Summary
Increasing email send volume without harming sender reputation requires a measured, gradual approach. Experts generally recommend daily, weekly, or monthly volume increases in the range of 20-50%, with some suggesting even smaller increments of 10-25% or a careful doubling every few days, especially for new IP addresses or significant changes. It is crucial to start with small volumes directed at highly engaged recipients and incrementally build over several weeks, consistently avoiding sudden, large spikes. Should a reputation hit occur, recovery hinges on immediate action, including rigorous list hygiene, pausing sends to problematic segments, focusing efforts on highly engaged subscribers with quality content, and diligent monitoring of deliverability metrics and feedback loops to identify and resolve root causes like high bounce or complaint rates. Consistent sending patterns and a continuous focus on engagement are vital to both prevention and recovery.
Key findings
- Gradual Increase Guideline: Most experts recommend a gradual increase in email send volume, with common guidelines ranging from 20-50% daily, weekly, or monthly; some advise even slower increments like 10-25% or careful doubling, especially for new IPs.
- Engagement is Paramount: Focusing on highly engaged subscribers is critical for both preventing reputation damage during volume increases and for effectively rebuilding trust after a deliverability hit.
- List Hygiene for Recovery: Rigorous and ongoing list cleaning, including removing unengaged subscribers, invalid addresses, and bounced emails, is essential for recovering from reputation damage by improving key engagement metrics and reducing complaint rates.
- Consistency Prevents Harm: Maintaining consistent sending patterns and avoiding sudden, large spikes in email volume are crucial to preventing 'filter shock' and preserving your established sender reputation with ISPs.
- Domain Reputation Recovers: While immediate action is necessary, domain reputation generally tends to recover over time with consistent, strategic sending, particularly when focusing on high-quality content delivered to highly engaged recipients.
Key considerations
- Start Small, Engage Actively: When increasing send volume or warming up a new IP, begin with a small segment of your most engaged subscribers to build a positive sending history with Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
- Monitor Deliverability Metrics: Continuously track key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and spam complaints to identify and address potential issues promptly and proactively manage sender reputation.
- Address Root Causes Promptly: If a reputation hit occurs, identify and resolve the underlying issues immediately, whether they are high bounce rates, spam traps, or issues with email content quality and relevance.
- Strategic Audience Segmentation: Leverage audience segmentation to target your most active users, especially during warm-up periods or when recovering from a reputation setback, to rebuild trust and improve engagement signals.
- Utilize Feedback Loops: Implement and actively monitor feedback loops provided by major ISPs to quickly identify and respond to spam complaints, which are critical for maintaining a healthy sender reputation.
- Consider Existing Volume Sensitivity: Understand that the impact of volume increases can vary with your current sending volume; larger base volumes may be more sensitive to percentage increases, necessitating an even more cautious approach.
What email marketers say
12 marketer opinions
Effectively managing email send volume increases while preserving sender reputation requires a strategic, phased approach, coupled with robust recovery tactics should issues arise. General guidelines suggest increasing daily, weekly, or monthly volumes by 20-50%, though very large existing volumes may demand even more cautious, smaller increments. Prioritizing highly engaged subscribers during any volume ramp-up is crucial for building trust with Internet Service Providers (ISPs). When reputation hits occur, recovery is multifaceted: it involves immediate and rigorous list cleaning, pausing sends to low-performing segments, and consistently delivering high-quality content to active, opted-in recipients. Domain reputation can recover over time with consistent, strategic sending and diligent monitoring of performance metrics and feedback loops.
Key opinions
- Gradual Volume Increase: Email send volume should be increased gradually, ideally within a 20-50% range daily, weekly, or monthly, to prevent 'filter shock,' with larger base volumes requiring even more conservative increments.
- Engagement as Foundation: The consistent focus on sending to highly engaged subscribers is paramount for both preventing reputation damage during volume increases and for successfully rebuilding trust after a deliverability setback.
