Is domain warming effective for boosting email deliverability?
Summary
What email marketers say13Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Stack Overflow shares that one of the best things to help deliverability is to 'warm up' your IP address by slowly increasing the amount of mail that you send each day.
Marketer from Email Geeks mentions an email hosting provider that automatically blocks mail warming seed addresses at the SMTP level.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests warming up a domain independently by sending emails to engaged, opted-in recipients to build reputation quickly.
Email marketer from GlockApps Blog answers that domain warming is important because when you start sending email from a new domain or IP address, mailbox providers don't know who you are. You need to build a reputation by gradually increasing your sending volume and engagement to avoid being flagged as spam.
Email marketer from Mailgun Blog shares that domain reputation is crucial for deliverability. Domain warming helps build a positive reputation by gradually increasing sending volume, which ISPs see as a sign of legitimate email activity.
Email marketer from Woodpecker.co explains that domain warming includes sending test emails, personalizing content, and tracking replies. They help gradually build your domain authority.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that warming up a domain is crucial. Start with sending small volumes to engaged users, and slowly increase the volume. This helps establish a positive reputation and improves deliverability. It's all about building trust with ISPs.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that messages from many domain warming vendors are easily identified by subject, allowing for accurate detection of accounts about to send unsolicited emails. Also that these services dont work in the long term and negative engagement will always win out.
Email marketer from Digital Marketer shares that to warm up a cold email list, segment the list by engagement. Start by sending your first campaign to engaged subscribers only (those with “High” engagement). These are your best subscribers and can give you an immediate lift on your results. From there, you’ll want to focus on the second segment – your “Medium” engagement subscribers. And Finally, those deemed as “Low” engagement should not be emailed, these can ruin your sender reputation.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign shares that warming your domain or IP address helps build a sender reputation with ISPs. By sending emails slowly over time, you prove you’re a legitimate sender and can improve your email deliverability rate.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that if an abuse desk discovers the use of domain warming services, punishment is very likely.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains email warmup is the process of building a good reputation with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) by gradually increasing the volume of emails you send from a new IP address.
Email marketer from SendGrid Blog explains that IP warming is a critical process that involves gradually increasing the volume of emails sent from a new IP address. This helps establish a positive sender reputation with ISPs and improves deliverability rates.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks explains that domain warming services might offer short-term benefits by warming the IP, but the positive effects are negated if the mail being sent is unwanted. She emphasizes that domain warming is not a long-term solution and is a waste of money if the mail quality is poor. Further she suggests isolating sales/outbound prospecting emails to its own Google Account and domain to avoid affecting opt-in emails.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that warming an IP address helps avoid spam filters as sending a large volume of email with a new IP will automatically get filtered to the junk folder. They also mention not purchasing IPs that used to send email.
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that IP warming is a key element to success with deliverability, and gives guidance on how to set up an IP Warming schedule and ramp it up.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft Docs answers that domain and IP warming can help establish credibility with Outlook.com. Gradually increasing sending volume allows Microsoft's systems to learn about your sending patterns and trust your emails.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools shares that establishing a sending history by gradually increasing email volume can improve deliverability. This helps Google learn about your sending patterns and identify you as a legitimate sender.
Documentation from Amazon Web Services shares that you should gradually ramp up your sending volume. As a general rule, if you're starting to send email from a new IP address, you should start by sending a small number of messages, and then slowly increase the amount you send. Also, consistently sending the same volume of messages can make you look like a bot to ISPs.
Documentation from SparkPost shares that after purchasing a new dedicated IP, you must "warm" the IP address. Warming an IP address is the process of gradually increasing the volume of email that you send through that IP address over a period of time until you reach your desired sending volume.