Ask a Deliverability Expert: What Do I Need to Do If I Change Domains?

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My organization is about to go through a rebrand — we’re getting a new name and a new .com address. What steps do we need to take to make sure we don’t end up in the spam folder when we switch to the new domain?

Successful businesses sometimes outgrow their original names. And when those businesses change names, there are huge effects on all parts of that company’s digital operation. 

A big part of it is the company’s domain. Take one recent change: Scott’s Cheap Flights started in 2013 as a side project for Scott Keyes, who had a newsletter where he emailed family and friends with the cheap flight deals he found online. (Hence: Scott’s Cheap Flights.) But as the company grew to 50 employees and a list with two million subscribers, they decided to rebrand in January 2023 as Going.

That sort of change has a real impact on their email strategy. For years, both readers and inboxes have established trust with their original domain, scottscheapflights.com. Making a switch meant making sure that they could re-establish their reputation under their new name, going.com.

This isn’t just a plug-and-play kind of switch. As a sender, it’s crucial to maintain a good reputation with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and email blocklists in order to ensure that your emails are delivered to your subscribers. A change can affect that reputation.

There are plenty of legitimate reasons to change either a sender domain or an IP address. Rebranding might be one, or maybe your business simply wants to update to a more professional address (like going from a .net to a .com). A sender might also be experiencing deliverability issues with their current domain or IPs, and they may want to change to a new domain or IPs in order to improve their email deliverability. 

Whatever the reason, here’s what you need to know to minimize any negative impact on your email deliverability and engagement.

What might happen when you make a big change?

If you’re going to make a change to your domain, you can expect that you’ll see some changes in your metrics as the new domain and IPs establish their reputation with ISPs and email blocklists. Things aren’t necessarily going to get worse — but you will have to keep a close eye on your email program as you transition to the new domain.

You may experience a temporary drop in email deliverability. This is because the new domain and IPs do not have an established reputation yet, and inboxes may be more cautious about delivering emails from unfamiliar domains or IPs. This is especially true if the new domain or IPs have not been properly authenticated. As the new domain and IPs build their reputation over time, the deliverability rate should improve.

Another change that may occur is a temporary drop in email engagement — namely, a drop in opens and clicks. This can happen if subscribers do not recognize the new sender domain or if the branding has changed significantly. It’s important to notify your subscribers about the change in advance, and provide them with information about the new sender domain and any changes to your branding. Remember: Readers only see three things before they open a newsletter: Who it’s from, the subject line, and the preheader text. Making a change to your sent-from name is a massive adjustment for your subscribers.

After making a change, keep an eye on your metrics and make any necessary adjustments. This may include adjusting your email sending frequency, improving the quality of your email content, segmenting your lists, or personalizing emails to make them more useful for readers.

There are several examples of brands who have successfully updated their sending domain for their email marketing or transactional emails. One example is the retail company, Zara. In 2018, Zara underwent a rebranding process and changed their sender domain from “zara.com” to “zara-group.com.” Prior to the change, they announced the update to their subscribers and set up proper authentication for the new domain. As a result, their email deliverability and engagement remained stable despite the change in domain.

Another example is the travel company, Expedia. In 2019, Expedia switched from using “expedia.com“ to “expedia-aarp.com” as their sender domain for their transactional emails. Prior to the change, they communicated the update to their subscribers and set up proper authentication for the new domain. Like Zara, their email deliverability and engagement remained strong after the change.

If you’re changing your domain, follow these four steps

If you do move forward with a domain change or IP change, you’re going to want to take four basic steps to make sure you continue to land in the inbox:

1.) Make sure you notify your subscribers

Before you make the change to the new domain, email your subscribers and let them know about the change. The sooner they know about the change, the sooner they can add your new email address to their address book.

2.) Set up the technical side of things

Properly authenticating your new domain and IPs is essential in order to demonstrate to ISPs that you are the legitimate owner and sender of these emails. I’ve talked before about the three key authentication tools: SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance). Proper authentication will help you stay in the inbox throughout the change, and in the long run, it’ll also help to prevent email spoofing and protect your sender reputation.

3.) Monitor your metrics

When changing your sender domain or IPs, expect some changes in your email metrics. There may be a temporary drop in email deliverability and engagement as the new domain and IPs establish their reputation. Monitor your metrics closely — are open rates, click rates, or delivery rates dropping? Make sure you have a baseline for these metrics so you can compare the new numbers to your data from your old domain. 

You may need to make some short-term adjustments, like sending first to your most-engaged readers, or limiting the size of your sends, until your metrics return to normal. These changes can be tricky to manage at the start, but they’re often the right things to do to ensure that your emails continue to reach your subscribers.

4.) Follow other deliverability best practices

This change is a good opportunity to make sure you’re following other best practices. You should register with tools like Google Postmaster to keep track of your deliverability. If you’re not regularly cleaning your email list to remove inactive readers, you should be doing so. If you’re not keeping tabs on potential spam triggers, you should start monitoring for those. And if you’re not segmenting your email list to target more specific or more engaged readers, you should start thinking about doing so. This domain change is a great opportunity to get the rest of your email program up to date.

Changing your sender domain or IPs can be a necessary and effective step for improving your email deliverability and engagement. However, it’s important to carefully plan and execute the change in order to minimize any negative impact on your email deliverability and engagement. Preparation is key to ensuring a smooth transition and avoiding any issues such as spam complaints.

By following these best practices and preparing carefully, you can minimize any negative impact on your email deliverability and engagement — and continue to deliver the same great emails your audience expects from you.

Thanks to our sponsor

The stories you’re reading on inboxcollective.com are made possible thanks to the generous support of our spring sponsor, Litmus. They’re an all-in-one marketing platform that empowers you to build, test, review, and analyze emails more effectively than ever so you can get the most out of every send. Learn why 700,000+ professionals trust Litmus to make every send count.