What steps should I take when changing my domain name for email marketing?

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum suggests considering using a subdomain for your email marketing activities. This allows you to isolate your email traffic from your main domain and protect your primary domain's reputation. They recommend setting up separate authentication records for the subdomain.

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor Blog explains the importance of warming up your new domain. They suggest starting with low volumes and gradually increasing the number of emails sent each day. They also recommend sending to your most engaged subscribers first to build a positive sender reputation.

Email marketer from MailerLite Blog explains that changing your domain impacts email deliverability. They suggest warming up the new domain, monitoring your sender reputation, and updating your email authentication records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). They also recommend gradually transitioning your email volume to the new domain and segmenting your audience.

Email marketer from Email Geeks recommends informing audiences about the domain change before it happens, suggesting to tell users to add the new email address to their contact list to avoid missing updates and prevent spam complaints.

Email marketer from Email Geeks shares their experience of switching domains in 2022 and keeping the same dedicated IP address for email, which resulted in no problems. They highlight that the IP address is more important than the domain name for email deliverability, while SEO is a bigger challenge for a new domain name.

Email marketer from Mailjet highlights the benefits of segmenting your audience. Start off sending to the most engaged contacts and measure how they respond. Then incrementally increase segment sizes as you see more and more positive results.

Email marketer from Reddit user u/EmailPro shares that actively monitoring your sender reputation after changing domains is extremely important. They suggest using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Sender Score to track your reputation and identify any potential issues. They also recommend addressing any negative feedback promptly.

Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that any new domain is likely to have its volume capacity significantly reduced at most mailbox providers until it is at least 6 months old. They also suggest keeping the same domain for email and buying an easier-to-say domain, setting up a redirect to the existing site.

Email marketer from Email Geeks advises not using the domain right away and, when starting, targeting the most engaged user base first in small volumes to encourage better positive reputation.

Email marketer from Sendinblue Blog recommends notifying your subscribers in advance about the domain change. They suggest sending a series of emails explaining the change and asking them to update their contact lists. This helps prevent confusion and reduces the risk of spam complaints.

Email marketer from Quora shares the importance of transitioning your email sends gradually. Start by sending to a small, highly engaged segment of your list, and slowly increase the volume as you monitor your deliverability metrics. This allows you to identify and address any potential issues before they impact your entire list.

Expert from Email Geeks suggests running both domains in email at the same time and slowly moving volume from the old to the new domain over time. They also recommend introducing the concept of the domain change to people and slowly moving them over to avoid impacting existing reach and daily volumes/fundraising efforts.

Expert from Email Geeks recommends resting the domain for at least 30 days before using it.

Expert from Email Geeks recommends buying the new domain but not using it for email right away. When swapping it in for email, domain warming is needed, similar to IP warming, noting that the age of the domain since purchase is a big deal.

Expert from Word to the Wise (Laura Atkins) emphasizes the importance of a planned sunsetting strategy for the old domain. This includes continuing to monitor it for a period, maintaining MX records to receive bounce messages, and providing clear instructions on any auto-replies to update contact information.

Expert from Spamresource.com recommends monitoring blocklists, as this step is crucial when changing domains. The expert advises regularly checking your new domain against popular blocklists to identify any unexpected listings, allowing for prompt action to maintain deliverability.

Documentation from Microsoft support explains the steps involved in migrating your email accounts to the new domain. This includes creating new user accounts, transferring existing email data, and updating your email client settings. They recommend planning your migration carefully to minimize disruption to your users.

Documentation from DMARC.org explains about implementing DMARC policy for your new domain, in order to help protect your domain from spoofing and phishing attacks. They recommend starting with a 'p=none' policy to monitor your email traffic and gradually increasing the stringency of the policy. They emphasize the importance of analyzing DMARC reports to identify and resolve any authentication issues.

Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains how to update your SPF records to include the new domain. They provide detailed instructions on how to modify your DNS settings and ensure that your emails are properly authenticated. They emphasize the importance of including all sending sources in your SPF record.

Documentation from SparkPost support highlights the need to monitor closely the new domain. It suggests creating dashboards and monitoring all deliverability metrics such as open rates, bounce rates and spam complaint rates, alongside response from mailbox providers. If any issues are spotted, correct immediately to avoid any long-term negative impacts.

Documentation from RFC explains about how to implement and test DKIM for your new domain. This involves generating a new DKIM key pair, adding the public key to your DNS records, and configuring your email server to sign outgoing messages with the private key. They also recommend testing your DKIM configuration to ensure that it is working correctly.