--- title: "Sending-domain warm-up: SmartyTap docs | Chargezen" description: "A new sending domain starts with small daily limits that grow as inbox providers learn to trust it. The warm-up stages, their limits and how to warm up well." url: "https://chargezen.com/docs/smartytap/sending-and-compliance/domain-warm-up" lang: "en" updated: "2026-10-19" --- Canonical URL: https://chargezen.com/docs/smartytap/sending-and-compliance/domain-warm-up # Sending-domain warm-up A new sending domain starts with small daily limits that grow as inbox providers learn to trust it. The warm-up stages, their limits and how to warm up well. Last updated: 2026-10-19 Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo judge a sending domain by its history. A brand-new domain that suddenly sends 50,000 emails looks like a spammer, even when it's authenticated. Warm-up means starting small and growing volume as the domain earns a good name: few bounces, few complaints and people who open and click. In SmartyTap each sending domain has a warm-up stage, and each stage has a sending limit. Chargezen moves the domain up as it shows healthy results. ## Warm-up stages Marketing-email limits for one sending domain: * **Draft**: the domain is set up but not sending marketing yet. * **Sandbox**: up to 500 a day (50 an hour), for your first sends. * **Pilot**: up to 1,500 a day (150 an hour). * **Warming**: up to 4,000 a day (400 an hour). * **Active**: up to 10,000 a day (1,000 an hour). * **Paused** or **Disabled**: marketing sends stop until the problem is fixed. You see each domain's stage in the **Warmup** column of **SmartyTap > Analytics > Email Analytics**, and on each mailbox on the **Email Mailboxes** page. ## Automatic protection SmartyTap watches every domain's last 24 hours. If more than 0.3% of recipients mark your email as spam, or more than 5% of emails bounce, it pauses the domain's marketing sends before the damage spreads. It also handles the signals that come back on their own: * **Bounces**: an address that hard-bounces is suppressed and won't be emailed again. * **Spam complaints**: complaint reports from inbox providers (feedback loops) suppress that person from marketing. * **Unsubscribes**: one-click unsubscribes are suppressed right away. See [Opt-in and opt-out](https://chargezen.com/docs/smartytap/sending-and-compliance/opt-in-and-opt-out). ## How to warm up well * Authenticate the domain first (SPF, DKIM and DMARC all passing). * Send your first campaigns to your most engaged subscribers: recent buyers and people who opened in the last 30 to 60 days. * Add less active subscribers a little at a time, over a few weeks. * Keep a steady rhythm. Several moderate sends a week beat one huge blast. * Leave Smart Sending on so nobody gets back-to-back campaigns. * Don't send to old lists that haven't heard from you in a year; they bounce and complain the most. Plan around big sales Warm a new domain up weeks before Black Friday or a launch, not the week of it. See the [Black Friday email and SMS checklist](https://chargezen.com/blog/bfcm-email-sms-checklist). ## FAQ ### How long does warm-up take? It depends on your list size and how people respond. A domain with engaged subscribers and low complaints moves up fastest. ### My domain was paused Look at the campaign that went out just before: an old list, a missing unsubscribe expectation or a misleading subject line are the usual causes. Clean the list, then contact Chargezen support to resume. ### Does warm-up limit order emails? The limits above are for marketing email. Transactional messages, like order updates, are counted separately. ### Can I get a dedicated IP? Not today. SmartyTap sends from Chargezen's shared mail servers, and your reputation is built on your own authenticated domain. ## Related **Guides** * [Email domain authentication](https://chargezen.com/docs/smartytap/sending-and-compliance/email-domain-authentication) * [Smart Sending](https://chargezen.com/docs/smartytap/sending-and-compliance/smart-sending) **On the product page** * [SmartyTap email marketing](https://chargezen.com/smartytap/email-marketing) * [Email and text campaigns](https://chargezen.com/smartytap/campaigns) **Learn more** * [Black Friday email and SMS checklist](https://chargezen.com/blog/bfcm-email-sms-checklist) ### Related Articles [ #### Email domain authentication Do this first ](https://chargezen.com/docs/smartytap/sending-and-compliance/email-domain-authentication)[ #### Smart Sending Don't over-mail anyone ](https://chargezen.com/docs/smartytap/sending-and-compliance/smart-sending)[ #### Opt-in and opt-out Unsubscribes and suppression ](https://chargezen.com/docs/smartytap/sending-and-compliance/opt-in-and-opt-out) Was this page helpful? Need more help? [Contact support](https://chargezen.com/docs/checkoutos/troubleshooting/support)