Summary
Warming up a new domain for 6k contacts after migrating from a shared domain necessitates a strategic approach centered around building a positive sender reputation. This involves a gradual increase in sending volume, starting with highly engaged users, alongside meticulous monitoring of deliverability metrics. Prioritizing engaging and valuable content, authenticating your domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, and maintaining a clean, validated email list are also crucial steps. Preparing recipients for the domain change and promptly addressing any deliverability issues further enhance the process.
Key findings
- Gradual Ramp-Up: Incrementally increasing sending volume builds trust with ISPs.
- Engagement-Based Segmentation: Segmenting your list by engagement level allows for targeted initial sends to highly responsive users.
- Content Relevance: Providing valuable and relevant content improves sender reputation and deliverability.
- Domain Authentication: Implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is essential for verifying sender legitimacy.
- Proactive Monitoring: Continuously monitoring deliverability metrics enables timely identification and resolution of issues.
- List Hygiene: Regularly cleaning and validating your email list minimizes bounce rates and complaints.
Key considerations
- Recipient Awareness: Inform recipients about the upcoming domain change to minimize spam reports.
- Engagement Focus: Prioritize content that encourages user interaction, like replies and clicks.
- ISP Variations: Be aware that different ISPs may have varying thresholds and sensitivities regarding sending practices.
- Immediate Action: Promptly address any identified deliverability issues to prevent further reputation damage.
- Managed Volume Increase: Even if a faster warm-up seems possible, proceed cautiously and monitor results closely.
What email marketers say
11 marketer opinions
Warming up a new domain involves establishing a positive sender reputation with ISPs. Key strategies include gradually increasing email volume, segmenting your email list by engagement, sending engaging content, authenticating your domain, and monitoring deliverability metrics. Preparing recipients for the domain change and maintaining a clean email list are also crucial.
Key opinions
- Sender Reputation: Building a positive sender reputation with ISPs like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo is crucial.
- Gradual Increase: Gradually increasing email volume over time helps establish trust with ISPs.
- Engagement Segmentation: Segmenting your email list by engagement allows you to start with your most active users.
- Content Quality: Focusing on relevant and valuable email content improves sender reputation and deliverability.
- Authentication: Authenticating your domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC improves deliverability.
- Monitoring: Monitoring deliverability metrics, spam folder placement, and blocklist status helps identify and address issues.
- List Cleaning: Maintaining a clean and up-to-date email list reduces bounce rates and improves deliverability.
Key considerations
- Recipient Preparation: Prepare your recipients for the domain change so they look out for your emails and don't mark them as spam.
- Engagement Focus: Focus on email content that prompts positive engagement, such as replies and clicks.
- List Validation: Validate your email list to ensure you are only sending to real, active email addresses.
- Consistent Sending: Send emails consistently to maintain a positive sender reputation.
- Immediate Action: Take immediate corrective action if you notice any deliverability problems.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum suggests focusing on the quality of your email content. Make sure your emails are relevant and valuable to your subscribers. Avoid using spammy language or tactics. This will help you improve your sender reputation and increase your deliverability.
11 Jan 2023 - Email Marketing Forum
Marketer view
Email marketer from ZeroBounce advises to validate your email list, create engaging content, warm up your IP address, send consistently, and monitor your results. This will help you build a positive sender reputation and improve your email deliverability.
26 Apr 2025 - ZeroBounce
What the experts say
4 expert opinions
When warming up a new domain for 6k active contacts after migrating from a shared domain, experts recommend a quick ramp-up strategy (1K -> 2K -> 4K -> whole list). It's important to start slow, segment your list focusing on engaged users, and monitor bounce/complaint rates. Maintaining a clean email list with double opt-in is critical for sender reputation. Microsoft is less strict than Gmail, allowing for potentially more frequent sends.
Key opinions
- Quick Ramp-Up: For 6k active contacts, a relatively fast domain warmup is possible.
- Engagement Segmentation: Prioritize sending to engaged users first for better initial results.
- Microsoft's Lenience: Microsoft might be less sensitive than Gmail regarding sending frequency.
- List Hygiene: Maintaining a clean and validated email list is essential for sender reputation.
Key considerations
- Gradual Approach: Even with a quick ramp-up, start slowly and monitor performance closely.
- Monitoring Metrics: Pay close attention to bounce and complaint rates to identify and address issues promptly.
- Double Opt-In: Implement double opt-in to ensure subscribers genuinely want to receive your emails.
- ISPs Differences: Be aware that different ISPs may have varying sensitivities regarding sending practices.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks explains that it is ok to send only 1 send per day, and that Microsoft isn’t as picky as Gmail.
24 Mar 2025 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks shares that for a list of 6K active contacts, the domain warmup can be done relatively quickly, suggesting a ramp-up from 1K to 2K to 4K to the whole list.
5 May 2025 - Email Geeks
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
Warming up a new domain involves gradually increasing email volume to establish a positive reputation with mailbox providers. This process is similar to IP warming, but often shorter. Proper domain authentication using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is critical for verification and deliverability. It is important to monitor your sender reputation using tools like Microsoft's SNDS.
Key findings
- Gradual Volume Increase: Slowly increasing email volume is essential for building sender reputation.
- Domain Authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are crucial for verifying sender authorization.
- Reputation Monitoring: Monitoring your sender reputation helps identify and address deliverability issues.
- Shortened Warm-Up: Domain warm-up may be a shorter process compared to IP warm-up.
Key considerations
- Industry Best Practices: Adhere to industry best practices for email sending to avoid being flagged as spam.
- SPF Records: Implementing SPF records prevents email spoofing and improves deliverability.
- Tool Utilization: Use tools like Microsoft SNDS to actively monitor sender reputation.
Technical article
Documentation from Google Support advises senders to start with a small sending volume and slowly increase it over time. If you're switching from a shared IP to a dedicated IP, it's especially important to warm up the new IP address. Google recommends following industry best practices for gradually increasing sending volume to avoid being flagged as a spammer.
18 Mar 2022 - Google Support
Technical article
Documentation from RFC explains that SPF records help prevent email spoofing by allowing domain owners to specify which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of their domain. This helps improve email deliverability and protect against phishing attacks.
27 Dec 2024 - RFC
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