New to email marketing? Chances are your emails are going straight into spam!

eDM (electronic direct mails, aka email marketing) is often a key part of a company’s digital marketing strategy, but having a list of prospects and great content is only just the beginning, and if you’re managing your CRM yourself, chances are you’re making some rooky mistakes and your emails are not being opened.

Indeed, if you have a new domain, your IP will have no history of previously sending email. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are inherently suspicious of mail received from IP addresses lacking history, as their data suggests that most connections from new IP addresses are attempts to deliver unsolicited spam or other unwanted mail.

As a result, the largest ISPs and webmail providers recommend that you build up a sending reputation on any new IP address by slowly and methodically sending in small volumes, then gradually increasing your volume of desirable mail to their users. This sending reputation is referred to as the warming or ramping up of your new IP address.

Goal

The goal is to build up approximately 30 days of desirable sending history and data so that ISPs have an idea of the mail coming from your new IP address.

Factors that can influence the amount of time it takes for your IP address to be fully ramped up.

• overall list size,
• list quality, and
• subscriber engagement

IP Warmup Strategy

• Splitting large, non-time-sensitive sends over various days
• Splitting campaigns between a new IP address and your legacy mail system
• Migrating over smaller-volume, triggered campaigns before larger marketing programs
• Creating non-time-sensitive campaigns (for example, subscriber surveys) to use specifically for ramping up new IP addresses

Ramp up Strategy

If possible, split the subscribers by domain and have emails sent to them using the below recommendation. In the first week, do not send to more than 20K (even less for Gmail) for each domain.

Note: Even when following ramp-up recommendations, you can experience deliverability issues during the ramp-up period. Following this guidance does not eliminate the deliverability risk associated with migration, but it mitigates the risk.

If you are unable to collect or segment subscribers by domain, use the daily max IP address warming calendar. This method is slower but there is no need for segmenting by domain.

I’ve seen many enthusiastic entrepreneurs struggling to get traction and wondering why: if your prospects don’t receive your emails (assuming they have opted in, of course), following the steps above should help you get through.

Good luck!