How to Warm Up a New Domain and IP Without Burning It
A brand-new domain or IP has no reputation. Send 5,000 emails from it on day one and mailbox providers will treat you like a spammer, because that is exactly what spammers do. Warm-up is how you earn trust gradually.
Before you start
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC all passing (our setup guide)
- A real website on the root domain
- Reverse DNS (PTR) on your sending IP matching your hostname
- Use a separate outreach domain (for example
getyourbrand.com) so your main domain is never at risk
A sample 6-week schedule (per mailbox)
| Week | Emails per day | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 – 10 | Warm-up network only, high reply rate |
| 2 | 15 – 20 | Add a few hand-picked real prospects |
| 3 | 25 – 30 | Mix of warm-up and real outreach |
| 4 | 35 – 40 | Mostly real outreach |
| 5 | 45 | Monitor placement closely |
| 6+ | 50 max | Keep warm-up running in the background |
Scale by adding mailboxes and domains, not by pushing a single mailbox past 50 a day.
Warning signs to stop and slow down
- Bounce rate above 3%: clean your list before sending more
- Spam complaints above 0.1%: review targeting and copy
- Open rates suddenly dropping on one provider: check placement with seed tests
- Your IP or domain appearing on a blacklist
Keep warm-up running
Warm-up is not a one-time task. Leaving it on in the background keeps positive engagement flowing while you run campaigns, which protects reputation during slow weeks and spikes.
Our AI-powered warm-up adjusts volumes automatically based on placement results. Talk to us if you want it set up for your domains.