Smart Warming and how it applies to you

Smart Warming (SW) is a beehiiv process that runs quietly in the background, and it applies to all setups where you use a custom domain to send your publications. This includes starting a new newsletter, migrating an existing newsletter to a new domain, migrating an existing newsletter that used a domain to beehiiv, or currently sending using our shared beehiiv.com domain.

The automated SW process involves gradually increasing email volume on your custom domain to build its positive reputation. It is enabled by default in your account, so anytime you switch to a custom domain for sending emails, Smart Warming kicks in. It's like prepping your domain's reputation to avoid delivery hiccups.

How Smart Warming works

Anytime a new custom domain is set up, Smart Warming will automatically activate for publications sending to over 100 subscribers. If you set up your custom domain first, SW will trigger once you add 200 subscribers.

SW functions by building a unified sending reputation for 3 crucial email elements tied to a custom domain: the domain name, the sender, and the IP address of the server that sends the email. This trifecta ensures a comprehensive warm-up, even if your custom domain has already been used for email sending, it will still need to be warmed up.

Smart Warming is essentially the process of identifying the positive association between the sender, IP address, and the custom domain.

• After setting up a custom domain in your account and verifying it to be used as your email domain, SW gradually increases the email sending volume from that domain.
• The SW process typically spans about 4-8 weeks for accounts with a sending frequency of more than once a week. For publications that send less frequently, the Smart Warming duration may extend longer.

---

Where to track the Smart Warming progress

You can track the progress of Smart Warming from the Domains page in your publication settings.

1. Log in to your publication and click on Settings in the bottom left corner.
   
   
2. From the left panel menu, select Domains.
   
   
3. Scroll down to the Email Domain section. If Smart Warming is active, a yellow tag will indicate Smart Warming In Progress.
   
   
4. Click the arrow next to Smart Warming to view the current status. You’ll see a chart with sending volume on the left axis and dates along the bottom. Hover over any point on the chart to view the exact numbers for the different sending domains.
   
   
   

---

Reasons the process might take longer

• Limited Volume: If you are not sending to your full subscriber list, or if the publication lacks sufficient post sends, the SW process may take longer. It's recommended to increase the sending frequency for efficient warming.
• ESP Signals: In some cases, ESPs like Gmail or Outlook may signal us to slow down due to factors such as high deferrals or low opens. When this happens, we adjust the sending strategy based on the signals to ensure a smooth SW process.

---

Why Smart Warming matters

• Smart Warming prevents deliverability issues by gradually warming up your custom domain.
• It ensures a successful transition to a custom domain without affecting your subscribers' experience.
• The reputation of domain names and IP addresses plays a crucial role in email deliverability. When you introduce a new IP + domain combination — such as, your custom domain with one of beehiiv's IPs — it's important to introduce it gradually to the email ecosystem to build a good reputation among ESPs.

---

What to expect during SW

• During the Smart Warming process, nothing will change in terms of your subscribers’ experience, they will still receive the newsletters that you send; the only difference is which domain the emails will be sent from.  
• The automated process begins by gradually introducing your custom domain to your subscribers. Initially, only a small subset receives emails from your custom domain, while the rest continue to receive emails from the beehiiv domain. As time progresses, we incrementally increase the volume until every subscriber exclusively receives emails from your custom domain, marking the completion of the SW process.
• All of beehiiv's features are available during Smart Warming, except A/B testing of email subject lines.
• SW generally lasts for about 4-8 weeks as we ramp up email sends on the new domain, then once the process is finished, all of your emails will be sent from your custom domain as intended. For publications that send less frequently, the Smart Warming duration may extend longer.