Summary
Migrating a small email list, such as one with around 12,000 contacts, from Mailchimp to Klaviyo involves careful planning to maintain strong sender reputation and ensure email deliverability. While the list size might seem small enough to bypass extensive warming, a strategic approach is still essential, especially when transitioning to a new email service provider (ESP) and potentially new IP addresses. The primary goal is to gradually introduce your sending volume to inbox providers, allowing them to build trust in your sending patterns.
Key findings
- Shared IPs: For a list of 12,000 contacts, you are likely to be on shared IP addresses within Klaviyo. This means your reputation is partly influenced by other senders on the same IP.
- Domain reputation matters: Even with shared IPs, your domain's sending reputation is crucial. A new ESP needs to learn to trust your domain's sending behavior.
- ESP guidance: Klaviyo (like other ESPs) provides its own recommended warming schedules. For a 12k list, their suggested volumes might seem fast, but they are tailored to their infrastructure.
- DKIM authentication: Ensure that DKIM authentication is fully set up and verified on your new Klaviyo account before commencing any significant email sends.
- Phased migration: Continuing to send some emails from Mailchimp during the initial migration period can help maintain engagement while you warm up your Klaviyo account.
Key considerations
- Warm-up duration: While a 12k list might be fully warmed in 2-4 weeks, spreading the warm-up over a slightly longer period (e.g., 3-4 weeks) can be safer, especially if you have a varied sending frequency.
- Engagement segmentation: Start warming by sending to your most engaged subscribers first. This helps build positive signals with inbox providers. You can also explore strategies for warming a new domain with a small list.
- Monitoring deliverability: Regularly monitor your deliverability rates and other key metrics using tools like Google Postmaster Tools. This vigilance is particularly important during the warming phase.
- Klaviyo's guided warming: Be aware that Klaviyo's guided warming features may only account for Klaviyo-specific sending and engagement data, not historical data from Mailchimp, even with API integrations.
- Pre-migration list hygiene: Clean your list thoroughly before migrating to avoid bringing over unengaged or problematic contacts that could harm your new sender reputation. This can also help when you re-engage an old list.
What email marketers say
Email marketers often encounter common challenges when migrating ESPs, particularly with warming smaller lists. They highlight the importance of understanding the new ESP's specific warming guidelines, the impact of shared versus dedicated IPs, and the ongoing need to monitor performance.
Key opinions
- ESP-specific warming: Marketers often advise consulting the new ESP's documentation or support team for their specific warming recommendations, as practices can vary.
- Don't overcomplicate small lists: For smaller lists, some marketers believe that the warming process might be less critical or can be completed more quickly, as long as basic best practices are followed.
- Prioritize domain reputation: Even on shared IPs, your domain's sending history and reputation are paramount. A slow and steady introduction of your sending domain to new systems is beneficial for warming a new sender address.
- Bridge sending: Continuing to use the old ESP (Mailchimp) for a short period during the transition can help bridge the gap and keep subscribers engaged while warming progresses on the new platform.
- Monitor engagement: Closely watch engagement metrics from the new platform. If they're strong, it's a good sign that your warming is successful. This is key to re-engaging stale subscribers.
Key considerations
- Pacing the send volume: While a small list might allow for faster warming, it's always advisable to spread sends over several weeks to build consistent trust with inbox providers rather than rushing.
- API integration data limitations: Even with Mailchimp to Klaviyo API integrations, Klaviyo's internal warming guidance might not fully account for engagement data (like opens) originating from Mailchimp.
- Don't ignore warnings: If the new ESP issues warnings during warming, investigate them. They are usually based on the data available to the ESP, even if it doesn't encompass all historical activity.
- Frequency alignment: Consider your typical mailing frequency. If you send daily, your warming can progress faster than if you send weekly, but consistency is key.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests that their ESP only distinguishes between dedicated and shared sending domains in their general help documentation. This means for small lists, one often defaults to shared IPs. The user expressed concern that standard warming recommendations seemed too fast for a 12k list, suggesting they could complete it in one week. They were unsure if this was an oversight for smaller lists or if a slower approach (e.g., 2k, 4k, 8k, 12k weekly) was safer.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Email Geeks states that each Email Service Provider (ESP) has its unique warm-up process. Therefore, it's always best practice to consult the new ESP's account or support teams for their specific recommended procedures and guidelines when initiating a migration.
