When your business is just starting out you want to be able to reach as many people as possible as quickly as possible to build your user base and get the word out about your company. One of the best ways that companies share information about themselves is through email subscriptions. So it should follow that when starting out you should send as many emails to people as possible, right?
Wrong.
If a tonne of emails start suddenly being sent from the same IP address, it can appear dodgy to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and have the opposite outcome of what you want. So if you shouldn’t send lots of emails from the get-go how do you get to the point where you can send thousands of emails without alerting any ISPs. The answer is IP Warming.
This article will explain what exactly IP warming is, why you should be using it, and how to apply it for your business.
What is IP Warming?
Before we get deeper into things, firstly some definitions:
IP – An IP address is a unique address that identifies a particular device that uses the internet. IP stands for Internet Protocol. ‘Internet Protocol’ are rules that govern how data is sent via the internet.
ISPs – Internet Service Providers are organizations that provide services that allow people to access the internet.
Every device you use to access the internet has its own IP address, and your ISP has access to that IP address to provide location services amongst other things.
In essence, IP warming is getting ISPs used to your internet presence. If you send too many emails without a positive reputation. ISPs will view these emails as spam, and not send them to as many users.
IP Warming is where you send a small number of emails out from your IP address to begin with, and then gradually build up how many you send, so your ISP doesn’t think you are sending mass spam.
By using IP warming you are establishing that positive reputation, and are therefore more likely to have your emails hit your customers’ inboxes.
What are the main reasons to use IP warming?
One of the main reasons for IP warming has been touched on previously, but here it will be discussed in more detail as to why IP warming is a necessary practice, as well as what could happen if you do not use it.
Using IP warming builds your credibility with ISPs, meaning that your content is more likely to be championed and shown to more people. Naturally, you want your emails to reach as many different people as possible, and although it may be tempting to send a lot immediately, biding your time and building a reputation is significantly better in the long run.
It is also not only necessary to use IP warming as a way of building a good reputation, but is also needed to avoid getting a bad one.
Scam artists and spammers will usually send large amounts of emails when starting out as they don’t expect to hold onto their IP for long, and don’t need to worry about having a good reputation. The time it would take to warm their IPs would not be worth it to them as they are not building a business, just trying to make money quickly. Because of this, whenever an ISP sees large amounts of emails being sent from an IP without a reputation it errs on the side of caution and says that IP is a scammer. It doesn’t matter what the content of your emails are, only the quantity.
Although it will take time in the beginning it is crucial to warm your IP to avoid this. If you get a negative reputation near the beginning it can be almost impossible to reverse it, so it may not seem worth it to begin with, but in the long run, you will thank yourself for putting in the extra effort.
IP warming is needed to increase your email deliverability, and high email interactions and click rates will increase how many people go to your business’s site; therefore increasing your profits.
Conclusion
At first, IP warming may seem unnecessary and a waste of time when starting out your business, but it can very much make or break your email engagement. IP warming increases your reputation with ISPs, meaning that your emails are shown to more people, and aren’t just reported as spam immediately.
Not using IP warming can ruin your reputation, meaning that not as many people see your content, and when you get a low reputation it can be hard and even more time-consuming to crawl yourself back up.
Therefore, it is more useful to spend time, in the beginning, warming up your IP so as to avoid this.