| Purpose | Gradually increase your email volume so internet service providers (ISPs) trust your new dedicated IP before you send your full volume. |
| Best for | Managers and marketing users who send email campaigns with Guest Marketing (CRM). |
| Use this when | Your dedicated IP is new, or you have not sent any emails from it for 30 days, and you are about to schedule your first email campaign. |
| Requirements | A dedicated IP that is already set up for your account, and an email campaign ready to schedule. |
| Expected result | Your campaign sends at a controlled, gradually increasing daily volume until your IP is ready for your full email volume. |
| Limitations | The Dedicated IP warm-up option is not available when you A/B test an email campaign. |
Introduction
A new dedicated IP starts with a neutral reputation. ISPs build their opinion of that IP from the emails you send through it, so your first sends set the tone for your deliverability. Dedicated IP warm-up is the process of gradually increasing your volume so ISPs learn to recognize and trust your IP.
Follow this guide when you send your first campaign with Guest Marketing (CRM) from a new dedicated IP. It explains how the warm-up works, how to turn it on for a campaign, and what to expect day by day.
Do not skip the warm-up. Sending large volumes from a new dedicated IP right away can raise red flags with ISPs, which can lead to your emails being marked as spam or blocked.
Table of contents
- How dedicated IP warm-up works
- Warm up your dedicated IP
- Example warm-up schedule
- Dedicated IP warm-up FAQs
How dedicated IP warm-up works
Warm-up means sending a small number of emails at first and increasing the volume every day, so ISPs can recognize and trust your IP before it carries your full volume. The recommended starting point is about 3,000 emails on the first day, with a 15% increase on each following day, based on the previous day's send. Continue until your IP is fully warmed up and ready to send your full email volume.
Who you send to matters as much as how many emails you send. Start with your most engaged contacts, such as those who opened or clicked one of your emails in the last 30 days, while staying within your daily volume. Engaged recipients help you build a strong sender reputation from the first day.
Once your dedicated IP is fully warmed up and your email metrics perform well, you can gradually start sending to less active contacts.
Warm up your dedicated IP
The Dedicated IP warm-up option is available when you schedule your first email campaign after your dedicated IP is set up. You choose your starting volume and daily increase once, and the campaign follows that schedule.
- At the Schedule step of your email campaign, turn on the Dedicated IP warm-up option.
- Enter the number of daily emails you plan to send and the daily increase percentage. The recommended values are 3,000 emails per day and a 15% daily increase, and you can adjust them to your actual sending volume.
- To send the same number of emails every day, enter 0 as the daily percentage increase.
- Send your email campaign.
PLACEHOLDER: Capture the Schedule step of an email campaign in Guest Marketing (CRM) with the Dedicated IP warm-up option turned on and the fields for daily emails and daily increase percentage visible (for example, 3,000 and 15). This shows the reader exactly where to enter their warm-up values. Use demo campaign data and hide any real property or contact data.
Do not suspend and requeue a campaign during the warm-up. Requeuing restarts the warm-up and resets your sending quota, and it can cause two batches of emails to be sent on the same day.
Example warm-up schedule
This example shows how a warm-up with 3,000 emails on day 1 and a 15% daily increase grows over ten days for a list of 100,000 contacts. By day 10, the daily volume reaches about 10,554 emails, and about 60,911 emails have been sent in total. Figures are rounded.
| Day | Emails sent that day | Total emails sent so far |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| 2 | 3,450 | 6,450 |
| 3 | 3,968 | 10,418 |
| 4 | 4,563 | 14,980 |
| 5 | 5,247 | 20,227 |
| 6 | 6,034 | 26,261 |
| 7 | 6,939 | 33,200 |
| 8 | 7,980 | 41,180 |
| 9 | 9,177 | 50,358 |
| 10 | 10,554 | 60,911 |
Dedicated IP warm-up FAQs
Expand each question below to find out how long the warm-up takes, when to repeat it, and what happens if you skip it.
Can I speed up the warm-up process?
No. The warm-up process cannot be rushed. ISPs need time to see consistent, gradually increasing volume from your IP.
Do I need to warm up my dedicated IP only once?
Warm up your dedicated IP when you first start using it. If you do not send any emails from your dedicated IP for 30 days, you need to restart the warm-up process.
What happens if I skip the warm-up process?
Skipping the warm-up and sending large volumes immediately can raise red flags with ISPs, leading to your emails being marked as spam or blocked. This can harm your IP reputation, which may take months to recover.
A dedicated IP with a damaged reputation is not replaced or swapped out. If your IP reputation deteriorates, focus on sending to engaged contacts and keeping your email metrics healthy to help it recover.
Can I warm up multiple dedicated IPs at once?
Yes. You can warm up multiple dedicated IPs at the same time by gradually adding them to your IP pool. Assign a weight percentage to each IP to control how much of your email volume is sent through each one during the warm-up.
Warming up multiple dedicated IPs at once does not speed up the warm-up process.
Next Operational Step
Once your dedicated IP is fully warmed up and your email metrics perform well, gradually begin sending to less active contacts while you keep monitoring your results.
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