Email Reputation Repair Vs. Warm-Up

Introduction 

There are two important processes that can both improve your email deliverability which many people mix up - Email Reputation repair and Email Warm-up. They’re both important to keeping your emails out of the spam folder, but are used in different situations.

In this article we’ll cover the core differences between the two processes, how they differ, and why they’re important. At the end of this article you should be able to easily determine whether you need reputation repair or email warm-up for your business. 

What is your “Email Reputation”? 

Before we get into reputation repair, we first have to cover your email reputation.

Your email reputation, sometimes referred to as “sender score” or “sender reputation” is a reputation associated with your email address, sending domain, or sender IP address. 

Basically, anytime you’re sending emails to a marketing list, the email address (or in some cases, IP address) that you’re sending from has a reputation associated with it.

This reputation is monitored by a variety of companies and organizations, including blacklists, inbox providers (such as Gmail, Yahoo mail, etc), and ISPs (Internet Service Providers). 

Your score impacts important aspects of email deliverability, like whether or not your emails will be delivered, and whether or not they’ll end up in the spam folder.

If you’ve been sending marketing emails for any amount of time, you probably have some sender reputation associated with your domain.

What Happens If I Have A Poor Sender Reputation? 

A poor sender reputation often comes from poor list hygiene, improper sending practices, a lack of authentication (such as SPF, DKIM, or DMARC), or sending to email addresses that aren’t opted in. These can all hurt your email reputation and in some cases end you up on a blacklist. 

A bad email reputation can have many negative consequences, such as:

• Emails end up in the spam folder
• Preventing your emails from being delivered
• Increasing bounce rates
• Decreasing open rates
• etc.

In some extreme cases, a poor reputation can even result in an outright ban of all emails from your domain or IP address by a specific inbox provider or ISP. 

What is email reputation repair?

When your reputation is considered poor, that’s when email reputation repair comes in handy. 

Email reputation repair is the process of improving your email deliverability by fixing your sender reputation.

This can be done by improving your sending practices, such as:

• Sending only to permission-based lists
• Removing non-engaged users
• Sending more relevant emails
• Decreasing the volume of emails
• Sending only to the most engaged users
• Running re-engagement sequences
• And contacting blacklists and getting your domain/IP address removed

This can be a time-consuming process, but it's often worth it if you're having trouble getting your emails delivered to the inbox. 

In some cases, it might be easier to start over from scratch - and that’s where email warm-up services come in.

What is Email Warm-Up? 

When you first start sending email, you have a very low reputation with ISPs and Inbox Providers, which means your emails are more likely to be considered spam. This is when you’ll need to consider an email warm-up service. 

Email warm-up is a process that is used to warm up a new email domain, email address, or IP address. During this process, you begin by sending emails to small, highly engaged lists, and incrementally expanding the number of emails you send over time. This demonstrates to ISPs and inbox providers that you’re not a spammer.

Why would you want email warm-up?

Email warm-up helps to build up your credibility and email reputation ahead of time, so you can avoid costly reputation repair services in the future. 

This process demonstrates to inbox providers and ISPs that you:

• Have good list hygiene
• Follow proper sending protocols
• Have good engagement
• Have your authentication is set up correctly 

Warming up your email address or domain shows inbox providers that your list likes receiving your emails and engages with them by opening them, clicking links, and replying. 

This generally results in higher open rates and engagement, and shows inbox providers that your list is well curated and following proper list hygiene.

Conclusion

In conclusion, here is the core difference between reputation repair and email warm-up:

Email reputation repair and email warm-up are both important but distinct methods for improving email deliverability.

If you're having trouble getting your emails delivered to the inbox, email reputation repair can help. 

And if you're just starting out with email marketing, email warm-up is essential to avoid having your emails flagged as spam. 

Want to learn more? Read our blog post on improving and maintaining deliverability here.