- List Hygiene for Health: Thorough and ongoing list hygiene - including removing unengaged subscribers, invalid addresses, and bounces - is critical for maintaining a positive sender reputation and is a cornerstone of recovery efforts.
- Reputation Recovery Time: Domain reputation can recover over time through consistent, high-quality sending to engaged audiences, but immediate action on identified issues significantly speeds up this process.
Key considerations
- Prioritize Engaged Subscribers: When increasing send volume or warming up new IPs, always segment and prioritize sending to your most active and engaged subscribers first to establish a strong positive sending history.
- Avoid Sudden Volume Spikes: Ensure send volume increases are slow and steady to maintain consistent sending patterns, as sudden, large spikes can significantly harm your sender reputation with ISPs.
- Identify and Address Root Causes: Upon a reputation hit, immediately identify the root cause, such as high bounce rates or spam complaints, and address it by improving content, cleaning lists, or adjusting sending practices.
- Leverage Feedback Loops: Actively utilize ISP feedback loops and diligently monitor deliverability metrics to quickly detect and respond to issues like spam complaints, which are vital for reputation management.
- Strict List Cleaning Post-Hit: If reputation damage occurs, perform rigorous list cleaning to remove problematic contacts and focus all subsequent sends on a clean, opted-in list of active users to rebuild sender trust.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks confirms that send volume increase percentages, like the 20-50% guideline, apply to daily, weekly, and monthly changes across all domains.
10 Dec 2021 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that domain reputation tends to recover with time, consistent sending, and by focusing on highly engaged recipients, suggesting temporarily sending only to those engaged within the last 30 days.
21 Feb 2025 - Email Geeks
What the experts say
3 expert opinions
To safely scale email send volume without compromising sender reputation, a measured and gradual approach is essential. Experts recommend increasing daily, weekly, or monthly volumes incrementally, typically within a 20-50% range, though more conservative increments like 10-25% or careful doubling might be suitable depending on list quality and existing sending patterns. Prioritizing engaged recipients is paramount, as their positive interactions significantly influence reputation, whereas sudden, large increases to low-quality or unengaged addresses can lead to damaging high bounce rates and low engagement. For new IP addresses or significant volume changes, a proper IP warm-up, beginning with your most engaged subscribers, is fundamental. Should reputation damage occur, immediate action is critical: pause sends, conduct a thorough analysis of the mail stream to identify and fix underlying issues, and then carefully resume sending or the warm-up process.
Key opinions
- Recommended Volume Increases: Experts generally advise increasing email send volume incrementally, with common recommendations ranging from 20-50%, though some suggest a slower 10-25% daily or careful doubling every few days, depending on list quality.
- Engagement Drives Reputation: While send volume influences IP reputation, the quality of recipients and their engagement are critical factors; sending to engaged users supports a positive reputation.
- Sudden Spikes Are Harmful: Sudden and large increases in email volume, especially when directed at poor quality addresses, can significantly damage sender reputation by leading to high bounce rates and low engagement.
- IP Warm-up is Essential: Proper IP warm-up, a slow and steady ramp-up starting with your most engaged subscribers, is fundamental for increasing email send volume without harming your sender reputation.
- Structured Recovery Process: To recover from reputation damage, the process involves immediately stopping sends, performing a thorough analysis of the mail stream to identify and fix problems, and then carefully resuming the warm-up or sending process.
Key considerations
- Prioritize Engaged Recipients: Always begin volume increases or IP warm-up by sending to your most active and engaged subscribers to build a positive reputation.
- Monitor Key Deliverability Metrics: Continuously track bounce rates, complaint rates, open rates, and click-through rates to promptly identify and address any signs of reputation damage.
- Address Issues Immediately: If reputation damage occurs, immediately pause sending, thoroughly analyze the mail stream for root causes, fix identified problems, and then carefully resume sends.
