Replace a burned domain
Retire a damaged sending domain and cut over to a prepared replacement.
- Difficulty:
- Advanced
- Prerequisites:
- Root cause understood, List hygiene plan
- Last updated:
- 2026-07-15
- Author:
- empire
Objective
Replace a burned sending domain
Retire a damaged domain and bring a replacement through auth and warmup.
Starting state
Current domain is filtered/blocked; replacement domain available
Prerequisites
- Root cause understood
- List hygiene plan
Estimated time
2–4 hours
Difficulty
advanced
Required access
- DNS
- ESP
- CRM
Inputs
- Old domain
- New domain
- Traffic cutover plan
Step-by-step instructions
- Contain damageStop abusive or high-risk traffic on the burned domain immediately.
- Stand up the replacementAuthenticate and warm the new domain before moving volume.
- Cut over and retireMove streams gradually; keep the old domain only for necessary redirects.
Verification
- New domain placement stable
- Old domain no longer sending marketing
Common mistakes
- Moving full volume before the new domain is warm
- Keep old domain for transactional replies during cutover?
Rollback / recovery
- Shift critical streams back temporarily while re-warming
Expected outcome
Production mail runs on a healthy domain with the burned identity retired.
When to escalate
- Replacement domain burns within days of cutover