TL;DR: Most founders wait too long and scramble to set up an email when they are ready to do outbound. The solution: get ahead by setting up an email to warm so that it is ready to go when you want to start cold emailing.

You just closed your round and are your startup is ready to grow. You decide to hire a sales rep, create the perfect sequence of personalized emails, and hit send expecting an inflow on responses. Instead, you get zero replies- your emails aren’t even making it to your leads’ inboxes.

You realize your domain is cold, you don’t have sender reputation, and emails are landing in spam. Now viable leads are slipping away, your timeline is pushed back, and you have to wait weeks to warm the email.

Don’t let yourself land in this position. Instead set up and warm the email early so it’s ready to use when you start outbound.

Email warming is the process of gradually increasing sending volume from a new email account. By simulating email activity and building sender reputation, you prevent emails from landing in spam. Email service providers (ESPs) will analyze if your emails are being opened, replied to, and marked as important to help assess your sender reputation.

Email warming is a simple yet slightly tedious process. You can start with other accounts that you own, but you’ll also need to get some other people to help out. The easiest way to do this is to use the account or domain you intend to use for outbound for repeated communications that you know are reliably opened, received, and replied to - such as investor updates. Engagement is a key factor, so make sure to ask your recipients to open your messages, reply to them, and mark them as important.

There are e-mail warming services as well, but we’ve seen mixed results in their effectiveness. The best warming is slow, authentic use of the account.

Email warming takes time. In fact, the type of email you set up can impact how long it takes to warm. Warming a new domain (e.g., @example.com) takes even longer to warm than a new email account that has an existing domain (e.g., [email protected]).

The amount of time it takes to warm an email varies, but a new inbox typically needs about 2-4 weeks of warm up and 6-8 weeks before full campaign volume. When your company is ready to begin outbound, you won’t want to wait to warm an email- instead prepare now so that you can hit the ground running.

Sales is a time sensitive process, and, especially as a startup, every lead is important. Don’t let emails that land in spam or a delayed timeline be the reason your outbound is unsuccessful.