- Maintain List Quality: Regularly clean your email list by removing unengaged subscribers and invalid addresses to improve engagement and reduce bounces, which is crucial for both prevention and recovery.
- Patience is Key for Warm-up: Understand that IP warm-up and gradual volume increases require patience and a consistent, steady approach over time, rather than quick, large jumps.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks responds that recommendations for increasing email send volume typically range from 20-50%, and exceeding this can lead to issues.
31 Oct 2024 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource explains that while email send volume influences IP reputation, the quality of recipients and their engagement are critical factors. Sudden, large increases in volume can damage reputation, especially if directed towards poor addresses, leading to high bounce rates and low engagement. To maintain good deliverability, gradual, predictable volume increases to engaged recipients are preferred.
8 Apr 2025 - Spam Resource
What the documentation says
4 technical articles
Optimizing email send volume increases while safeguarding sender reputation necessitates a strategic, data-driven approach, coupled with immediate, effective recovery actions when issues arise. For new IP addresses or substantial volume growth, a gradual warm-up process is fundamental, beginning with small volumes sent to highly engaged recipients and incrementally expanding over several weeks. Consistent sending patterns are vital to prevent reputation damage, as abrupt, large increases can be detrimental. In the event of a deliverability hit, recovery hinges on diligent monitoring of key metrics like spam rate, bounce rate, and complaints. Senders must swiftly identify and resolve underlying problems, utilizing feedback loops to address issues and minimizing bounces and complaints to restore a healthy sender reputation.
Key findings
- Gradual Warm-up is Essential: For new IP addresses or significant volume increases, a gradual warm-up process is crucial, starting with small volumes to highly engaged recipients and slowly increasing over weeks.
- Consistency Prevents Harm: Maintaining consistent sending patterns and avoiding abrupt, large volume increases are critical for preserving sender reputation and preventing deliverability issues.
- Metrics Guide Recovery: To recover from deliverability hits, senders must diligently monitor key metrics like spam rate, IP reputation, and domain reputation to pinpoint and resolve issues.
- Bounces and Complaints Impact Heavily: High rates of bounces and complaints directly impact sender reputation; minimizing these is a critical step for both preventing damage and facilitating recovery.
- Engagement is Key to Warm-up: Beginning any volume ramp-up with highly engaged subscribers is essential to build positive sending signals and establish a healthy sender reputation with ISPs.
Key considerations
- Start with Engaged Audiences: For any volume increase or new IP warm-up, always prioritize sending to your most active and engaged subscribers to build a strong positive sending history and reputation.
- Monitor Key Metrics Constantly: Diligently track deliverability metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and especially spam complaints to identify and address potential issues proactively.
- Maintain Sending Consistency: Avoid sudden, large increases in email volume; consistent sending patterns are crucial for maintaining sender reputation and preventing 'filter shock' with ISPs.
- Address Issues Immediately: If a reputation hit occurs, promptly identify the root cause, such as high spam complaints or invalid recipient rates, and take immediate action to resolve the underlying problem.
- Leverage Feedback Loops: Utilize feedback loops provided by major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to quickly identify and remove users who mark your emails as spam, which is critical for reputation recovery.
- Minimize Bounces and Complaints: A core strategy for recovery from reputation damage is to rigorously minimize bounces and complaints, as high rates directly and negatively impact your sender reputation.
Technical article
Documentation from SendGrid Docs explains that for new IP addresses or significant volume increases, a gradual warm-up is crucial. They recommend starting with a small volume to highly engaged recipients and slowly increasing it over several weeks, monitoring engagement and delivery metrics closely to avoid reputation damage.
7 Aug 2023 - SendGrid Docs
Technical article
Documentation from Mailgun Documentation shares that proper IP warm-up is essential, suggesting an incremental increase in email volume over time, starting with highly engaged subscribers. They advise consistency in sending and close monitoring of deliverability metrics like opens, clicks, and bounce rates to prevent reputation harm.
28 Mar 2022 - Mailgun Documentation
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