emphasizes the importance of separating transactional and marketing emails during the warm-up process. They suggest focusing on warming up the marketing domain first and gradually introducing transactional emails after the marketing domain has established a good reputation.
Email marketer from Mailjet recommends starting with a small batch of your most engaged subscribers, then gradually increasing the volume daily. Segment the email list and start sending to the most active subscribers first, people who have opened or clicked on an email in the past 30 days.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that domain warm-ups don't take long if subscribers don't complain. 30 days is achievable, but depends on subscriber behavior.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that transactional mail shouldn't need a warm-up if it is truly transactional, because engagement rates will be higher. Dedicated IPs for transactional are recommended.
Email marketer from GMass explains when warming up a new domain for cold email, start slow and ramp up gradually, sending a few emails per day initially and increasing the volume over time. Focus on sending high-quality, personalized emails to increase engagement and improve your sender reputation.
Email marketer from Hunter.io lists four factors to consider when warming: Consistency, Volume, Engagement, and Authenticity. This process is important to build trust with the ESP.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests pre-warning engaged subscribers about the rebrand with a re-opt in opportunity and to whitelist new domain/IPs.
Email marketer from Rejoiner emphasizes focusing on a small but highly-engaged segment of users to start with. The recipients in your initial sending group should have opened or clicked an email from you in the past 30 days.
Email marketer from Lemlist shares it is best to warm up an email address so that Google or Outlook does not flag you as spam. When warming up the email address, slowly introduce it and warm it up for at least a week. This should give the IP reputation and validity you want to land in inboxes.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum suggests using a double opt-in process to ensure that subscribers are genuinely interested in receiving emails. They also recommend cleaning the email list regularly to remove inactive or invalid email addresses, to ensure deliverability for the good addresses.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests that unless the new domain won't be used for anything else put transactional and marketing on separate subdomains.
Email marketer from SendGrid advises to gradually increase email volume to avoid being flagged as spam. They recommend starting with small sends and doubling the volume every few days, monitoring engagement metrics such as open rates and click-through rates. Send consistently and avoid large spikes in volume.
Email marketer from Woodpecker shares that it is best practice when doing cold email that you increase the number of emails sent each day until you reach the desired amount. They also explain to ensure that you are not landing in spam that you have personalized content and a valid reason for reaching out.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests separating transactional emails to a different subdomain from marketing emails.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains all image hosting URLs align and don't think it matters, but to ensure there aren't any DNS overlaps.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise emphasizes starting with low volume and high engagement, focusing on subscribers who are most likely to interact positively with your emails. She also shares that it is important to monitor feedback loops and analyze deliverability data to adjust the warm-up strategy as needed.
Expert from Email Geeks reminds that CAN-SPAM requires unsubscribe links to work for 30 days post send, and CASL requires them for 60 days.
Expert from Spam Resource suggests planning your email marketing campaign, setting realistic goals, and knowing your target audience before beginning the domain warm-up process.
Expert from Spam Resource highlights the necessity of IP warm-up to establish a sending reputation with ISPs by gradually increasing volume and maintaining low complaint rates.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains that warming up a new domain involves gradually increasing the volume of emails sent from the new domain to build a positive reputation with email providers. Start with sending emails to highly engaged users and monitor deliverability metrics closely.
Documentation from AWS SES explains a solid IP warming strategy should involve: Planning the warm-up, Gradually increasing sending volumes, and Monitoring and adjusting the process. This is important to ensure you establish a strong reputation as a legitimate email sender and ensure that your emails reach the recipients' inboxes.
Documentation from Microsoft emphasizes the importance of establishing a positive sending reputation for new domains. This involves authenticating email with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, as well as monitoring bounce rates and spam complaints to ensure optimal deliverability. Sending consistent volume is mentioned.
Documentation from SparkPost explains the most critical elements to warming include: Setting up feedback loops, sending to engaged users, not sending email blasts, and using engagement to increase volume.