How long does it take to warm-up and start inboxing?

Warming up a sender email is one of the best ways to improve your sender reputation and start off with great deliverability for both cold email and bulk email. 

Most of the time, warming up a domain is a quick and painless process, but there are a few major factors that can cause it to take longer. 

Not sure what an email warm-up sequence is? Check out our earlier article here.

How long does a warm-up sequence take?

Warm-up sequences can vary in length depending on the history of the IP and sending domain.

In general, it can take anywhere from 15-30 days to warm up to the point where your sender email has a great reputation and deliverability.

The fastest way to warm up an inbox is through the use of an inbox warm-up service or a deliverability tool like InboxAlly. This allows you to designate a set number of seed email addresses to email daily, and can guarantee the open rates that mailbox providers like to see. Without the use of seed emails, you’ll be dependent on open and engagement rates of real emails, which can cause a warm-up sequence to take longer.

If a domain already has a poor reputation or has engaged in poor sending practices in the past, it can take even longer to begin inboxing. The repair process may need as long as 50-90 days to warm up if not using a warm-up service.

Below you’ll find some of the factors that can have an impact on how long your inbox warm-up takes.

What can impact how long it takes to warm-up?

There are a few factors that impact how long you’ll want to warm up domain. These can have both a positive and negative impact, depending on whether your reputation and history are good or bad.

Warm-up sequence factors:

• Domain age and history - the older the better! (More on this below).

• TLD extension (avoid cheap extensions)

• IP reputation and shared pool vs. dedicated IP addresses

• Inbox history and past practices - if you have used good sending practices in the past, a warm-up sequence may be faster. With poor sending practices, it will take longer.

• The email provider you use - some have better base deliverability than others.

• The volume of email sent during your email warm-up sequence.

• Past engagement rates with emails from this inbox and domain.

• Use of an email warm-up service vs. manual engagement.

New domains start off with a no sender reputation, and are subject to domain-age blacklists. In the case of a new domain, an email warm-up sequence may take as long as 90 days to be successful. 

Getting started

The sooner you start your warm-up, the sooner you’ll be able to reach your client's inboxes! It’s important to get started as soon as possible to build up your reputation as a sender. Starting early ensures that when the time comes to start sending campaigns your emails will be delivered and end up in the inbox. 

Once you’ve decided you’re ready to start warming up, the next step is to decide on a warm-up schedule and begin sending to our list of seed emails and shortly afterwards start mixing in your real emails. Using seed emails lets you guarantee engagement and warm up your inbox faster. 

If you have any questions or would like help warming up your inbox, feel free to reach out and connect with one of our deliverability experts.