What Is Email Warmup?
Email warmup is the process of gradually building your email account's sending reputation by increasing volume slowly and generating positive engagement signals.
When you create a new email account or a new domain, email providers (Gmail, Outlook) treat it as an unknown entity. Send too many emails too fast, and you'll land in spam. Warmup changes that by showing providers that your account sends emails people want to open and read.
How Email Warmup Works
During warmup, your account sends and receives emails within a trusted network of other accounts. These emails are automatically opened, replied to, and — critically — moved out of spam. This pattern of positive engagement signals tells Gmail and Outlook: *this is a legitimate account that people engage with.*
Leads Genie's warmup network includes thousands of real email accounts that interact with each other automatically, 24/7, in the background.
How Long Does Warmup Take?
| Week | Daily Volume | Expected Inbox Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 5–10 emails/day | 50–65% |
| Week 2 | 15–25 emails/day | 65–80% |
| Week 3 | 30–50 emails/day | 80–90% |
| Week 4+ | 50–100 emails/day | 90–98% |
Most accounts reach a safe inbox placement score after 3–4 weeks. We recommend waiting until your score is above 90% before launching cold outreach campaigns.
Key Warmup Best Practices
1. Never skip warmup.
Even for domains that have existed for years. If the account is new to sending bulk outreach, it needs warmup.
2. Keep warmup running in parallel with your campaigns.
Don't turn off warmup once you start sending. The ongoing positive engagement protects your reputation while you're running live campaigns.
3. Warm up each account individually.
Warming up one account doesn't transfer reputation to another. Every sending account needs its own warmup.
4. Use a custom domain, not Gmail/Outlook.
Warming up outreach@yourcompany.com is more effective than a free Gmail. Custom domains give you full control over your sending reputation.
5. Match warmup volume to campaign volume.
If you're sending 150 cold emails/day on a campaign, your warmup should be at least 50 emails/day to maintain the reputation buffer.
Signs Your Warmup Is Working
- Inbox placement score rising week-on-week in your Leads Genie dashboard
- Open rates on your campaigns above 40%
- Google Postmaster Tools showing "High" domain reputation
- Low spam complaint rate (under 0.1%)
Signs Something Is Wrong
- Inbox score plateaued below 70% after 3 weeks ? check your DNS records (SPF/DKIM/DMARC)
- Open rates suddenly dropped ? check if your campaigns are exceeding daily limits
- Warmup score going backwards ? your account may have been flagged; pause campaigns, increase warmup volume
Getting Started with Leads Genie Warmup
1. Connect your email account in Email Accounts ? Add Account
2. Toggle Warmup to On
3. Set your daily warmup target (start at 10, increase by 5 each week)
4. Monitor your score in the Warmup Dashboard
5. Once your score hits 90+, you're ready to launch campaigns