Ask Al: Spam folder placement during warmup?


An anonymous reader asked the following question in a comment the other day: “[Do you have] any recommendations related to all emails ending up in spam/junk folder when sending to Microsoft servers during the first week of IP warming?”

And last week I covered what to do, in general, if you’re seeing spam folder placement at Microsoft domains (find that here), but what do you do when you’re experiencing spam folder issues while in the throes of IP warming?

Warming is a very important process wherein a marketer new to a sending IP address, sending domain, or email marketing platform sets themselves up to maximize their chances of deliverability success (and inbox placement) by starting out slowly, sending low volumes of email messages, and building up that volume send-over-send to build up a good and solid sending reputation. (Learn more about IP warming here.)

Historically, back in my Marketing Cloud days, I’d lay out a plan for the first 30 days worth of sends and help a client map out a rising set of volume limits, so that by the end of the warming period, the client has “warmed up” their new sending IP address, now with a good sending reputation and solid inbox placement. Typically, I’d just double the daily volume limits week-over-week, but a lot of folks (and me, too, sometimes) would come up with more complicated plans where perhaps we suggest a volume increase of no more than 5-10% per day.

Things have gotten a little more complex nowadays, so while warming is still a necessary thing, very much a strongly recommended best practice, keep in mind that it might not be only a four week or thirty day endeavor. I’ve seen it sometimes take five to eight weeks, even for generally good senders.

(And if your data isn’t great; you’re not going to have an enjoyable warming experience. Spam folder placement could persist for weeks longer, maybe even forever. This is why engagement, and permission, are still so important to email marketing success. Bad data leads to bad results.)

But if you are doing everything right, putting your best foot forward to send mail only to recently engaged subscribers who truly did opt-in to receive your email messages, never fear. It is actually not uncommon to experience some spam folder placement during the warming process. I don’t find it weird at all to hear of spam folder placement at Microsoft in that first week.

And nor do I think it is something to freak out about. If you’re seeing spam folder placement during warming, just double check and make sure that data sources and segmentation are what you expect them to be – make sure that nobody potentially errored and is somehow sending mail to the wrong subscribers or ten year old subscribers or completely unengaged subscribers, if possible. Beyond that, it’s a case of “steady as she goes.” Warming is a shakedown cruse; you have no reputation yet, mailbox providers are suspicious of you and don’t have a fully formed understanding of your IP reputation or domain reputation, and it takes time for them to collect enough data to get that understanding.

So, keep on going. Continue with IP warming. Generally speaking, things do even out in the end, and as long as you’re sending truly wanted mail, chances are things will be fine in the long term. (And if not, you’ve still got my other guide to reference for suggestions for what else you should be doing.)

Good luck and I wish you much marketing success!
2 Comments

Comments

  1. Great post, Al. I am used to seeing Microsoft yellow SNDS and spam folder placement in the first week. But if we see that after the first week, I reach out to MS, let them know our sending schedule and go from there.

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  2. Would love a post on domain vs IP warming, especially in the case where you are using a shared IP managed by your ESP.

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