What is the best approach for warming up an IP address for email sending?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Litmus shares that segmentation is vital, advising senders to initially target highly engaged subscribers and then gradually introduce less active recipients as the IP's reputation improves.
Email marketer from Email Geeks recommends throttling sends by hour and splitting up a good base of engagers across the first few days to avoid repeating content, emphasizing that all recipients should be highly engaged.
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests ignoring specific frequency recommendations, sticking to your usual schedule, and ensuring every recipient does not receive the same email more than once.
Email marketer from Email Geeks recommends sending during warmup as you would after warmup to set the right expectations.
Email marketer from Reddit User emphasizes the need to avoid sudden volume spikes during the warmup, suggesting a gradual increase to prevent triggering spam filters and damaging IP reputation.
Email marketer from Gmass states focus on engagement by sending to people most likely to open and click emails and advises that it is better to send smaller amounts of emails to highly engaged list
Email marketer from Quora User emphasizes setting realistic timelines for IP warmup, noting that it can take several weeks to months to fully establish a positive reputation, especially for larger sending volumes.
Email marketer from Email Geeks advises spreading sends across the day where possible, especially for non-time-sensitive emails, to avoid throttling and prioritizing the best recipients in the initial hours.
Email marketer from StackOverflow User advises starting with a very small number of emails per day (e.g., 50-100) and gradually increasing based on positive engagement signals.
Email marketer from Digital Marketer shares that to warm up your IP focus on your known-good segments because you know they are going to be receptive to your message.
Email marketer from Email on Acid recommends using high-quality, engaging content during IP warmup to encourage positive interactions and signals to ISPs that the mail is valuable and not spam.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that consistent sending volume is key, suggesting starting small (e.g., a few hundred emails) and gradually increasing daily while closely monitoring deliverability metrics like bounce rates and spam complaints.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Spam Resource explains that the initial recipients during IP warmup should be those with a history of positive engagement, as this sends positive signals to mailbox providers.
Expert from Email Geeks recommends using the content you’re going to send long term for warming up, ensuring the first sends are to positively engaged and non-complaining recipients.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests starting small (under 5000 emails a day) and increasing by 10-20% daily for the first week or so, monitoring closely, and doubling after 2-3 weeks, while watching Yahoo's TSS04 as a sign of warming up too fast.
Expert from Word to the Wise states that during the IP warmup process, senders should mail more frequently than normal, but only to engaged recipients. This ensures that you're getting feedback and interaction during the process and also helps you reach full volume and cadence faster.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that IP warmup involves introducing your sending domain/IP to email filters by gradually increasing volume from your current setup, focusing on engaged users who will interact positively.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from SparkPost explains that a good IP warmup strategy involves gradually increasing sending volume, starting with your most engaged users, to build a positive sender reputation with ISPs.
Documentation from AWS explains that AWS also recommends starting with your most engaged users, keep volumes low, and follow your normal email schedule.
Documentation from SendGrid explains the importance of monitoring IP reputation through tools like Google Postmaster Tools, as this provides insights into deliverability issues and spam filtering.
Documentation from Google explains that Google Postmaster Tools can be used to analyze delivery data, including spam rates, IP reputation, and feedback loop information, which helps identify and resolve deliverability issues during IP warmup.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that Microsoft's Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) provides data on IP health and complaint rates specific to Microsoft email services like Outlook and Hotmail, which is crucial for monitoring deliverability during warmup.