Email Warmup for freelancers: How to get started ?

Starting as a freelancer, you’ve probably noticed that your emails are not always landing in the inbox. But did you know that one effective way to improve your email deliverability is through a process called email warmup? 

Picture it as building a good reputation for your email account before even starting sending out messages.

➡️ Does email warmup really work?
➡️ How do I cold email as a freelancer?
➡️ What are the best email warmup tools for freelancers?

Here is what you need to know !

Why email warmup is crucial for freelancers ?

For freelancers, establishing a strong sender reputation is critical if you want your emails to reach your clients and get noticed. When you start sending emails from a new account, it’s like introducing yourself to your recipients' inboxes. Without a proper warmup, email providers might view your messages as suspicious or spammy, damaging your sender reputation and lowering your email deliverability.

💡 Read also: 100+ Spam Words to avoid to land in inbox in 2024

The key is to gradually increase your email volume while generating positive engagement (such as opens and replies) on your emails. This strategy helps build trust with email providers, boosting both your deliverability and your open rates, ensuring your important messages get the attention they deserve.

Discover the best email warmup tool for a perfect deliverability

Getting started with email warmup as a freelancer

Choosing the right email service provider

Selecting the right email service provider (ESP) is crucial as you begin your email warmup journey as a freelancer. For the best results, we recommend using Google Workspace or Office 365. Here’s why:

✅ Superior Deliverability Rates: Google Workspace and Office 365 are the top choices for professional email sending because they are highly trusted by major email providers. Emails sent from these platforms are more likely to reach your recipients' inboxes, as these services have built strong reputations for delivering legitimate emails.

✅ Built-in Security and Authentication: Both Google Workspace and Office 365 offer robust security features, including built-in SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication protocols. These features help prevent your emails from being marked as spam by verifying that they are genuinely sent from your domain.

✅ Strong Sender Reputation Management: Google and Microsoft dominate the email market, meaning that emails sent from Google Workspace or Office 365 are more easily recognized and trusted by other email providers. This trust helps build and maintain a positive sender reputation, which is critical for ensuring high deliverability.

By choosing Google Workspace or Office 365, you’re opting for ESPs that not only simplify the technical aspects of email sending but also enhance your chances of landing in the inbox—where your emails belong.

Setting up email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM and DMARC)

Getting your emails to land in the inbox starts with the right authentication setup. Here’s a straightforward look at SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, essential tools to help you secure your emails and boost deliverability:

➡️ SPF (Sender Policy Framework): SPF helps prevent unauthorized use of your email domain by specifying which mail servers are permitted to send emails on behalf of your domain, which highly reduces the risk of your emails being marked as spam or spoofed by malicious actors. To set up SPF, you only need to add a TXT record to your domain’s DNS settings. Then, this record lists the IP addresses or hostnames allowed to send emails from your domain, a proper configuration ensuring that your legitimate emails are authenticated and protecting your domain’s reputation;

➡️ DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): DKIM adds a digital signature to your emails in order to verify that the email content hasn’t been altered during transit and that it genuinely comes from your domain. So to configure DKIM, you will need to generate a public-private key pair and publish the public key in your domain’s DNS records as a TXT record, so that the private key can be used by your email server to sign outgoing messages;

➡️ DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance): DMARC ties together SPF and DKIM to give you control over how your domain handles email that fails authentication checks. It also provides reporting tools to monitor and analyze email traffic. By setting up DMARC, you are able to create a policy that instructs receiving mail servers on how to handle emails that fail SPF or DKIM checks, so whether to quarantine them, reject them, or even accept them with warnings. The advantage of implementing DMARC includes creating a DMARC policy and adding it to your DNS records as a TXT record, a protocol that is important to prevent phishing attacks while ensuring better email deliverability.

Automating Your Email Warmup with Ease

Let an email warmup tool handle your warmup strategy

Instead of developing a gradual warmup plan, you can simplify the process by using an automated email warmup tool like MailReach. Once you connect your mailbox to MailReach, the tool takes care of the entire warmup process for you. It automatically sends warming emails at a controlled pace, gradually increasing the volume to build your sender reputation without you needing to lift a finger.

This approach ensures that email providers get accustomed to your sending patterns, helping you to be recognized as a trustworthy sender without the hassle of manual intervention.

💡 Read also : What’s IP Warm Up?

Monitoring performance metrics

With MailReach, monitoring your email performance becomes straightforward. The platform provides a comprehensive dashboard where you can track key metrics such as deliverability, open rates, bounce rates, and sender reputation.

A steady or improving open rate indicates that the warmup process is working effectively. If you notice any dips, MailReach's real-time data can help you identify issues, such as high bounce rates or low engagement, allowing you to make necessary adjustments. By keeping a close eye on these metrics, you can ensure that your emails continue to land in the inbox and that your sender reputation remains strong.

Essential Cold Email Deliverability Practices for Freelancers

Ensuring your cold emails consistently land in the inbox requires strict adherence to proven deliverability practices. These practices help protect your sender reputation and enhance the effectiveness of your email campaigns.

Use Reputable Email Domains and Addresses

Start by using secondary domains for sending cold emails to protect your primary domain’s reputation. Avoid using hyphens, numbers, or exotic domain extensions like “.tech” or “.biz” which are often flagged by spam filters. Instead, stick to well-known extensions like “.com” or “.co.” Your email address should be personalized (e.g., john.doe@company.com) rather than generic (e.g., sales@company.com)​.

Limit Sending Volume and Avoid Attachments

To avoid triggering spam filters, limit the number of cold emails you send to 100 per day per email address. This practice helps maintain a human-like sending behavior, reducing the risk of being flagged as spam. Additionally, never include attachments in your cold emails as they are commonly associated with phishing attempts and are a major deliverability killer​.

Verify and Clean Your Email List Regularly

Before launching your cold email campaign, always verify your email list to remove invalid and risky addresses. A high bounce rate can severely damage your sender reputation, so it’s crucial to keep your list clean by regularly updating it and removing any outdated or irrelevant contacts. This helps ensure that your emails are reaching engaged and legitimate recipients​.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an Email Warmup and Why is it Important?

Email warmup is the process of gradually increasing your email sending volume while generating positive engagement (like opens and replies) to build a strong sender reputation. This is crucial for ensuring that your emails land in the inbox rather than the spam folder, especially when using a new email account or domain.

How Long Should the Email Warmup Process Take?

The initial warmup phase should last 14 days minimum. No campaigns should be sent during this phase. Once it’s done, it’s crucial to keep email warming as long as you send campaigns and between them.

Having a constant high engagement rate is what maintains your sender reputation in the long run.

Can I Automate the Email Warmup Process?

Yes, the email warmup process can be fully automated using tools like MailReach, which are designed to manage the entire process for you. These tools simulate real email interactions, helping to establish your sender reputation by automatically increasing your email volume and generating positive engagement without manual effort.

How Can I Monitor My Email Warmup Progress?

You can monitor your email warmup progress by using the analytics dashboard provided by your warmup tool, such as MailReach. This dashboard shows your Reputation Score, where your warming emails land, how many warming emails have been removed from spam, etc.