Email Warming, Not Global Warming: Sales Tips for Sustainable Businesses

Of the many cold outreach methods available to today's sales reps - cold calling, social selling, corporate gifting included - cold email campaigns remain a top choice. They're quick, (relatively) easy, and unobtrusive. But many sales reps reading this will be familiar with an age-old problem: 'My sales emails aren't converting!'

Statistically, that's not surprising. With open rates around an average 20% (and response rates an even lower 1-3%), cold emails are surely a numbers game. And try as you might, you just can't seem to make any gains.

You've tried crafting new subject lines and better CTAs, but nothing works. That's because the truth is, you may be looking in the wrong place for a solution. If you're using a new account or a brand new domain, email deliverability might be your problem.

This issue plagues the sales world. In fact, almost half of all emails land in the spam folder without ever seeing the light of day - and without the sender even realizing it. Google's increasingly sophisticated spam filters and consumers' better-than-ever eye for spam have made email deliverability a key issue in sales, making your cold email campaigns more likely to end up in spam folders, your sender reputation more likely to drop, and your domain more likely to be blacklisted.

That's why sellers need to understand 'email warming'. Here at Leadium, we're pros at the email warm up process. We're here to cover everything you need to know about email warming - from a detailed explanation to expert tips for implementation - so you can deliver a warm up campaign that gets results.

What is email warming?

Imagine you're in charge of keeping an eye on ten new email accounts. On the first day, nine of them send between 10 and 20 emails. This seems pretty normal, right? Well, the tenth email account sends 1,000 in the first 24 hours. It doesn't take a tech whizz to spot that something's up. This is clearly spam, right?

That's basically how Google's algorithm works.

Email warming is the way around this. The process essentially consists of gradually increasing the number of emails sent from a new email account so that search engine systems - and indeed consumers - don't blacklist your account. This is why we call them 'warm up emails'.

A warm up campaign generally follows a set schedule so as to make the process easier and avoid confusion. Some sellers choose to conduct manual warm up, while others rely on automated email warm up tools like MailReach and Warmy. Whether you choose to warm up your email manually or through an automated service depends on your budget and time availability.

Why are warm up emails so important in sales?

There are a bunch of reasons why you should take email warming seriously as a sales rep. Let's take a look at a few:

1. Avoid the spam folder
2. You want your emails to land in your prospect's primary inbox and to be opened. After all, you didn't spend hours crafting the perfect sales email for it to end up in the trash. Email warm up helps to sidestep spam filters and increase the chance of your emails hitting their target.
3. Build your sender reputation
4. If your email is blasting out too many emails, is linking to irreputable sources, or matches common spam trends, Google may lower your domain's reputation score. This is algorithmic, so your personal intentions don't matter. Improving your sender reputation with warm up emails ensures far fewer deliverability issues.
5. Engage your audience
6. No one wants to wake up to a barrage of cold emails. Gradual build-up of exciting emails are far more effective in hooking and maintaining prospect attention than a cold email onslaught.

How to implement effective email warming

So, you want to send killer cold emails that avoid the spam folder and build your sender reputation. Let's explore some of the steps you must take to start sending great warm up emails.

Step 1: Set up your email infrastructure

Without getting too technical, we need to take a look at the choices you need to make to start sending warm up emails.

• Choosing the right email service providers:
• Email service providers (ESPs) are companies that offer email marketing or bulk email services. These services include sending transactional and marketing emails, managing email lists, tracking email campaign performance, and ensuring email deliverability.
• When choosing one, you should look out for: deliverability, scalability, tools and features, and support options.
• Configuring SPF, DKIM, and DMARC:
• We can't get into the details of SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) here, but know that it's essential for avoiding spam filters. Check the links for simple, step-by-step explanations.

Step 2: Plan your email warm up schedule

You want to start at a low email rate, but also for those emails to see interaction (this improves your reputation score).

That said, it's a great idea to send your initial emails to friends and colleagues, because you know they'll open them - at least, you hope they will!

On day one, a few warm up emails will do. On day two, a few more. Day three, a few more. And so on. Most professionals agree you should spend about 12 weeks warming up your email account before getting stuck into a high-volume campaign.

And don't forget, if you don't have time to do this yourself, there are automated systems and email service providers that can do it for you (although you'll have less control).

Step 3: Craft personalized content

A key aspect of sender reputation (and all sales emails, for that matter) is writing personalized, human content. Research suggest that personalized email see an impressive click-through rate of 41%!

Personalizing subject lines, including personal anecdotes or funny stories, and writing in a warm, human tone all helps to up those open rates, which is crucial for email deliverability.

Step 4: Monitor performance

Sending your emails is only half the job. In order to effectively warm up your email account and knock that sender reputation out the park, you need to continuously monitor your email performance.

This includes watching things like:

• Open rates
• Bounce rates
• Click-through rates
• Conversion rates

By analyzing gaps in your performance, you can better adjust your emails for future success. Software like HubSpot and SalesHandy are great for making this process super smooth and simple.

Bonus tips for warming your email account

While we're here, we've decided to thrown in some bonus tips for good measure. Here are a few more things to work on to enhance your email warm up efforts and get your message heard:

• Segment your audience
• It's super important to target your email campaigns with as much accuracy as possible.
• Stay consistent
• Avoid sudden spikes in volume (which could damage your reputation score) and stick to your schedule.
• Focus on quality over quantity
• Use powerful lead generation to pinpoint high-quality prospects with a high chance of conversion.
• Stay compliant
• As always, it's crucial to get to grips with and adhere to email marketing laws (CAN-SPAM, GDPR).
• Use automation wisely
• While email automation services are a useful time-saver, don't over-rely on them. Personalization is still your best friend when it comes to email warm up.

Say goodbye to the spam folder

Sales emails are the cornerstone of many fantastic lead generation and sales development campaigns. Bu that doesn't mean you can start firing off sales emails wherever and whenever you want. In order to sidestep Google spam filters and secure high open rates, you need to get to grips with email warming.

In short, you should 'warm up' any new email account by starting small and gradually increasing the number of emails you send. Make sure you have the perfect email infrastructure to achieve this, and stick to a well-planned sending schedule. Personalize your emails as much as possible and make sure to keep an eye on all-important performance metrics - that way, you can practice continuous improvement for maximized results.

Leadium is an expert B2B lead generation and sales development service trusted by hundreds of companies to secure top-of-funnel sales opportunities. With our founder-led approach and multi-channel outreach strategies, we're an industry-leading email campaign service.

If you're a business leader looking to warm up your email accounts and start sending cold emails that convert, why not take a look at our services? We have everything you need, and then some.