Custom Engagement Rule Configuration (CERC)
Overview
Custom Engagement Rule Configuration (CERC) allows you to control how your warmup emails are engaged with by defining the percentage of:
- Replies
- Emails marked as Important
- Link Clicks
This gives you more flexibility to simulate real sending behaviour and align warmup activity with your actual outreach strategy.
How It Works
CERC allows you to define engagement percentages across three key actions:
- Engagement TypeDescription
- Reply %Percentage of emails that will receive replies
- Important %Percentage marked as "important" by inbox providers
- Click %Percentage where links are clicked
These percentages are applied across your daily warmup activity, meaning your configured distribution directly influences how inbox providers perceive your sending behaviour.
How to Configure CERC
Step 1: Open Engagement Rules
Navigate to:
Members Dashboard → Warmup → Select a specific sending account → Settings → Engagement Rules → There you will see an option called CUSTOM.
Step 2: Adjust Your Percentages
Use the sliders or input fields to define your desired percentages for:
- Reply rate
- Important rate
- Click rate
Example:
- Reply: 25%
- Important: 40%
- Click: 10%
Step 3: Save Your Configuration
Click Save Changes to apply your rules.
Step 4: Cooldown Period
Once updated, your configuration is locked for → 7 days.
This prevents frequent changes that could negatively impact deliverability.
Why is CERC Important?
CERC helps you:
- Improve deliverability by mimicking natural human interaction patterns
- Align warmup behaviour with your real campaigns (e.g. high reply vs high click campaigns)
- Avoid spam signals by staying within safe engagement thresholds
- Have more control over how your sender reputation is built
Best Practices
Keep It Realistic
Avoid extreme values. Example natural behaviour typically looks like:
- Replies: 10–30%
- Important: 20–50%
- Clicks: 10–20%
Align With Your Campaign Type
- Sales outreach → Higher replies
- Newsletter campaigns → Higher clicks
- General sending → Balanced distribution
Maintain Balance Between Actions
Avoid disproportionate setups such as:
- Very high clicks with low replies
- Very high replies with no "important" signals
These patterns can look unnatural to mailbox providers.
Common Questions
Will this impact my deliverability?
Yes — positively, if used correctly. CERC helps simulate real engagement patterns, which mailbox providers favor.
Can I change the rules anytime?
No — changes are limited to once every 7 days to maintain consistency.
What happens if I set extreme values?
The system will either:
- Block the change, or
- Automatically adjust it within safe limits
Does this apply to all my sending accounts?
No — CERC is applied at an individual sending account level.
Is this feature available for everyone?
No — CERC is available to accounts with over 1000 seeds. Please contact the ZeroBounce Team to discuss tiering.