Getting Started with Email Marketing and Sendlane

Welcome to Sendlane; we’re thrilled to meet you! This guide will show you how to set your Sendlane account up for success with email marketing while safely warming your sending infrastructure.

Our world-class, in-house deliverability experts recommend following the steps in this guide in the order they appear to maximize your deliverability from the start!

🚦 Before Getting Started

Once you’ve signed up for Sendlane, make sure you also have access to the following:

  1. Your previous ESP, and
  2. Your business website’s DNS settings
  3. An email address that is not role-based (like sales@yourdomain.com). Role-based email addresses sometimes consider marketing content spam because they do not necessarily belong to one person and therefore cannot meaningfully consent to marketing messages.

Set Up Your Sendlane Account

Before migrating Contacts into Sendlane from your former Email Service Provider (ESP), set your account up for success by completing the following action items!

Some action items build on previous items; to avoid errors, please complete the items in the order they appear. Check off each item as you complete it to keep track of your progress!

 Integrate Your eCommerce Store

If your business has an eCommerce Store, install your store's integration. Check out our step-by-step guides for popular eCommerce platforms or search for your platform here:

 Install Beacon

Beacon collects data about every pageview on your website. You can target Contacts with Beacon events to send emails based on their activity on your website! By installing Beacon right away, you can start collecting valuable pageview data right away.

 Authenticate a Sending Domain

Sendlane strongly recommends authenticating a Sending Domain. Authenticated Sending Domains verify that an email came from the sender listed in the "from" field in the Sender Profile and contribute to a strong sender reputation.

If you do not authenticate a Sending Domain, we recommend that you add an SPF record to your business’ domain.

 Create a Sender Profile

Create a Sender Profile that will identify your business to Contacts when they receive your emails. You can create a Sender Profile while authenticating your sending domain!

 Create Lists in Sendlane

Sendlane recommends starting with the following three Lists:

  1. Welcome to welcome new Contacts to your business
  1. Newsletter to send newsletters or other blast-style Campaign emails
  1. Abandoned Cart to store Contacts with abandoned products in their carts

 Recreate Email Templates in Sendlane

If you use templates for Campaigns emails, re-build these templates from your previous ESP into Sendlane’s Campaign email builder.

 Recreate Automations and Pop-Ups in Sendlane

Check out our overview of Automations and Pop-Ups, then make duplicates of flows you used with your previous ESP and replace any pop-ups or forms associated with your last ESP.

💡 Pro Tip

Include SMS opt-in information on all Pop-Ups even if you don’t think you need SMS marketing yet. If you change your mind, you’ll already have valuable customer data and consent to start SMS marketing!

Once your lead capture methods all point to Sendlane, create and turn on the following high-engagement Automations:

  1. Welcome
  1. Abandoned cart
  1. Abandoned browse

 Stop Sending Email

To maintain good deliverability and a positive sender reputation, determine a point in time when your business will stop collecting leads and sending emails with your previous ESP. Sending emails from two ESPs simultaneously can cause ongoing deliverability issues and permanently damage your business’ sending reputation.

Let the high-engagement Automations you’ve created run for 1-3 days, and you’ll be ready to start sending Campaigns to newly engaged Contacts. Check out our guide to Email Marketing Best Practices while your Automations are running!

Segment and Import Contacts

 Remove Inactive Contacts

Inactive Contacts and invalid emails will hurt your new sending reputation and could lead to long-term damage to your sending infrastructure.

When email addresses go unused, they can be turned into spam traps. Sending an email to a spam trap can cause severe problems for your business’ sending reputation and deliverability. Sendlane recommends removing Contacts who have not engaged with your content in 120 days.

Create a segment for Contacts who meet the following criteria:

  1. Have been on your list for at least 120 days, AND
  2. Have been sent at least one email in the past 120 days, AND
  3. Have NOT opened an email from you in the past 120 days.

Remove these Contacts from your main list, do not upload these Contacts into Sendlane.

 Create and Import High-Engagement Segments

Once your Contacts are imported, you'll send Campaigns to your most engaged Contacts to slowly warm up your sending infrastructure. Create segments that identify your Contacts' engagement over the last 30, 60, or 90 days. For each period of time, create the following segment:

  1. Have been on your list for at least the past 30, 60, or 90 days, AND
  2. Have been sent at least one email in the past 30, 60, or 90 days, AND
  3. Have clicked on at least one email in the past 30, 60, or 90 days

Create Lists for each segment, including opt-in information, and upload accordingly! You should now have three Lists created in Sendlane.

🚨 Important Note

New Contact imports will be reviewed by Sendlane’s compliance team during business hours of 9 AM to 4 PM PST Monday through Friday. You will receive an email when your import is accepted!

Note Your Baseline Performance Metrics

Record the metrics you achieved at your previous ESP for subscriber volume, open, click, and conversion rates. Keep this information somewhere safe! Your baseline metrics can be used to help diagnose deliverability issues in the future.

When your account is fully warmed, you should see metrics that meet or exceed the baseline from your previous ESP!

Send High Engagement Campaigns

Once your high-engagement Automations run for 1-3 days and the rest of your ESP migration and Sendlane setup is complete, you’re ready to send Campaigns! Sendlane strongly recommends that you begin sending only to your most engaged Contacts.

You should see higher opens and clicks than your baseline at your previous ESP during this stage because these Contacts are the most engaged with your content!

Start by sending only one Campaign per day to your 30-Day Actives, then gradually include your 60-Day Actives and 90-Day Actives in Campaign sends.

⏭ Next Steps

  • Get familiar with Sendlane’s Reporting options to monitor your new sending infrastructure.

Additional Resources

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