IP warming is the process of establishing the reputation of a legitimate email sender for a new IP address or one that hasn’t been used in a while. It involves gradually sending emails to engaged audience segments to slowly expose your IP to inbox providers, gain their trust, and ensure your messages aren’t flagged as spam.
You warm up your IP address when launching marketing initiatives for the first time from a new IP address or moving to a new marketing automation platform. If done right, IP warming will ensure your emails go straight to the subscribers’ inboxes instead of spam and eliminate the risk of blocks.
How to successfully warm up an IP address
If you don’t warm up your IP and send a large number of emails at once, inbox providers will suspect you’re a spammer and may block you. That’s why IP warming is an essential step that lays the foundation for the success of your marketing initiatives.
Warming up an IP is easier if you use an advanced marketing automation platform like Klaviyo that offers options for segmenting your audience, setting up a sending plan, and monitoring success.
Before describing the steps of warming up an IP in Klaviyo, it’s important to differentiate between:
- Shared IP addresses: They’re used by multiple senders. If you’re using a shared IP address, you’ll mostly focus on ramping your send volume over time.
- Dedicated IP addresses: They’re used by a single sender. If you’re using a dedicated IP, you’ll also focus on ramping but with more emphasis on engaging your most active subscribers first and gradually expanding your reach. In this case, ramping is only a part of the longer IP warming process that can continue after you’ve ramped up to a desired email volume until inbox providers make an initial decision on your reputation.
We’ll show you how to warm up a dedicated IP in Klaviyo:
1. Prepare for warming your IP
Before getting started, you should prepare for IP warming by:
- Suspending third-party affiliate marketing
- Analyzing email templates and updating or removing the poor-performing ones
- Cleaning your email list to eliminate invalid and unengaged email addresses
Doing this will help you showcase engagement to inbox providers and earn a good reputation.
2. Focus on one-time sends
Instead of creating trigger-based automated emails to warm up your IP, focus on one-time emails you manually schedule, like product launches or sales promotions.
Automated flows may seem a better option, but they’re not the best choice here because they don’t give you as much control over opt-in consent. Some automations, like browse or cart abandonments, don’t require explicit consent, and at this stage, you want to prioritize and have full control over consent-based emails.
3. Set up your sending plan
Create an efficient sending plan based on:
- Whether you’re a new or existing Klaviyo customer
- Audience engagement
- Sending frequency
Initial emails affect your reputation, so send them to highly engaged audience segments. If you’re using a new IP address, focus on the most recent subscribers, as they’re likely to engage.
4. Follow your plan and monitor success
Stick to your sending plan and monitor the performance of your emails to measure if and how people interact with them.
Email opens and click rates are the primary indicators of your success. If you’re not seeing the rates you hoped for, don’t ramp up the volume of emails. Instead, extend the warmup process. It’s better to take your time to properly warm up your IP than to rush it and jeopardize the future success of your email initiatives.
Use Klaviyo for IP warming
Klaviyo is a marketing automation platform with features that make IP warming easier and less stressful, which is especially useful for those new to email marketing.
If you opt for Klaviyo, you’ll get tailored assistance throughout every phase of the IP warming process. You’ll work closely with your Customer Success Manager and the platform’s success team to create a plan that takes into account your specific needs.
That’s not the only perk you’ll get with Klaviyo. You’ll unlock access to advanced features that make IP warming and managing marketing initiatives down the road a breeze, such as:
- Audience segmentation: Segment your audience based on engagement, predictive analysis, customer data, or other criteria to create personalized messages for each category.
- Campaigns: Use these one-time sends to warm up your IP address or notify your target audience about the latest updates.
- Flows: Create trigger-based automations once you’ve warmed up your IP to offer your audience a personalized experience and streamline the entire customer journey.
- Forms: Obtain consent from your target audience to send them personalized emails, SMS messages, and push notifications.
- Klaviyo AI: Write engaging content, build custom flows, predict your audience’s behavior, and see how you stack up against the competition.
- Integrations: Connect Klaviyo to 350+ platforms to keep all your work under one roof.
Ready to effortlessly warm up your IP address and achieve your marketing goals? Sign up for Klaviyo and turn your marketing dreams into reality.