What the experts say
Deliverability experts provide invaluable insights into the nuanced aspects of email warming, especially when dealing with platform migrations. Their advice often centers on conservative sending practices, thorough authentication, and continuous monitoring to safeguard sender reputation, regardless of list size.
Key opinions
- Start slow: It is always beneficial to introduce yourself (your sending domain) a bit slower to mailbox providers, even when operating on shared IP addresses.
- Domain reputation: Your domain's reputation is a critical factor influencing deliverability, regardless of whether you are using shared or dedicated IPs.
- DKIM is essential: Never begin a warming process until DKIM authentication is fully established and functional. It's a fundamental step for improving deliverability, especially with platforms like Klaviyo.
- Leverage monitoring tools: Use tools such as Google Postmaster Tools to track deliverability rates and other crucial metrics during your IP warm-up. This data is vital for making informed adjustments.
- Shared vs. dedicated IP considerations: On shared IP addresses, you can typically complete a warm-up in a few weeks. For dedicated IP addresses, stretching the warm-up to four weeks or more is a safer practice. Understanding the nuances of IP warm-up strategies for small volumes is critical.
Key considerations
- Consult ESP support: While general advice is helpful, the most authoritative guidance on warming comes directly from your ESP's deliverability or support teams, as they understand their infrastructure best.
- Consistent sending: Maintaining a consistent sending frequency and volume during warm-up is more important than achieving speed. Sudden spikes can trigger spam filters.
- Pre-authentication check: Always ensure that all necessary email authentication protocols, including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, are correctly configured and verified before initiating any warming sends.
- Don't prematurely stop old ESP: Continue using your old ESP (Mailchimp) as a bridge until your IP warm-up plan on the new platform is fully completed and stable.
- Data integration impact: Be aware that internal ESP warming metrics typically only reflect sends and engagement originating from that specific ESP, not from external integrations like Mailchimp.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that ESP (email service provider) folks are the most reliable resource for guidance on how to warm up sending infrastructure. This is because they are constantly engaged in these processes and possess deep knowledge of their systems' intricacies.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks affirms that even with shared IPs, it is always a good practice to introduce your sending a bit slower. They also emphasize the critical importance of considering your domain's reputation during the warming process, as it heavily influences deliverability.
What the documentation says
Official documentation from ESPs like Klaviyo offers structured guidance for warming up sending infrastructure. While these guidelines are comprehensive, it's important to understand their underlying assumptions, especially regarding the data sources used for calculating warming progress and the implications for migrations from other platforms.
Key findings
- Ramping schedules: Klaviyo provides recommended ramping schedules that outline the gradual increase of email volume to establish sender reputation. These typically start with smaller volumes and double over time.
- Engagement-based warming: Warming processes are designed to train inbox providers by sending to engaged segments, indicating that your emails are valued by recipients.
- Separate data: When migrating from another ESP, Klaviyo's internal warming guidance will likely only consider engagement data generated within Klaviyo itself, not historical data imported via API from Mailchimp.
- Dedicated vs. shared domains: Documentation often distinguishes between warming on shared IPs (where some reputation is pre-established by the ESP) and dedicated IPs (requiring full, independent warming).
Key considerations
- Adhere to schedules: While wanting to warm quickly is common, sticking closely to the recommended daily or weekly volume increases from your ESP's documentation is critical for success.
- Pre-authentication checklist: Before starting any sends, ensure your sending domain is properly authenticated with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC as per the ESP's instructions. This is a foundational step for any ESP migration.
- Monitoring during ramp-up: Documentation often advises monitoring key metrics like open rates, click rates, and bounce rates closely during the warm-up period. Any significant drops could indicate issues.
- Engagement segment accuracy: Ensure your engagement segments are accurately defined and used for initial sends. Using unengaged portions of your list too early can lead to poor deliverability.
Technical article
Klaviyo Help Center documentation details how to ramp and warm your sending infrastructure. It explains that this process involves gradually increasing your sending volume over time to build a positive sender reputation with internet service providers (ISPs). This training helps ISPs view you as a legitimate sender, which improves inbox placement.
Technical article
Klaviyo documentation explains that the warming process is critical for any new sender, domain, or IP address. It states that starting with small, highly engaged segments of your audience and progressively expanding to larger segments helps to establish trust and maintain high deliverability rates.
Related resources
10 resources
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