Tip of the Day
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There's nothing worse than an email going out and not being received or opened. Yet email marketing is one of the greatest ways to connect a business with its audience. Whether it accidentally ends up in spam or the sender has not established enough authority or credibility to warrant an opening, an email not opened is an opportunity lost.
This is where the email warm-up process comes into play. Email warm-up raises sender score and engagement rates over time for one specific sender so that in the future, the email not only lands in the intended person's inbox, but the person is more inclined to engage with the email.
Email warm-up refers to the gradual increase in sending volume from a new or cold email account. This, essentially, builds a positive relationship with email service providers (ESPs) and helps avoid spam filters. For example, when an email account transitions from 0 to 100 overnight, spam profiles take note and deliverability suffers.
Therefore, when a company successfully warms up an email account, it demonstrates to ESPs that it is a legitimate and reliable source of communication with reliable engagement. ESPs are more likely to view these accounts as trustworthy and legitimate sources of communication. This decreases blocking and filtering so that messages that need to get to a user's inbox do so.
Where email marketing metrics are concerned, there isn't one better than the open rate. If customers open the email, they must trust the sender. But if someone isn't opening emails, the sender has a problem with email deliverability, subject lines that don't entice, or a negative sender reputation. When senders fail to open emails or worse, when their emails get flagged as spam nearly every time there's an additional punishment to sender reputation on top of the issues to get future emails to an actual inbox. Yet with an email warm-up, brands can establish over time a positive, transactional sender reputation to avoid such penalties and hopefully enjoy engagement and subsequent open rates in the future.
The benefits of a good sender reputation are that your email goes to the inbox and not the spam folder, guaranteed. Email service providers factor in sender scores and authentication, plus engagement history, to determine whether or not they'll let an email through. Thus, an email address that's new or never used raises a red flag and is questionable; thus, it won't go through. Email warm-up creates a fabricated surge in volume over a scaling period of time so that ESPs become used to what typical "normal" activity would be versus spammy activity that skyrocketed overnight. In addition, the warm-up period suggests that for a period of time, only people engaging with the sender are receiving the emails, so any later opens, responses, or clicks are not frowny faces. Thus, these favorable engagement feedback loops only strengthen the sender score and allow for better delivery of future emails.
Email warm-up is not a task completed in one sitting. It unfolds gradually with intentionality. For instance, it starts with low volumes and only the most engaged are sent to and incrementally, over time, it builds from there. Then companies need to create a reputation, sending to those within the network with the assumption they will open and reply. The more they do reply, the more ESPs will view the sender as the real thing.
The next step is a slow increase in volume sent while maintaining engagement levels. The company should adjust the process for better deliverability by monitoring bounce rates, spam complaints, and additional engagement metrics. As long as a sender reputation is created, it can grow without fears of going to the spam folder.
Arguably, one of the biggest obstacles to email marketing is not being classified as spam. When an email domain that regularly sends out ten emails per day suddenly skyrockets to sending hundreds or thousands overnight, email service providers (ESPs) assume it's a scam. Thus, the domain's reputation is damaged, and the next email marketing campaign goes straight to the spam folder. Email warm-up prevents this type of knee-jerk activity that jeopardizes domains with terrible reputations. By gradually increasing volume and consistent engagement, brands can reduce spam complaints, boost domain reputation, and enhance inbox placement.
Properly warmed email accounts increase engagement, response rates, and email campaign return on investment. When people consistently receive emails landing in the inbox, they open them, read them, and respond. For companies that rely on cold emailing for acquisition outreach, marketing efforts, and retention, a warm sender reputation is critical. Furthermore, a warm sender reputation transfers to all future endeavors. Email service providers are more likely to trust those domains with a warm reputation in the past and consider them safe and beneficial for future endeavors. They are less likely to go to spam, allowing for sustained deliverability and effectiveness.
But post-email warm-up through cold outreach, ongoing upkeep is necessary since the sender reputation cannot be damaged. Companies need to track open rates, bounce rates, spam complaints, and engagement metrics to see if their emails are still effective. If open rates drop or if the emails go to the spam folder after being delivered to the inbox, there is a problem either with the email authentication, the domain sender reputation, or the list hygiene. Either way, changing the sending frequency, changing the message or the images, and/or cutting the cold leads can get the email performance back on track and back to engagement.
But in order to get email warm up to work, it's vital to have email authentication in place as well. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC ensure that email providers understand who the sender is and why they're sending an email. So many emails get rejected or sent to the spam box because providers can't tell who is sending the email or what their motives are, with less than favorable intentions. So set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC so that any and every email you send will instantly be authenticated upon receipt. Then the email warm up will create an even better sender reputation right from the get-go, ensuring that every subsequent email will hit the inbox every time.
For companies that use email for marketing, correspondence, or even just regular communication, high deliverability and engagement are crucial. Email warm-up best practices allow for effective email reputation, better open rates, and higher success of any one-off campaign. However, without warm-up, the company email will either end up in the junk folder, marked as spam, or redirected to a spam folder, which will reduce the success of any marketing or sales campaign in the future. Therefore, it is helpful to use email warm-up best practices so that any and all future correspondence is sure to be read and engaged with.
Email warm-up might be a one-and-done step, but sender reputation is something that is always changing. Brands that follow sender reputation best practices consistent quality content creation, engaged tracking, scheduled frequency will benefit from their email marketing efforts down the line. Ultimately, sender reputation built and maintained over time through a brand's email history will lead to fewer deliverability issues with subsequent campaigns, higher open rates, and enhanced engagement.
Brands that have zero complaints, low bounce rates, and high engagement across the board are the brands that will benefit from effective email marketing. Also, an email warm-up software for the long game means that as companies scale and branch out, they do so without the threat of getting blacklisted. Should companies scale, they can spread their email marketing efforts and still sleep well at night knowing their domain reputation remains consistent across all email platforms.
Email warm-up is necessary for any business that wants to be able to rely upon proper deliverability, increased open rates, and a solid sender reputation. This process gradually increases volumes sent over large spans of time and appropriately with no spam sending and to the wrong addresses to ensure email ends up where it's supposed to be within an inbox and not in spam. Once an email is warmed up successfully, a business can better engage with the previously contacted audience and is known as a reputable business.
This translates to more successful efforts and better marketing endeavors. Since the potential duration of email marketing and communication far exceeds any projected efforts of any business, those who champion the cause of email warm-up and subsequent authentication will always be ahead of the game and ahead of the competition, with their emails being read and acknowledged.
by G. Cavalcanti