If you send cold emails for sales, you know how quickly a bad sender reputation can ruin your day. That’s where email warming tools like Warmupinbox come in—they help you land in the inbox instead of spam. But if you’re treating every sales persona the same way, you’re leaving results on the table (and maybe even hurting your deliverability).
This guide is for anyone who manages multiple sales personas—SDRs, execs, founders, or anyone else with a different “voice”—and wants their warmup settings to actually match how those personas send email. We’ll walk through how to set up Warmupinbox so it works for you, not just for some generic best practice.
1. Understand Why Persona-Based Warmup Matters
Let’s get real: The AI-generated “one size fits all” settings in most email warmup tools are fine if you only have one type of sender. But sales teams know that a junior BDR and a founder don’t email the same way. Their volume, style, and reply rates are worlds apart.
If your warmup activity looks nothing like your real activity, you’ll confuse spam filters and risk getting flagged. Customizing warmup settings for each persona just makes sense.
Common personas worth tailoring for: - Junior BDRs/SDRs: High daily volume, shorter emails, less personalization. - Senior AEs/AMs: Moderate volume, longer emails, more back-and-forth. - Founders/Execs: Low volume, highly personalized, fewer but deeper threads. - Customer Success: Occasional check-ins, longer intervals between emails.
Bottom line: Don’t try to “game” the system with unrealistic warmup activity. Match what you actually do.
2. Map Out Each Persona’s Real Email Behavior
Before you tweak Warmupinbox, get clear on what “normal” looks like for each persona. Skip this, and you’ll just be guessing.
Look for: - Daily/weekly volume: How many emails sent per day? Per week? - Send times: Are these emails going out at 8am sharp, or spread through the day? - Reply patterns: Do they get quick replies? Long threads? Or mostly one-and-done? - Content style: Short and punchy, or longer messages? - Attachment usage: Are these emails mostly plain text, or do they include PDFs, links, etc?
Pro tip: Pull actual sending data from your CRM or email platform. Don’t trust your gut—get the numbers.
3. Create a Warmup Profile for Each Persona
Warmupinbox lets you set up multiple “inboxes,” so you can treat each sender as its own warmup profile. Here’s how to do it right:
a. Add Each Email Address Separately
- Go to the dashboard and add a new inbox for each persona (e.g., sdr@yourcompany, founder@yourcompany).
- Don’t lump all your outreach into one generic address. Keep them separate.
b. Name Profiles Clearly
- Label them with the real-world role (“BDR - Outbound,” “Exec - Partnerships”) so you won’t forget who’s who.
c. Use a Shared Domain Carefully
- If you’re using the same domain for all personas, make sure the warmup activity for each address doesn’t overlap in weird ways—otherwise you’ll spike your domain reputation artificially.
4. Customize Warmupinbox Settings for Each Persona
Now for the good stuff: dialing in each persona’s settings. Here’s what to focus on (and what to skip):
a. Warmup Volume
- Match real-world sending. If your BDRs send 50+ emails/day, set warmup to ramp up to that level—gradually.
- Execs shouldn’t look like spammers. For founder or exec personas, keep warmup max at 5–15/day.
- Don’t crank it to 100 just because you can. That’s a great way to get flagged.
b. Warmup Ramp-Up Speed
- Go slow for new addresses. Start with 2–5 warmup emails/day, increasing by 2–5 per week until you hit the normal volume.
- Older, established inboxes can ramp slightly faster—but if in doubt, err on the cautious side.
c. Send Times and Patterns
- Set sending windows to match when that persona actually works. If your SDRs don’t email after 6pm, don’t let warmup do it either.
- Stagger send times if you have a lot of personas on the same domain.
d. Reply/Engagement Settings
- Mimic real engagement. If the persona gets lots of replies, turn up the reply rate in warmup settings. If not, keep it low.
- Don’t overdo it. Unrealistically high reply rates look fake to spam filters.
e. Content Templates
- Keep it simple. Don’t stuff warmup emails with links, images, or weird formatting. Plain text is safest.
- Use templates that roughly match your actual email style. But don’t stress about exact wording—filters care about patterns, not poetry.
f. Ignore these distractions
- “AI-generated” warmup content: Doesn’t matter—filters don’t read for style, just engagement.
- Fake personalization: Not worth the effort. Focus on volume and patterns, not clever tricks.
5. Monitor and Adjust—Don’t “Set and Forget”
Deliverability isn’t static. Markets change, filters get smarter, and sometimes even your own team’s habits shift. Here’s how to keep things on track:
- Check the Warmupinbox dashboard weekly. Look for spikes, dips, or warnings.
- Watch your real-world open/reply rates. If they tank, don’t just blame the leads—check your sending patterns and warmup settings.
- Tweak, but don’t panic. If deliverability drops, lower your daily warmup and real sends for a week or two. Sometimes that’s all it takes.
Pro tip: If you add new team members or change your sales motion, update your warmup profiles to match.
6. What Actually Moves the Needle (and What Doesn’t)
There are a lot of myths about email warmup. Here’s what actually matters, based on real-world experience:
What matters:
- Consistency. Realistic, steady sending that mimics actual human behavior.
- Gradual ramp-up. Going from zero to 50/day overnight is a spam flag.
- Reply engagement. Some back-and-forth helps, but don’t fake 100% reply rates.
- Matching persona style. Filters notice when a “founder” suddenly acts like a call center.
What doesn’t:
- Overly complex warmup emails. Spam filters aren’t grading your grammar.
- High-volume warmup for low-volume senders. This just looks weird.
- Tricks and hacks. Filters catch on fast. Stick to what’s natural.
7. Quick Reference: Example Settings by Persona
Here’s a cheat sheet. Tweak based on your own data.
| Persona | Max Warmup/Day | Ramp-up Speed/week | Reply Rate | Typical Send Window | | -------------- | -------------- | ----------------- | ---------- | ------------------- | | BDR/SDR | 30–50 | +5–10 | 10–20% | 8am–5pm local time | | AE/AM | 15–25 | +3–7 | 15–30% | 9am–6pm | | Founder/Exec | 5–15 | +2–4 | 30–50% | 9am–4pm | | CS/Success | 5–10 | +2–3 | 20–40% | 10am–5pm |
Again: Don’t take these as gospel. Adjust to fit your team’s real behavior.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Don’t overthink it. The best warmup is the one that quietly does its job in the background and doesn’t make you look like a spammer. Set each persona’s settings to match reality, keep an eye on your stats, and make small tweaks as you go.
Most importantly: If something feels off, trust your gut and investigate. Warmup tools are helpful, but nothing beats paying attention.