What is warmup?
Email warmup is the process of gradually increasing the volume of emails sent from an email address to establish a positive reputation with email service providers (ESPs) like Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.
Why do I need warmup and how long does it takes?
Low engagement rate (<10% read rate) consecutively in last three or more campaigns.
Bad domain reputation (If PostMaster is integrated with Bik).
Email warmup period varies based on how badly domain or IP is affected, email engagement level, sending frequency and targeted segment size. Generally warmup takes at least two weeks of patience and dedication which can goes to one month if things are not in your favour.
Why read rate is too low inspite of following warmup process?
Email warmup in the past primarily focused on sending a gradually increasing volume of emails to demonstrate activity to email providers and avoid being flagged as a spammer.
This often involved simple tactics like exchanging emails between personal accounts or using dedicated services that sent generic messages. During this time, sender reputation was largely determined by the IP address and the overall domain used.
Email warmup today places a strong emphasis on engagement. While sending volume remains relevant, email service providers now carefully monitor how recipients interact with your emails. Positive engagement, such as opens, replies, and clicks, indicates to ESPs that your content is valuable to recipients.
Additionally, spam filters have grown increasingly sophisticated, making quality content essential. You must avoid spam trigger words and consistently provide relevant, engaging content. In the current landscape, your individual reputation as a sender holds more importance than ever, emphasising the need for consistently good sending habits, even on well-established domains.
Key principles for warmup is Patience, Engaging audience & content and consistency.
How to perform warmup properly?
Performing email warmup involves carefully controlling your sending volume and prioritising engagement. Start by sending a few emails daily to highly engaging customers and gradually increase your sending volume over weeks, closely monitoring your deliverability metrics. Ensure your content is relevant and avoids spam trigger words. By demonstrating consistent sending patterns and positive interactions, you'll establish a solid sender reputation with email providers. Below are some key principles which you can use to perform warmup -
Segment selection
Customers who opened/clicked email in last 30, 60 and 90 days.
Customers who visited website in last 7, 15, 30, 45 days.
Customers who placed order in last 30, 60, 90 days.
Customers whose order count ≥ 2 in last 120 days.
Customers who abandoned cart in last 15, 30, 45 and 60 days.
Segment size
Start by very small number, ideal customer count (Segment size) can be 400-500.
Closely monitor the read rate
If read rate ≥ 10%, increase the size of segment by 20%-50% for next campaign. Remember to increase the segment size gradually, sudden spike can again harm the domain reputation.
If read rate < 10%, keep the segment size the same and try again. If the read rate continues to decrease, reduce the segment size by 10%-20%.
There should be gap of 24 hour between subsequent campaign.
Repeat until you have reached your ideal segment size.
Template content
Content should be personalised i.e use variables such as customer, product or discount.
Avoid using spam words such as -
Free, hurry now, urgent, act immediately, act now, click below, do it now, exclusive deal etc.
This won't last, financially independent, for new customers only, lifetime, loan, debt, millionaire, please open, luck, zero risk, 100%, 99%, Congratulations etc.
Use 60% more text then images. During warmup it is important to use less images, links and buttons.
Must have easy to read un-subscribe option.
Try to keep email small and crisp.
Ensure to add
Alternate textto images in Bik’s template builder.
Subject line
Subject must be free from spam triggering words.
Subject should be personalised or engaging.
Ideal subject character count is between 20 to 50.
Why not ask some questions in subject line?
Try to use emoji’s and numbers if possible.
Subject should be grammatically correct.
Pre-header text is highly recommended!
Conclusion
Email warmup can be frustrating, but it's crucial for regaining domain reputation. Patience, a strong strategy, and careful analysis of metrics – these are the keys to conquering the warmup process and boosting your reputation.