Step-by-Step Guide to Manually Warming Up Your Email Account
No tools? No problem. Learn how to manually warm up your email account for better inbox delivery in 2025.
Last updated
No tools? No problem. Learn how to manually warm up your email account for better inbox delivery in 2025.
Last updated
While email warm-up tools are incredibly efficient, some senders prefer a manual approach — especially in early-stage outreach, niche industries, or when warming inboxes on tight budgets.
The manual method gives you full control and transparency over how your sender reputation is built. It takes more effort, but when done right, it’s incredibly effective.
This step-by-step guide shows you exactly how to manually warm up your email account in 2025 — the right way.
Never start sending before completing the essentials:
🔐 Authenticate your domain:
SPF
DKIM
DMARC
rDNS
Custom tracking domain (avoid shared links)
Branded “From” name and email
💡 Tip: Use tools like MXToolbox, Google Postmaster Tools, or SenderWiz domain setup assistant to verify these records.
Read more about if you’re starting from scratch.
The golden rule: slow and steady wins the inbox.
📅 Warm-up schedule (approximate):
Day 1–3: 10–20 emails per day
Day 4–7: 30–50 emails per day
Day 8–14: 50–100 emails per day
🎯 Adjust based on your open rates, reply rates, and bounces.
Start by emailing:
Friends
Colleagues
Existing clients or vendors
Alternate inboxes you own across providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo)
Ask them to:
✅ Open the email
✅ Click on a link
✅ Reply with something natural
✅ Mark the email as “Not Spam” if it lands there
The goal is to create engagement signals that ESPs love.
Avoid promotional language, aggressive formatting, or mass-mailing templates.
✅ Keep it simple:
Use personalized greetings
Write like a real person (short and casual)
Add a simple CTA (“What’s your take?” or “Let me know.”)
Include a link or two (optional) that point to clean, verified sites
📨 Example:
Simulate a natural sending rhythm:
Avoid sending all at once
Send during normal business hours in the recipient’s timezone
Vary your sending days (Mon–Thurs is ideal)
Build a pattern that reflects real-world human behavior.
Track daily or weekly:
Open rates
Replies received
Bounce rate
Spam folder landings
Blacklist status (use MXToolbox or DNSBL tools)
🚩 If:
Bounces > 5% → Pause sending and re-verify emails
Spam complaints increase → Review your copy and sending history
Opens are very low → Test with seed accounts or Gmail’s Postmaster Tools
After 2–3 weeks of warm-up, begin mixing in cold email sends — in moderation.
💡 Hybrid approach:
60% warm contacts or internal
40% cold leads with personalization
Mix in reply-generating content regularly
Track every campaign and avoid adding hundreds of cold contacts in one batch.
Many marketers stop warming up once they hit their volume goals — a mistake.
You should:
Maintain consistent volume
Continue getting replies regularly
Run small warm-up sequences on newly added IPs, aliases, or domains
Send reply-seeking emails routinely
Reputation is earned and maintained — not set-and-forget.
🛡️ Use different subject lines for each batch 💬 Ask for feedback in your emails 💡 Include your full sender name, job title, and signature 📥 Ask recipients to add you to their contact list or whitelist 🚫 Don’t buy or scrape email lists — your warm-up won’t matter if your leads are bad
For teams managing multiple inboxes, SenderWiz offers a hybrid warm-up solution that mirrors your manual process — and scales it intelligently.
Manual email warm-up takes more time — but gives you full visibility and control.
If you follow a patient, engagement-focused process, you’ll build a strong sender reputation and maximize inbox placement.
Whether you’re starting a new cold outreach campaign or onboarding a fresh domain, this method ensures you don’t just land in inboxes — you stay there.
Need help scaling manual warm-up with reply detection, SMTP creation, smart rotation, and deliverability tracking? gives you a hybrid approach: full control when you want it, automation when you need it.