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Warming up your email sending

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You only really need to worry about this stuff if you're migrating a list of at least ten thousand subscribers from another service.

"Warming up" is a catch-all term for the process of slowly sending to a large list of subscribers to maximize long-term deliverability. When first sending emails through Buttondown, there are several important factors to consider.

Buttondown automatically throttles and monitors the performance of new senders to maintain our reputation and your deliverability. We cap the number of emails a newsletter can send in a given hour until you've reached a baseline level of engagement and reputation for your content.

If we detect issues during this process, such as a high number of unsubscribes, complaints, or hard bounces, we will temporarily disable your sending capability and reach out to help resolve the issue.

Domain vs. IP warming

Warming up is less important when sending from a new IP than when sending from a new domain. If you're bringing over new subscribers and using your own domain, our guidance is to let Buttondown handle the warming up process for you.

Best practices

1. Start with engaged subscribers

Try to make sure your first few sends from Buttondown are to a highly engaged cohort of subscribers. One of the most important metrics that Email Service Providers (ESPs) like Gmail and Yahoo use is the presence of positive engagement.

2. Embrace the migration

A common and effective tactic used by our newsletter authors is to acknowledge the migration process by encouraging subscribers to reply to their first few emails. This serves two purposes:

  • It trains ESPs like Gmail to prioritize the placement of your emails in your subscribers' inboxes
  • It creates a positive feedback loop to maintain consistent and strong deliverability

3. Monitor your performance

Use tools like Google Postmaster Tools to monitor your domain's reputation. You can also check our domain monitoring guide for additional resources on tracking your deliverability performance.

4. Be patient

Building a good sender reputation takes time. Follow Buttondown's guidelines, maintain a clean subscriber list, and consistently provide valuable content to your audience.

For more information on maintaining high deliverability, see our guides on dealing with spam subscribers and hosting on a custom domain.

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