Warm up your SMTP Server to Reach More Inboxes
Will your carefully crafted email marketing message go straight into the junk mail folder? Even worse, will it get blocked from delivery by the upstream mail server? If it happens to your message, it may be related to sending through a cold email server.
Modern spam filters monitor email volume and react quickly to changes in behavior. If you are sending ~10 emails from an established address and domain, there isn’t much to worry about. If you need to send 1,000 or more messages and normally have little to no volume, expect to run into problems. Major providers such as Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo will often bring down the hammer and block your messages.
Normally this is a good thing as it prevents hacked email servers from wreaking havoc on inboxes. Best intentions can be a problem when an important message needs to be delivered. Sanctuary Software provides the back-end for MessageMadeEasy an online tool for bulk notifications. Customers use MME to send out emergency notifications via email, text, and phone call. As you’d expect, most days are business as usual and things are quiet. But, schools have snow days, workplaces have an emergency, IT systems go down, and pandemics happen. The email distribution goes from zero to 10,000 families in the school system, and the spam filters don’t monitor the weather.
Being Prepared for an Emergency
If an emergency can’t be prevented, it’s better to at least be prepared. With the nominal cost of email delivery, its good practice to maintain a base level of email traffic to ensure delivery when volumes spike. MailRamp is a simple command line tool managing background email delivery. Provide it an email list, configure the number of messages per hour, and MailRamp maintains a consistent flow of emails. This keeps your email server warm and messages flowing into inboxes. Start small and increase the rate over time to gradually improve your server’s reputation.
Technical Information
MailRamp is open source and available for free under the MIT License on github.com. MailRamp supports email delivery over SMTP and is compatible with most mail servers. If it doesn’t meet your needs, reach out to Sanctuary Software for assistance or a custom version for your application.
Struggling with Email Delivery?
MailRamp is just one of the custom tools used by Sanctuary Software to improve email delivery. If you’re struggling with low delivery or open rates, we can help you reach more customers with a messaging solution that incorporates content screening, message testing, delivery improvement, and performance tracking.
