How to warm up your new practice email
Email warmup is the process of gradually increasing the volume of emails sent from a new or inactive email account or domain to build a positive sender reputation with email service providers (ESPs).
The purpose of this process is to increase the chances that your emails are delivered to recipients' inboxes rather than being flagged as spam. This is of course critical for both ongoing business operations (e.g., sharing information with patients and partners) and email marketing (e.g., cold outreach or follow-ups to prospective patients).
During the warmup period, the goal is to demonstrate to ESPs that your email account is legitimate and trustworthy. By sending a low volume of emails at first, typically to highly engaged recipients, and gradually increasing the volume over time, you avoid triggering spam filters and establish credibility as a sender. If you have a new domain, a new email address, or are reactivating a dormant account, you should plan to go through an email warmup process in order to achieve high deliverability rates and ensure that your emails are seen by your intended audience.
If you only plan to warm up a few emails and/or only plan to send emails to highly engaged recipients, the approach we describe below should be sufficient. If you plan to set up several emails on different domains (e.g., elmo@sesamestreet.com, elmo@elmosworld.com, elmo@themuppets.com), it may be worth considering a software-supported approach with a service like Smartlead.
What to do
Configure your domain: A good email reputation is contingent on a well set-up domain. Your domain is your website URL, or the thing that comes after the @ character in your email.
Add email authentication protocols: This refers to SPF, DKIM, and DMARC specifically. Read this post for more information on these protocols.
Add a return-path: The “return-path,” also known as a bounce address, is used by ESPs to handle bounced emails. Use a custom return-path that matches your domain (rather than relying on your email service provider’s default) to improve your sender reputation and alignment with email authentication protocols.
Set up your email account: Add a profile photo, a complete “from” name, an email signature,
Start small: For the first 1-3 weeks, send a small number of emails (10-20 per day) to trusted recipients, such as friends, colleagues, or customers who are likely to open and interact with your messages. These early engagements help establish credibility with email service providers (ESPs).
Gradually increase volume (as needed): After a couple of weeks of sending low volumes, you can slowly increase the number of emails you send each day. A common approach is to double the volume every few days. For example, if you start with 20 emails per day, increase to 40, then 80, and so on, while monitoring your open and engagement rates.
Monitor your sender reputation: Tools like Google Postmaster can help you track your sender reputation during the warm-up process. If you notice a sudden drop in open rates or an increase in bounces, pause any larger campaigns and investigate potential issues with your content or list.
Tips
Engage your friends and family: Send emails to your friends and loved ones.
If the email ends up in their spam, ask them to report your email as not spam.
Ask them to respond to your emails and then respond to their responses, aiming for an email thread with 3-5 exchanges.
Subscribe to newsletters: Regularly receiving emails is important. Aim to sign up for at least 5-10 newsletters with your new email address.
Maintain a gap between emails: Avoid sending too many emails at once.
Be mindful of email content
Avoid spammy words: Avoid words like free, win, urgent, money, congratulations, no obligation, act now, guarantee, risk-free, limited time, click here, order now, this isn’t spam, cash bonus, lowest price, additional income, call now, special promotion, meet singles, weight loss, work from home, mortgage rates, no credit check, or ad.
Optimize formatting: Avoid large images and ensure a good balance of text to images. Ensure your email has a clear structure with headings and short paragraphs. Use proper grammar and spelling.
Avoid using URL shorteners: Services like bit.ly raise alarms with spam filters because they appear to obfuscate the links.
Avoid using open URLs (raw URLs): Hyperlink instead. So, instead of writing www.ottohealth.io, we’d write Otto Health.
Maintain consistency: Avoid long periods of inactivity or sudden large changes in sending behavior.
Encourage engagement: High engagement rates—such as opens, clicks, and replies—signal that your emails are wanted by and legitimate to recipients. Encourage recipients to reply or interact with your emails during the warm-up process to build a positive sender reputation.
Use a mix of content: During the warm-up phase, send a variety of emails that offer value to recipients. This could include newsletters, product updates, or personalized outreach.
Closing thoughts
The technical parts of setting up a new business can feel daunting, but following a process should make the task easier. If you’re looking for technical, operational, or strategic business support, feel free to send us a note at info@ottohealth.io.