In the world of cold emailing, first impressions matter. Before reaching out to potential clients or customers, it's crucial to ensure your emails land in their inboxes, not their spam folders. Warming up your inbox is a vital step in building a solid sender reputation and improving email deliverability. This guide walks you through the essential steps to warm up your inbox effectively, drawing insights from industry experts and recent discussions in the email community.
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1. Understand Email Authentication
Email authentication is the foundation of a successful email campaign. Implementing protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC verifies your identity as a sender and protects your domain from being used for malicious purposes.
Liz Wilcox, a renowned email marketing expert, likens these protocols to a driver's license for email senders. She explains:
"You have to have a license to email. Like people, the internet Gods, so to speak, the inbox hosts like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, those are the big players, they need to see your license, so to speak, they need to verify you."
[The Email Sound Booth with Liz Wilcox]
By setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, you signal to email service providers (ESPs) that you're a legitimate sender, which helps improve your email deliverability.
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2. Avoid Sudden Spikes in Sending Volume
When starting your cold email campaign, it's important to ramp up your sending volume gradually. Sudden spikes can raise red flags with email providers, leading to your emails being blocked or sent to spam.
Jeremy from the "Cold Email Outreach with Jeremy & Jack" podcast highlights this issue:
"If you think about it from the point of view of Microsoft, they imagine people just either get infected by a virus and then start blasting... So they want to do that. That's the first thing that we noticed. And so when we tell people, like, 'Hey, ramp up much slower,' pay attention to your follow-ups."
[Cold Email Outreach with Jeremy & Jack]
Start by sending emails to a small number of contacts and gradually increase the volume over time. This gradual approach helps build your sender reputation organically.
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3. Personalize and Vary Your Email Content
Sending the same generic message to hundreds of recipients can trigger spam filters. Personalizing your emails and varying the content can improve engagement and deliverability.
Jeremy also advises on this:
"We realized that if we give the feedback to enable [rewording] on your output, so they won't actually look the same... If you do avoid spikes and you rewrite, like, all your messages are unique or very different, then it actually just leads to people being able to have their campaign uninterrupted."
[Cold Email Outreach with Jeremy & Jack]
Consider using personalization tokens, mentioning specific details relevant to each recipient, and using tools that help you vary your language while maintaining your core message.
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4. Engage Your Recipients
High engagement rates signal to email providers that your content is valuable. Encourage recipients to open your emails, click on links, reply, and even forward your messages.
Kennedy from "The Email Marketing Show" emphasizes the importance of engagement:
"The actual engagement of your emails—are people paying attention? Are they opening your emails? Are they clicking the links in your emails? Are they replying to your emails? In terms of what's the most attractive to Google... getting people to click is a really good indicator to Gmail that people are engaged with your emails."
[The Email Marketing Show]
Including compelling calls to action, asking open-ended questions, or providing valuable resources can encourage recipients to interact with your emails.
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5. Maintain a Clean Email List
Regularly cleaning your email list by removing unengaged subscribers helps improve deliverability. Continuing to send emails to inactive contacts can harm your sender reputation.
Liz Wilcox shares her approach:
"I just want to make sure I really am only sending to people that want and read my emails... So I'm just deleting them. I'm skipping that [re-engagement] sequence... I have to put my ego in check. I have to let go of, 'Oh, well, maybe, maybe, maybe,' because right now I'm just delete, delete, deleting."
[The Email Sound Booth with Liz Wilcox]
By focusing on engaged subscribers, you improve your overall open rates and signal to email providers that your emails are well-received.
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6. Comply with Bulk Sender Requirements
Stay updated with the latest requirements from major email providers like Gmail and Yahoo. Compliance with their guidelines is crucial for successful email delivery.
Marcel Becker from Yahoo advises:
"I think senders, E S Ps, everybody should basically treat this as this is the first step in the right direction in making email a better experience for everybody... Expect more. Nonetheless, we need to work closer together to make sure we have, we can actually create the trusted environment."
[Email After Hours: The Podcast for Email Senders]
Ensure you're following best practices, such as implementing authentication protocols and honoring unsubscribe requests promptly.
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7. Monitor Your Email Performance
Regularly review your email metrics to identify and address any issues promptly. Monitoring open rates, bounce rates, and spam complaints can help you make necessary adjustments to your strategy.
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Conclusion
Warming up your inbox is a vital process that requires attention to technical details and engagement strategies. By implementing proper email authentication, gradually increasing your sending volume, personalizing your content, engaging your recipients, maintaining a clean list, and complying with industry requirements, you set the foundation for successful cold emailing campaigns. Remember, the goal is to build trust with both your recipients and email providers, ensuring your messages reach the intended audience effectively.
