IP Warming and Why It's Important For New Mail Servers

What is IP Warming? 

▪ Process to establish a positive sender reputation for your IP address(es)

▪ Other benefits: – Cleanse your list of contacts (bounces, etc) – Check best practices in list management. Sending Reputation ▪ Every sender (IP address) of email has a reputation, based on historical email behavior ▪ Reputation is measured and published by ISPs in the form of a Sender Score

▪ ISPs perform reputation filtering Key Factors ▪ Complaints – Most important factor: Human response to unwanted mail

▪ Bouncebacks – High bouncebacks signal bad lists/list management practices – Spammers send to as many addresses as possible:

▪ No regard for validity of addresses

▪ Volume is the only objective – Hard for receiver to differentiate between bad list management and actual spamming

▪ SPAM Traps – Valid email addresses used to catch SPAM – Hidden, therefore only found via harvesting – ALL email sent to a SPAM trap is unsolicited – Created primarily by ISPs & anti SPAM organization

Why is IP Warming Important? 

▪ Receivers heavily scrutinize email from new IPs as they do not know if it is legitimate

▪ Warming allows for slow volume increase, as well as clearing out list issues – Low initial volume helps avoid volume blocks – Limits complaint likelihood (best contacts, targeted campaign) – Bouncebacks on low volumes get less notice – Active contact requirement eliminates SPAM traps

▪ Builds solid reputation

Methodology

Step 1 

Check your IPs and domain names for blacklisting at www.mxtoolbox.com

Step 2 

Build a distribution list of contacts who have explicitly opted in

Step 3 

Build a distribution list of your subscribers who always open your newsletters or mails. Minimum 500 subscribers

Step 4 

Create some account on Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and other Big ESPs. Minimum 25 accounts on each ESP.

Step 5 

Create your newsletter content and links and test to send on your own Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and other email addresses. If have any troubles than fix it.

Also test the links used in your newsletter for black listing at www.mxtoolbox.com

Step 6 

Now start sending your newsletter to your opt-in list, Subscribers list and your Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and other accounts as per below schedule.

1st Week 

Send 250 mails daily on you mixed email addresses to your opt-in list, Subscribers list and your Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and other accounts After sending the mails, login to your own Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and other accounts. - If mails landed in to Spam box, then marked them “Not Spam” - Reply to your own newsletters/mails from these accounts to show the more trust and engagement to these ESPs.

2nd Week 

Send 500 mails daily on you mixed email addresses to your opt-in list, Subscribers list and your Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and other accounts and follow 1st week’s steps.

3rd Week 

Send 1000 mails daily on you mixed email addresses to your opt-in list, Subscribers list and your Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and other accounts and follow 1st week’s steps.

4th Week 

Send 2000 mails daily on you mixed email addresses to your opt-in list, Subscribers list and your Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and other accounts and follow 1st week’s steps.

List Criteria 

▪ Large lists make it easier to identify and address issues
 – No matter the list size, still able to address invalid email addresses, complaints, and Spam Traps in list

▪ List should be clean in order to minimize hard bounce-backs
 – Possible to have high bounce rate if the previous email provider (where applicable) did not have had a robust bounce-back system

▪ List should not contain opt outs/unsubscribes

▪ If possible, target recent contacts (those who have been sent email in the past three months)

Content 

▪ Email content should have clear, targeted messages
 – Avoid using time-sensitive emails since the warming process requires minimum 30-day period
 – Use simple HTML/Template or Plain Text; avoid complex code, excessive images, or CSS
 – Include messaging that contacts expect to see
 – Use familiar domains/branding – Examples:

1. Welcome emails 
2. Update Your Email Preferences campaign

Monitoring 

▪ Prior to sending the first batch, run a General Deliver-ability test to be used as a baseline report
▪ Check for any IP blocks
 – then address as needed ▪ After each batch send:
 – Check the Bounce-back History report for comments like ‘SPAM’ or ‘Blocked for Abuse’
 – If bounce rate exceeds 10%, consider revising the list before proceeding with the campaign
 – Check the SPAM Unsubscribe report for complaints
 – After two weeks, run another General Deliver-ability test to check progress
 – After the IP warming process is complete, run another General Deliver-ability report to see the final results