When you begin sending emails from a new domain or subdomain, it's essential to 'ramp up' or 'warm up' the domain. This means gradually building up your email sending volume over time.

Why is this important?

Mailbox providers (like Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook) need time to become familiar with your new sending identity. Without this gradual introduction, your emails could be delayed, land in the spam folder, or even bounce.

To give your new domain or subdomain the best chance of success, keep these broad strategies in mind:

Start slow and build gradually

Begin with small volumes of email and increase incrementally. While it’s tempting to scale up quickly, slower growth is safer. If your audience data involves less engagement or higher risk, you may need to take even more conservative steps.

Send engaging content

Use email content that aligns perfectly with recipient expectations. Engagement signals - like opens, clicks, and positive interactions - are critical in showing mailbox providers that your emails are wanted and valuable.

Prioritize your most engaged contacts

Start by sending emails to your highly engaged and active recipients, such as those who consistently open and click. This helps build up your reputation before gradually expanding your audience to include less active contacts.

Monitor your results and adapt as needed

Keep a close eye on performance, particularly open and click rates for specific mailbox providers. If you spot issues, adjust your strategy. Be flexible and responsive - it’s all about learning as you go.

Pay attention to negative signals

Negative metrics, like complaints—emails marked as spam—high unsubscribes, or even negative replies, are clear indicators of how recipients feel about your emails. Mailbox providers take these signals very seriously when determining your domain’s reputation.

Clean your lists

Remove inactive recipients over time, especially those who continue to ignore your emails, as well as email addresses that consistently bounce. A clean, engaged list helps maintain a positive reputation.

While it may be tempting to use a pre-made spreadsheet or ramp-up template, we don’t offer one - and here’s why. Every sender’s audience, data makeup, risk factors, and engagement history are unique. A one-size-fits-all template can't account for these differences, and following a rigid plan could actually hurt your deliverability rather than help it.

Instead of using a generic approach, it's crucial to tailor your ramp-up strategy to your specific dataset and adjust it based on what you see during the process. This flexibility ensures your strategy aligns with your recipients’ behaviour, allows you to respond to any challenges, and sets your domain or subdomain up for long-term success.

That said, we understand that planning and executing this kind of tailored strategy (and monitoring it in real time) can be overwhelming. That’s where we come in. Our expert in-house Deliverability Consultants and Digital Project Managers are here to help.

By purchasing a Deliverability Migration Plan, you receive a customised, data-driven strategy built specifically for your unique audience. We handle monitoring your progress, making adjustments during the ramp-up, and offering ongoing recommendations to give you the best possible chance of reaching the inbox.