Email warm-up is the process of gradually building up the sending reputation of a new email address or domain before you start sending cold emails at scale. SalesTarget.ai includes a built-in warm-up tool to automate this process for you.
Why Email Warm-up Matters
When you send emails from a brand new address or domain, email providers like Gmail and Outlook have no history to evaluate your trustworthiness. Sending a large volume of emails immediately triggers spam filters — even if your content is perfectly written.
Warm-up works by sending a small, gradually increasing number of emails from your account to a network of real inboxes. Those emails are automatically opened and replied to, signaling to email providers that your account is active, legitimate, and trusted.
Without warm-up: High spam rate, low deliverability, damaged sender reputation.
With warm-up: Emails land in the primary inbox, open rates are higher, campaigns perform better.
How Long Does Warm-up Take?
Account Age | Recommended Warm-up Period |
Brand new domain / email | 4 – 6 weeks |
Domain used before but not for cold email | 2 – 3 weeks |
Previously warmed account resuming after a break | 1 – 2 weeks |
Rule of thumb: Never send more than 30–50 cold emails per day from a new account until warm-up is complete.
Step 1: Enable Warm-up for Your Email Account
Go to Cold Email Outreach from the left sidebar.
Click Settings → Email Accounts.
Select the email account you want to warm up.
Toggle on Email Warm-up.
SalesTarget.ai will immediately begin the warm-up process in the background.
Step 2: Configure Your Warm-up Settings
Setting | Description |
Daily warm-up volume | How many warm-up emails are sent per day (starts low, increases automatically) |
Ramp-up speed | Slow, Medium, or Fast — controls how quickly daily volume increases |
Reply rate | Percentage of warm-up emails that receive an automatic reply (higher is better for reputation) |
Recommendation: Leave ramp-up speed on Medium for most accounts. Use Slow for brand new domains to be extra safe.
Step 3: Monitor Your Warm-up Progress
Go to Settings → Email Accounts and select your account.
Click the Warm-up tab to see your warm-up dashboard showing:
Emails sent today vs. target
Spam rate (should stay below 3%)
Inbox placement rate
Overall health score for the account
Healthy warm-up indicators: Spam rate below 3%, inbox placement above 90%, health score marked as Good or Excellent.
Step 4: Start Sending Cold Emails
Once your account health score reaches Good or Excellent and your warm-up period is complete:
Keep warm-up running in the background even after you start sending — it continues to protect your deliverability.
Begin with a conservative daily sending limit (50–100 emails/day).
Gradually increase volume week by week as your reputation strengthens.
Important: Do not turn off warm-up once you start cold sending. Warm-up running alongside your campaigns continuously improves your inbox placement.