Deliverability Playbook

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Why this approach works

RevBridge Connect provides dedicated infrastructure from day one—no shared IPs, no reputation bleed from neighbors. This playbook guides you through a systematic warmup that keeps spam complaints under 0.3% (target < 0.1%) while building Gmail trust first, then expanding to other providers. Every domain on RevBridge gets isolated servers. Your warmup cadence builds reputation signals that Gmail recognizes as legitimate sender behavior, not bulk spam.

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Core rules that never change

Before diving into the timeline, commit to these fundamentals:

• Gmail leads the way. Start 100% Gmail traffic. Only introduce other providers after Gmail shows green signals consistently.
• Weekends are pause days. Saturday and Sunday never increase volume. Maintain the prior day’s successful level or pause entirely, resuming Monday with a repeat of your last successful day.
• Gradual growth protects you. Avoid sudden jumps. Use RevBridge Connect’s scheduling controls to manage hourly send rates and keep day-over-day increases smooth.
• Authentication must be perfect. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC fully aligned; PTR/rDNS validated; TLS enforced; proper headers in place; one-click unsubscribe enabled for promotional sends.
• Let activity drive volume. Prioritize daily active users. Segment by recency: last open, last click, days since last interaction.
• Keep emails simple. Single call-to-action, no attachments during warmup, minimal HTML, copy that encourages replies.
• Daily health checks are mandatory. Review Gmail Postmaster Tools (domain and IP reputation), spam complaint rate, bounce metrics, deferrals, open/click rates daily.

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Foundation work (3 days before launch)

Build your foundation before sending begins:

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Your first 10 days: the warmup staircase

The warmup follows a predictable pattern: start small with your most active users, gradually expand segmentation, and increase volume by roughly 35-45% per day. Use an 8-hour send window. If you must compress to 4 hours, halve all volumes listed below.

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Warmup progression schedule

After Day 10, if metrics remain healthy, gradually scale toward ~5,000/hour (approximately 25,000/day in 5 hours or 40,000/day in 8 hours) while maintaining reputation.

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Managing send windows and hourly rates

Your send window acts as a control mechanism. Calculate hourly rate by dividing daily volume by window hours. Keep this rate below your IP’s safe capacity threshold. Example: Day 7 at 1,700 emails over 8 hours equals approximately 213/hour. Compressed to 4 hours, that jumps to 425/hour—avoid this if Postmaster shows Medium or Low reputation. RevBridge Connect’s scheduling interface lets you set precise windows and hourly limits. Use these controls to prevent accidental over-sending.

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Decision framework: advance, repeat, or pause

Monitor Activity dashboard metrics daily to make these decisions:

• Advance to next day when open rate >= 20% and spam rate < 0.1%.
• Repeat current day when open rate is 10-19% or spam is 0.1-0.29%.
• Pause and step back if open rate < 10% or spam >= 0.3%. Pause for 24 hours, tighten segmentation, then resume from one day earlier.
• Maintain bounce thresholds: Keep hard bounces <0.5% and soft bounces <2% daily. If you breach either, reduce hourly pace and narrow your segment.

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Content best practices

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What works

• Concise subject lines rotated daily to avoid spam triggers.
• Single, clear call-to-action pointing to your brand domain.
• Copy that invites replies (“Did you receive this?” or “What do you think?”).
• Alternating between plain text and light HTML formats.

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What to avoid

• Heavy images or oversized logos, excessive links, or suspicious URL parameters.
• Fake “Re:/Fwd:” prefixes or emojis in the display name.
• Attachments during the warmup period.
• Multiple CTAs or cluttered layouts.

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Audience segmentation sequence

Introduce audiences in this order as you progress through warmup:

1. Seeds, team inboxes, priority customers (active <=30 days)
2. Recently active users (opened or clicked <=60 days)
3. Moderately active users (opened or clicked <=90 days)
4. New contacts captured today
5. Previously active users (opened or clicked <=180 days)
6. Hygienized legacy base

Use RevBridge Connect’s dynamic segmentation features to create lists based on recency bands. This eliminates manual daily curation and ensures consistent targeting.

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Daily monitoring routine

Check these metrics every day using RevBridge Connect’s Analytics dashboard:

• Gmail Postmaster: Domain and IP reputation progression (Low → Medium → High) and spam rate trends.
• Campaign performance: Open rates, click rates, complaint rates, hard/soft bounces, deferrals (4xx responses).
• SMTP responses: Monitor 4xx deferrals (retry with backoff) and 5xx permanent failures (fix root cause before scaling).
• Seed activity: Open and reply to test emails to reinforce positive activity signals.

The Activity timeline provides real-time visibility into every event. Use filters to investigate specific time windows or event types when troubleshooting.

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Recovery actions when metrics dip

When signals turn yellow or red:

1. Reduce send pace. Expand your send window or lower hourly volume immediately.
2. Tighten audience selection. Roll back to <=30-60-day active users and remove inactive contacts.
3. Simplify creative. Change subject line, revert to plain text, keep one link, ask for response.
4. Verify tracking setup. Ensure your tracking subdomain is clean with no redirect chains or suspicious paths.
5. Pause for 24 hours if spam >= 0.3% or bounces spike. Resume from the previous day’s volume once metrics stabilize.

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Scaling across multiple domains or IPs

RevBridge provisions one dedicated IP per domain. Keep this 1:1 mapping until reputation stabilizes. Avoid warming the same domain across multiple IPs simultaneously. When you need more capacity, bring a new IP online and run the complete warmup staircase for that new infrastructure. Different domains can warm in parallel—each requires its own warmup timeline and monitoring.

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Using RevBridge Connect during warmup

Leverage these Connect features to streamline warmup operations:

• Dynamic Collections: Create automated segments for <=30/60/90/180-day active users, Seeds, and New Today contacts.
• Template Library: Maintain “Warmup - Plain Text” and “Warmup - Light HTML” templates, each with one link and one-click unsubscribe.
• Scheduling Controls: Default to 8-hour windows; configure hourly rate limits to prevent weekend increases.
• Seed Management: Include 20-30 internal inboxes in every campaign through Day 7.
• Activity Logging: Track daily KPIs and document your decision (Advance / Repeat / Pause) for team visibility.

The Analytics dashboard provides deliverability charts, performance insights, and health alerts. Use these to guide daily decisions without manual spreadsheet tracking.

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Quick reference summary

1. Never increase volume on weekends.
2. Days 0-10 follow ~35-45% daily growth (8-hour window; halve volumes for 4-hour windows).
3. Advance only when open rate >= 20% and spam < 0.1%; pause if spam >= 0.3%.
4. Perfect authentication + single CTA + single link + reply-encouraging copy.
5. Review Postmaster daily—reputation signals come first, volume second.

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Key terms

• Spam rate: Gmail Postmaster metric showing percentage of user-reported spam complaints.
• DMARC aligned: The From domain matches either SPF or DKIM authentication results.
• Defer (4xx): Temporary SMTP delay that should succeed on retry with exponential backoff; 5xx indicates permanent bounce.