Email deliverability can be tricky, especially if you’re only getting started with cold outreach. In a way this process is a lot like the run-in of a new car. If you want your outreach to run smoothly and your new address to be taken seriously by the email service providers, you need to build up your sender reputation first.

If you’re looking for practical tips on how to improve email deliverability and how to warm up a cold email specifically, read on.

Why is my email address blacklisted?

One of the most common issues with deliverability is when an email bounced because your IP address is blacklisted.

What does it mean when your email address is blacklisted? In a nutshell, that means that the recipients' mail servers have decided that your domain is known as untrustworthy and rejects your messages.

This happens when you use an email address that is associated with spam or other types of  activity. The reason your email address was flagged as suspicious in the first place could be anything from using an old or poorly-acquired domain name, to signing up for a service and never using it again, to being included on a list of email addresses used for sending out spam messages.

If you’re wondering how to check if an email address is blacklisted, don’t worry – most deliverability tensing tools will provide this information as a part of their email server reputation lookup.

A common tip on how to reduce spam complaints is to avoid spam trap email addresses on your list.

Steer clear from the spam trap emails

These are the email addresses that are deliberately added to some lists to make it easier to flag spammers for mass emailing.

How to find out which email is a spam trap, you ask? Well, common spam trap email addresses look pretty normal at a glance, yet might contain typos (gnail instead of gmail). 

The question here is how to find spam trap email addresses? It’s not that difficult with the proper list hygiene practices in place. For example, you can find a pretty comprehensive list of spam trap email addresses online with western email spam traps mentioned separately.

How to detect spam trap emails on your list? Simply run email validation – most tools will highlight potentially harmful addresses.

How to perform the email server reputation check

It’s very important to check if an email address is blacklisted and whether your email is properly authenticated before you launch your campaign, but there are more thing to keep in mind. For instance, you should run an exhaustive email server reputation test from time to time to make sure everything is ok. 

One of the most important elements here is the email SPF check.

What is email SPF check?

One of the most important elements of the email deliverability testing, it is used to verify the sending domain name and sender's IP address to prevent malicious activity like phishing. 

To check email SPF record, you need to turn to your email account settings.

Other aspects of email authentication process

There’s one thing I always keep in mind when setting up my email server, and it’s authentication. This usually includes the email DKIM, SPF check as well as other authentication records, including DMARC.

Another common tactic is to add DKIM signature to email. This way you can use DKIM spam protection system to sign outgoing email messages as a way to safeguard your reputation.

If you’re curious about how to get your emails authenticated by DKIM, refer to your email provider for hands-on guide. These might differ based on your ESP.

Common tactics for improving email deliverability

Now, let’s get back to the key question: how to improve email deliverability rates? While there’s no silver bullet, there are several things you can do to repair your sender reputation:

1. Make sure that all of your IP addresses are whitelisted by the recipients' mail servers. 
2. Make sure that all of your contact information is correct and up-to-date.
3. Avoid having multiple accounts on any given domain name (due to the SPF issues we will cover below).
4. Ensure proper authentication for your email account.
5. Warm up your email account for sending.

Warming up a new email domain with Reply

Not sure which strategy will improve email deliverability? One way to make sure your emails get through to the inbox is to warm up your email domain. 

There are several ways to warm up an email account for cold outreach. You can do this by sending out small batches of emails from your new domain every day and having them opened, replied to and clicked on. Or you can automate the whole process with Reply.

Our Warm-Up tool relies on the network of the trusted accounts that belong to other users to send and receive emails in the background while also interacting with them on your behalf. The process fully mimics human behavior to give the ESP a clear signal that my email address can be trusted.

Warming up your email schedule might take around 2-3 weeks. Yet, once you’re done warming up a new email domain, we recommend leaving the service on for some time to avoid any damage to your sender reputation and quickly fix any issues as they arise.