How to Warm Up Your Email Domain for Cold Outreach Campaigns

When you start a cold email outreach campaign, it’s important to warm up your email domain first. If you don’t, your emails may end up in spam folders, and your domain could get blacklisted. Let’s look at why domain warmup is essential and how to do it the right way.

What is Email Domain Warmup?

Email domain warmup is the process of gradually increasing the number of emails your domain sends. When you buy a new email domain, sending too many cold emails at once can harm your reputation with email providers, making it hard for your emails to land in inboxes. Warmup ensures that your domain gains trust over time.

Instead of manually sending hundreds of emails back and forth, you can automate the warmup process using tools like Instantly.

Why Is Domain Warmup Necessary?

1. Better Deliverability: If you don’t warm up your domain, your emails might not reach your prospects. A good warmup improves deliverability.
2. Improved Spam Score: Email providers like SpamAssassin check how “spammy” your domain is. A warmup routine improves your score, ensuring your emails aren’t flagged as spam.
3. Lower Bounce Rates: Email domains with positive reputations experience fewer bounces. A good warmup helps avoid high bounce rates, which can hurt your sender reputation.

How to Warm Up Your Email Domain with Instantly

Warming up a new email domain manually takes time. Instantly can automate this for you. Here’s how it works:

1. Choose Your Email Accounts: In Instantly, go to the Emails section, select the email account you want to warm up, and click the “fire” icon. You can leave it on indefinitely.
2. Adjust Warmup Settings: Instantly lets you adjust the settings for things like how many emails to send per day. It also has advanced features like simulating human email reading and controlling sending patterns.
3. Gradual Sending Limits: Avoid sending too many emails too quickly. Stick to sending 30-50 emails per day during the warmup phase. Afterward, mix cold emails with warmups to maintain the reputation of your email domain.
4. Authenticate Your Domain: Before warming up, make sure your email domain is authenticated with DMARC, DKIM, and SPF. This lets your emails go through properly without getting blocked.

What to Do After Warming Up Your Domain

Once your email domain is warmed up, you can start sending cold emails, but there are a few important things to remember:

1. Gradually Increase Your Sending Limits: With Instantly’s Campaign Slow Ramp, you can gradually increase your daily email volume without risking your domain’s reputation. This helps keep your domain safe and ensures better deliverability.
2. A/B Testing: Even with a warmed-up domain, your email copy can affect results. A/B test your subject lines, CTAs, and email content to improve open and reply rates. Instantly makes it easy to test and find the best-performing variations.
3. Scale by Buying More Domains: If you need to scale quickly, you can buy additional domains and repeat the warmup process. Instantly automates the domain authentication and warmup, so it’s easy to keep scaling your outreach.

Key Takeaways

Email domain warmup is crucial for cold email outreach. By warming up your domain, you improve deliverability, reduce bounce rates, and increase the chances your emails will land in inboxes. Use tools like Instantly to automate the process, and always stay within safe sending limits. With proper warmup, your email campaigns will run smoothly and reach the right people.