How can I warmup emails?

Email Warmup builds your sending accounts' reputation so your campaigns reach the inbox instead of the spam folder. It runs quietly in the background. You set it up once, and it keeps working while your campaigns run.

Why Warmup matters

When you send cold emails, providers like Gmail and Outlook decide inbox vs. spam based on your sender reputation. A new or rarely used inbox has little sending history, so a sudden burst of cold emails can look suspicious and get filtered.

Warmup gives your accounts a track record of healthy, engaged email before and during your campaigns, so more of your real emails are delivered where they can be seen.

Tip: Think of Warmup like a reputation score for your email address. You build it gradually with consistent, natural activity.

How Warmup works

Once enabled, your connected inboxes perform a few small actions on a schedule:

  • Send natural-looking emails to other Warmup-enabled accounts.
  • Check placement to see whether those emails landed in the inbox or spam.
  • Rescue spam emails by moving them back to the inbox and marking them as not spam.
  • Reply to some messages to create normal back-and-forth conversations.

Doing this consistently helps email providers learn that your accounts are active, trustworthy, and safe to deliver.

Getting started

  1. Go to Outreach > Warmup, or open it directly here.
  2. Make sure each account you want to warm has both SMTP for sending and IMAP for reading replies and rescuing spam configured in your email settings.
  3. Toggle Warmup on for at least two accounts. They need each other to exchange mail.
  4. Click Save changes.

That is it. Warmup will begin ramping up automatically.

Note: You need at least two accounts enabled. With only one account, there is no other inbox to exchange messages with. The more accounts and domains you enable, the more natural the Warmup activity looks.

Your settings, explained

Each account has its own Warmup settings, so you can use different limits for new and established inboxes.

Daily volume

  • Start — how many Warmup emails to send on day one. Typical value: 4.
  • Increase — how many more emails to add each day. Typical value: 2.
  • Max — the daily ceiling the account ramps up to. Typical value: 40.

Example: Start 4, Increase 2, Max 40 means day 1 sends 4, day 2 sends 6, day 3 sends 8, and so on until the account reaches 40 per day.

Behavior

  • Reply % — the share of received Warmup emails that get a reply. Replies are a strong trust signal.
  • Min gap — the minimum number of minutes between sends, so messages are spread out naturally.
  • Weekends — whether Warmup should continue on Saturday and Sunday.

Reading your dashboard

At the top of the Warmup page, you can see totals across all enabled accounts, including Accounts warming, Sent today, Deliverability (7d), and Replies (7d).

Each account card shows the last 7 days of activity:

  • Today's cap — how many Warmup emails this account can send today at its current ramp level.
  • Inbox — how many Warmup emails landed in the inbox.
  • Spam — how many Warmup emails landed in spam.
  • Rescued — how many emails were moved from spam back to the inbox.
  • Replies — how many replies this account received.
  • Health — the inbox placement rate, calculated from inbox vs. spam placement. A score moving toward 90–100% means Warmup is working well.

Best practices

  • Give it time. Reputation builds over 2–4 weeks, not overnight.
  • Keep it running. Reputation fades if an account goes quiet, so it is best to leave Warmup on during campaigns.
  • Set up your domain properly. Warmup works best with correct SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records.
  • Avoid aggressive sending too early. Let Warmup establish a baseline before pushing higher campaign volume.
  • Warm every sending account you plan to use for outreach.
Important: Warmup improves sender reputation, but it does not replace proper domain setup, clean lead targeting, good email copy, or reasonable sending limits.

FAQ

Will Warmup emails show up in my inbox?
They are exchanged between your connected accounts and managed automatically. You generally do not need to touch them.

Can I run Warmup and real campaigns at the same time?
Yes. Running both is normal and recommended. Warmup helps keep your reputation healthy while you send campaigns.

How many accounts should I enable?
At least two accounts are required, but more is better. A larger pool across multiple domains looks more natural and builds trust faster.

My health score is low. What should I do?
Keep Warmup running, confirm your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are set correctly, and avoid spammy content or aggressive campaign volume. The score should improve over time.

The numbers are still zero after I enabled accounts. Why?
Warmup runs on the server on a schedule. If activity stays at zero for a while, please contact support so we can confirm the Warmup job is running correctly.