Warmup & Volume Protocol

warmup is how you build trust with Gmail and Outlook before you start sending real campaign emails.

skip it, and your brand new inbox with zero history sends 100 cold emails on day one. providers see that as spam behaviour. you're flagged immediately.

warmup done right looks like a real human slowly building a natural sending pattern. that's because, from the provider's perspective, that's exactly what a legitimate new email account would do.

the 14-day warmup schedule

Day	Emails Sent	Emails Received (via warmup tool)	Notes
1-2	5-10	5-10	Minimal volume. Sending to warmup network only.
3-4	10-15	10-15	Slight increase. Replies happening naturally.
5-7	15-25	15-25	Building momentum. Open rates should be very high.
8-10	25-35	20-30	Approaching campaign-ready volume.
11-12	35-45	25-35	Inbox reputation solidifying.
13-14	45-50	30-40	Ready for light campaign sends alongside warmup.

after day 14, keep your warmup tool running alongside real campaigns. don't turn warmup off when campaigns start. the ongoing warmup activity maintains your sender reputation.

volume rules for live campaigns

once warmup is complete and you're sending real campaign emails:

per inbox: 25-40 campaign emails per day MAX (on top of warmup)
ramp: start at 10-15 campaign emails per day for the first week, then increase by 5-10 per day per week
spread volume across inboxes: use 10-15 inboxes minimum so each individual inbox stays well under thresholds
daily sending window: spread sends across 6-8 hours during business hours (not all at 9am)
weekend sends: reduce or pause entirely (unnatural sending patterns = flags)

warning signs you're ramping too fast

watch for these. if you see any of them, pull back volume immediately.

[ ] Open rates dropping below 40% (warmup emails should be 80%+)
[ ] Emails landing in spam when you test with a seed account