Importance of IP Warming For Email Marketing

Have you noticed that sometimes a huge bunch of emails that are sent to you often end up in your junk or spam folder while some find their way to your inbox? The reason why it does so is because of a bad IP reputation. A prerequisite to creating a great email marketing campaign is to build a credible reputation for the IP address that will be used to send the emails out.

This is where IP warming comes in. So what is it, why is it important, and how can you do it? Let’s take a look:

What is IP Warming?

IP warming is a process used by email marketers to gradually increase the volume of emails sent from a new IP address in order to establish a good sending reputation and avoid email deliverability issues. This is done by starting with a low volume of emails and gradually increasing the volume over a period of time, while monitoring for any deliverability issues such as bounces or complaints. 

By establishing a good sending reputation, email marketers can improve their email deliverability rates and ensure that their messages are reaching their intended recipients.

Why do you need to establish a reputation with ISPs?

This is important because ISPs use reputation systems to help determine whether to deliver an email to a recipient’s inbox or to a spam folder. They use a variety of factors to determine an email sender’s reputation, including the sending IP address, domain, and the content of the email.

When a new IP address is first used to send an email, the ISP has no way of determining the sender’s reputation, so emails sent from the new IP address are more likely to be marked as spam. By gradually increasing the volume of emails sent from a new IP address and monitoring for any deliverability issues, the sender can establish a good sending reputation with the ISP, which will increase the chances that their emails will be delivered to the inbox.

Additionally, ISPs also track the number of spam complaints, bounces, and feedback loop, if the rate of these metrics are high for an IP,  they’ll consider this IP as a potential spammer and will penalize them by either blocking or sending the mails to spam folders.

So how do we do it?

Let’s split the activity into six steps:

1. Start with a low volume of emails

When first using a new IP address to send email, it’s important to start with a low volume of emails to give the ISP time to evaluate the sending patterns and ensure that there are no issues.

2. Monitor for deliverability issues

When sending emails from a new IP address, it’s important to monitor for any deliverability issues, such as bounces or complaints. This will allow you to quickly address any problems and improve your sending reputation with the ISP.

3. Gradually increase the volume of emails

Once the low volume of emails has been sent and no deliverability issues have been identified, you can gradually increase the volume of emails sent from the IP address over a period of time. This will help to establish a good sending reputation with the ISP and improve the chances that your emails will be delivered to the inbox.

4. Use confirmed opt-in

A confirmed opt-in process ensures that you are sending emails only to those who have explicitly requested it; this will decrease the number of bounces and complaints and will improve your reputation with ISPs.

5. Keep track of your sending metrics

It is important to track your sending metrics such as bounce rate, complaint rate, inbox placement rate and engagement rate, if these metrics are high, it will be a good indication that you need to improve your email sending or list quality.

6. Be prepared for the long term

IP warming is not a one-time process, but it’s an ongoing effort to maintain your reputation with ISPs. Keep an eye on your sending metrics and continuously improve your sending practices, list quality and email content to maintain a good reputation with ISPs.

Conclusion

By starting with a low volume of emails and gradually increasing the volume over a period of time, monitoring for any deliverability issues, using confirmed opt-in, keeping track of your sending metrics, and being prepared for the long term, email marketers can improve their chances of having their emails delivered to the inbox rather than being marked as spam. 

It’s essential to understand that email reputation management is an ongoing process and it’s important to always be aware of the sending metrics and adjust your strategy accordingly. In general, it’s always best to consult with your email service provider to ensure that you’re following best practices and staying in compliance with their policies.  

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