The Warmforge Heat Score helps you understand your mailbox's readiness for sending. It takes into account your warmup progress, DNS configuration, blacklist status, and recent warmup email activity to identify potential deliverability issues.
We recommend a Heat Score of at least 85 before using your mailboxes for sending campaigns.
The following factors are ranked by importance:
Warmforge checks whether your domain or associated infrastructure appears on significant email blacklists.
A listing on a significant blacklist such as Spamhaus will set your Heat Score to 0, regardless of your other health checks. These listings can indicate potential deliverability risks and should be investigated.
Your Heat Score considers how many days your mailbox has spent warming up. As your mailbox progresses through warmup, its score reflects that progress.
Allow your mailboxes to complete a warmup period of at least 14 days before using them for sending.
Warmforge checks four DNS records and configurations that are important for email authentication and deliverability:
SPF: Checks the Sender Policy Framework record, which specifies which servers are authorized to send email for your domain.
DKIM: Checks the DomainKeys Identified Mail configuration used to authenticate outgoing emails.
DMARC: Checks your Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance configuration, which helps receiving servers evaluate email authentication.
MX: Checks the Mail Exchange records that identify the mail servers responsible for receiving email for your domain.
Make sure all four are configured correctly to help your mailbox meet the required health checks.
Warmforge also considers other blacklist results that may affect your mailbox's health.
Unlike significant blacklist listings, these do not necessarily set your Heat Score to 0, but they can still reduce your score.
Warmforge considers recent warmup email activity when calculating your Heat Score. This factor is intended to account for warmup emails that were found in spam and moved back to the inbox.
If your mailbox has a lower Heat Score than expected, review its health checks and warmup activity for potential issues.
We recommend reaching a Heat Score of at least 85 before starting sending campaigns.
If your score is below 85, review your mailbox's health checks, verify your DNS configuration, investigate any blacklist listings, and allow more time for warmup if needed.
Keep in mind that a high Heat Score does not guarantee inbox placement. Deliverability also depends on factors beyond the checks included in your Heat Score, such as:
Email content: Use relevant, personalized messaging and avoid spam-like wording or excessive links and images.
Recipient list quality: Send to valid, relevant contacts to minimize bounces, spam complaints, and unwanted outreach.
Sending practices: Increase sending volume gradually, avoid sudden spikes, and keep warmup running while sending campaigns.
Recipient engagement: Replies and negative signals, such as spam reports, can influence your sender reputation.
Sender reputation: Your sending history and how recipients and email providers have responded to your emails can affect future placement.
Receiving provider filters: Each email provider uses its own filtering rules to decide whether messages reach the inbox or spam folder.
For best results, maintain consistent sending practices, use clean and relevant contact lists, and monitor your deliverability regularly. You can also use Warmforge placement tests to check where your emails are landing.
