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Sending Reputation
To increase the likelihood that emails land in inboxes where recipients can engage with them, you need a consistent sending history and a good sending reputation. If a sender lacks these qualities, mailbox providers (MBPs) can slow down or block delivery of messages. Each time that you launch a new brand or start working with a new ESP, always schedule time to "warm up" your reputation by establishing a positive sending history.
Shared vs. Dedicated IP Addresses
Low volume senders typically use shared IP addresses. While these addresses have an established history, warming is essential for your specific brand. Your actions as a sender impact every customer that shares the IP address. If your sends result in a negative impacts to the shared sending reputation, Salesforce can suspend your account.
Salesforce also supports dedicated sending IPs and domains for customers with very large send volumes. As a high-volume sender, you maintain full control over your sending reputation. To explore if a dedicated solution is right for your volume, contact your account executive.
IP Warming
When you first begin sending emails, you must establish your reputation with mailbox providers. This process is called "warming," and is required for all senders.
To warm your sending reputation, send a small number of messages and gradually increase your audience volume over 3060 days. During the warming period, make sure that you send emails consistently.
If engagement rates are consistent and you don't find any blocking issues, you can increase sending volume by 2030% each day. After you reach a daily send volume of around 70% of your total audience, you can begin sending regularly.
Be patient with your warming process. Rushing the process can trigger spam filters and damage your long-term deliverability prospects. Monitor bounce rates, complaint rates, and engagement metrics closely, and be prepared to slow down the volume if you see negative trends.
To encourage positive interactions during this warming period, target your most engaged recipients first.
- Identify engaged subscribers: Filter your data to find people who signed up for your emails or clicked links within the past 30 days.
- Target your sends: Send your initial small batches of email exclusively to this highly active segment.
Here’s an example of how you can break down the first week of high-volume email sending into an IP warming plan. However, every audience group is different, so remember monitor engagement frequently.
Week One Warming Plan Example.
| Day | Daily Maximum Value |
|---|---|
| Day 1 to Day 3 | 500 |
| Day 4 to Day 5 | 1,000 |
| Day 6 | 1,500 |
| Day 7 | 2,000 |
| Day 8 | 2,500 |
Maintaining a Good Reputation
After you build a good reputation, you have to maintain it. Here are five things that can help you stay on the positive side.
- Never use a purchased list.
- Only send emails to people who have explicitly opted in.
- Remove email addresses that hard bounced from your data immediately, and aim to keep bounce rates under 2%.
- Set reminders to remove stale data every 6 months.
- Send professional, relevant content, and aim to keep spam complaints at or under 0.1%.
