What is the best strategy and duration for warming up a domain?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Neil Patel advises starting with transactional emails to build trust and then segment lists based on engagement to warm up the domain effectively. Focus on quality content and consistency.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum suggests starting with essential emails only, then increase volume slowly. Use a good tracking system to evaluate results.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that domain warming involves gradually increasing email volume to establish a positive sender reputation. Start with small, highly engaged segments, and monitor metrics like bounce rates and complaints. Gradually increase volume based on positive performance.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign advises maintain a consistent sending pattern with engaged contacts, gradually increasing the volume and frequency based on engagement metrics.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares advice for warming up a domain on already warm shared IPs. Start with the most active users based on opens, clicks, or other interactions, sending to a small group initially (50-100 recipients). Monitor SMTP replies, bounce rates, and complaint rates. Increase volume gradually, avoiding those inactive for 90+ days for the ramp-up. Notes that ramp-up should be only on very engaged/reactive recipients.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that the duration of domain warming depends on the size of the active recipients, the frequency of sends, and performance at each Mailbox Provider. It usually takes a few weeks, but it could be less, or much more.
Email marketer from Mailgun explains that a domain warm up needs to be slow and continuous. If deliverability issues are seen, you have to take a pause and change the strategy.
Email marketer from Gmass explains that domain warm up is about establishing trust with ISPs, and it should start with sending to those who've interacted with your emails before. Ramp up slowly over weeks.
Email marketer from MailerLite stresses to continuously clean your email list and segment your subscribers based on engagement. This ensures a slow and gradual increase of the domain reputation
Email marketer from Sendinblue shares that domain warming typically lasts 4-8 weeks, but depends on list size and engagement. Start with your most engaged subscribers and gradually add new ones to the sending schedule. Monitor deliverability to ensure good IP and domain reputation.
Email marketer from Reddit shares to start slow (50-100 emails/day) to most engaged users, and increase by 10-20% each day, based on open and click rates.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares their experience warming a domain on a dedicated IP, noting that Microsoft and Yahoo/AOL gained traction after 2-3 weeks of daily sends, while Gmail reputation varied for about 8 weeks. Their audience size was around 700k recently engaged records.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from SpamResource shares that IP warming should focus on volume and engagement. This expert mentions that it will take 30-60 days, with the first 2 weeks you should only be sending to smaller volumes to test out your infrastructure.
Expert from SpamResource explains that one key part of warming up is to avoid spam traps by cleaning your list and validating your email addresses. It's important to start with a clean list for the best results.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that IP warmup is about building a reputation with mailbox providers, so start with your best traffic (most engaged users) and then increase volume, until issues arise.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from AWS SES notes that they automatically increase your sending limits over time as you establish a good sending reputation.
Documentation from Microsoft indicates that a consistent sending pattern with good email authentication practices is crucial for establishing a positive reputation and avoiding spam filters. Warm up gradually by increasing volume over time.
Documentation from SparkPost suggests to segment the list based on engagement and to create a sending schedule that gradually increases sending volume over the course of a few weeks.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools states that it's important to gradually increase sending volume when starting with a new domain or IP to establish a reputation with Gmail. Avoid sudden spikes in volume that can trigger spam filters.