How to Warm Up a New Email Domain for Better Deliverability?

Mar 14, 2025

Imagine the talk you had with your friends becomes real and you start a brand-new coffee shop with them. Will you invite a 1000 people on day one? Definitely no right. If you suppose did that then the entire establishment would devolve into chaos as the coffee makers will collapse and the baristas became alarmed.

Rather, you would begin modestly, serve a limited number of clients, receive positive feedback, and progressively establish your reputation. When setting up a new email domain, the same reasoning holds true: hurrying it could result in your emails being marked as spam, while properly warming it up assures seamless delivery.

Let's now explore the fields of email domain warm-up and its proper execution.

What is an email domain? What makes it necessary to warm up?

Email domain is nothing but the small portion of your email address that comes right after the “@” symbol. Gmail,Outlook,and other email service providers (ESPs) treat the newly created domain as an unknown entity.

Assuming a fresh number making thousands of calls in a day sounds spammy, doesn't it just like that if you send too many emails from newly created email accounts it can be marked as spam.

Now this is where email domain warm-up steps in! Where it’s the process of gradual volume increase in sending emails from a new domain so that it can be able to build a positive sender reputation with ESPs, which can ensure that your emails land in inbox instead of being lost in spam folders.

How to Warm Up a New Email Domain Like a Pro

1. Set Up the Right Foundations

Before sending a single email, ensure your domain is technically sound:

To demonstrate that you are a genuine sender, authenticate your domain using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.

Make use of a reputable email service provider (ESP), such as Microsoft Outlook or Google Workspace.

If you are utilizing a dedicated sending IP, warm up your IP in addition to your domain. (hello, IP warming schedule!).

2. Start with a Gradual Volume Increase

Think of your email-sending volume like lifting weights. You wouldn’t bench press 200 lbs on your first day at the gym. Start small and build up!

Example IP Warming Schedule:

Day 1–3: Send ten to twenty emails every day.

Day 4–7: Raise the daily email volume to 50–100.

Weeks 2-3: Increase daily email volume to 500+ (if engagement is high).

Week 4 and beyond: Ensure gradual volume increase until full campaign volume is reached.

3. Use Warm-up tools

Manually tracking email domain warm-up progress can be tedious. Thankfully, there are AI-powered warm-up tools like Lemlist and Mailreach that automate the process, ensuring you stick to the best sending patterns while monitoring your engagement metrics.

4. Build Sender Reputation – Slow & Steady Wins the Race

Building sender reputation is like networking: don’t barge into a party and yell, “BUY MY PRODUCT!” Instead:

Send emails to real, engaged contacts first (team members, colleagues, friends).
Personalize emails instead of using generic templates.
Avoid excessive links and images in the early days.

5. Avoid the Dreaded Spam Trap!

ESPs plant spam traps (inactive or fake email addresses) to catch senders who buy email lists or blast emails without verification. If you hit a spam trap, your domain reputation takes a hit.

To avoid this:

Never buy email lists.
Use tools like ZeroBounce or NO2Bounce to verify emails before sending.

6. Monitor Engagement Metrics Like a Hawk

You wouldn’t drive a car without checking the fuel gauge, right? Similarly, track these key engagement metrics:

Open Rate: 30%+ is the target.
Reply Rate: Greater the reply better the sender reputation
Bounce Rate: Don't go beyond 2%
Avoid spam complaints at all costs!

If there is a low level of engagement, change your approach. Perhaps your emails are ending up in the Promotions tab, or your subject lines need some work.

7. Scaling Up B2B Email Outreach the Smart Way

For B2B email scaling, once your domain is warmed up, follow these golden rules:

Keep sending relevant, valuable content.
Maintain good engagement levels.
Continue monitoring deliverability and make tweaks when needed.

Conclusion

Some email marketers swear by the manual approach, arguing that it gives them full control. Others prefer automation via warm-up tools (Lemlist, Mailreach) for efficiency. The best approach? A mix of both automation for efficiency and manual tweaks for personalization.

Email domain warm-up is a must if you want to achieve good deliverability and inbox placement, regardless of your approach.

Warming up a new email domain isn’t only about keeping a rigorous schedule—it’s about developing a long-term sender reputation. Go slowly, employ clever tactics, and, if you can, make advantage of automation. Keep in mind that patience now guarantees inbox placement tomorrow!