Things to Consider Before Sending Your First Campaign

Sending your first campaign from a new email subdomain on Force24 is an exciting milestone, but it is also one of the most important sends you will make.

Mailbox providers such as Microsoft and Google don't yet know whether you are a trusted sender. Instead, they build trust over time by looking at how you send your emails and how recipients interact with them.

How do I build a positive sender reputation?

Follow these five practices for your first campaigns, and keep them up as your sending grows.

1. Start small

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is sending to your entire database straight away. A brand new email subdomain has no reputation, so sending a large number of emails immediately can look suspicious to mailbox providers and increase the chance of your emails being filtered as spam.

2. Increase your send rate gradually

As your first campaigns perform well, you can slowly increase your hourly sending rate over the following days and weeks. Rather than making large jumps, increase your volume gradually and check your results before increasing it again.

Keep an eye on metrics such as:

• Delivery rates
• Spam bounces
• Open rates
• Spam complaints

If these stay healthy, you can keep increasing your sending rate over time. If you notice your deliverability starting to decline, pause any further increases until performance improves. You can reach out to us on live chat for advice on this.

3. Send to your most engaged contacts first

If you are moving from another email platform, try to send your first campaigns to contacts who have previously opened or otherwise engaged with your emails.

You will likely get a higher open rate from these emails. Positive engagement like this helps mailbox providers recognise your emails as wanted and trustworthy.

If you don't have previous engagement data, focus on the contacts who are most likely to be interested in hearing from you, and on your highest quality data that is least likely to bounce.

4. Keep sending consistently

Once you have established a good sender reputation, consistency is key to maintaining it.

Sending campaigns regularly is much better than sending nothing for weeks and then suddenly emailing thousands of contacts at once. A consistent sending pattern helps mailbox providers recognise your sending behaviour as genuine and trustworthy.

5. Segment your audience

Sending to your entire database is not always the best approach. Instead, consider splitting your audience into smaller Segments and prioritising the contacts who are most likely to engage with your emails. This supports better deliverability and gives you the best chance of generating opens, clicks and conversions.

For example, you might prioritise contacts who have:

• Previously opened or clicked your emails
• Recently visited your website
• Converted before
• Been active recently

What should I remember before my first campaign?

Before sending your first campaign:

• Start at a low send rate, below 100 emails per hour.
• Monitor your deliverability before increasing your sending volume.
• Increase your sending rate gradually over time.
• Send to your most engaged contacts first where possible.
• Maintain a consistent sending pattern.
• Use Segments to prioritise your most valuable contacts.