Is it better to use a shared pool of dedicated IPs or separate IPs for multiple newsletters with different subdomains?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that dedicated IP pools give you control over your sender reputation, which is crucial for maintaining high deliverability. This means that your sending reputation isn’t affected by the activities of other senders who are sharing an IP address.
Email marketer from Litmus shares that sender reputation is influenced by factors like email volume, spam complaints, and engagement rates. A consistent sending pattern and high engagement can improve your sender reputation, regardless of whether you use shared or dedicated IPs. They did not answer shared pool directly but gave key information about IP reputation.
Email marketer from SendGrid recommends dedicated IPs if you send a high volume of email (more than 50,000 emails per month). They state it gives you more control over your sender reputation, and that shared IPs are suitable for lower volumes but come with risks associated with other senders' behavior.
Email marketer from GlockApps notes that shared IPs can be a cost-effective option for low-volume senders, but they come with risks. Your sender reputation can be affected by the actions of other senders sharing the same IP address, which can impact deliverability. If the newsletters aren't yours or you don't control the practices you don't know what damage is being done!
Email marketer from Email on Acid explains that proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is essential for improving email deliverability. Implementing these protocols helps verify the sender's identity and reduces the chances of emails being marked as spam. This is important for shared or dedicated IPs.
Email marketer from Customer.io recommends using a combination of dedicated IPs and subdomains to manage sender reputation for multiple newsletters. They suggest segmenting email traffic by type or brand to maintain better control over deliverability. They do not explain shared IP pools but they do explain the need to segment email traffic.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that using separate IPs and subdomains for different newsletters can help isolate reputation issues. If one newsletter has deliverability problems, it won't affect the others. They didn't directly answer shared IP pools but focused on why the subdomain is the most important factor to ensure deliverability.
Email marketers from the Email Marketing Tips Forum discuss the benefits of using subdomains for different newsletters to isolate reputation issues. They mention that if one subdomain gets a poor reputation, it won't necessarily affect the deliverability of other subdomains. They didn't directly answer the IP shared pool questions but suggest you do not have to worry about this so much.
Marketer from Email Geeks agrees that shared pools are more of a risk in a mixed environment. When you are the only one in the pool, use them together as this can really help with consistent sending volumes when not every newsletter sends every day.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks suggests keeping different domains for each newsletter, since domain reputation is well handled by Gmail, and this will help you isolate Gmail problems that may come up in the future. The admin work to switch it all over + that would mean a bit of a reset of domain reputation for some of them, makes me think it wouldn't be worth it.
Expert from Word to the Wise Laura Atkins explains the importance of IP warmup, particularly when transitioning to a dedicated IP. She emphasizes the need to gradually increase sending volume to establish a positive reputation with ISPs. She does not directly discuss shared pools vs separate IPs but explains the need to maintain IP reputation which is key for email deliverability.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that if it's all legit opt-in data, it's not a bad idea to consider a shared pool just for yourself and spread the volume around. They have helped various brands implement a configuration like this in the past.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that dedicated IP addresses offer the best control over sender reputation, which is essential for maintaining consistent deliverability. They emphasize that dedicated IPs are suitable for senders who adhere to best practices and have consistent sending volumes. They do not answer the shared pool question directly but they do make it clear that it is all about best practice, and that you are responsible for your IP reputation.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that if the volume was totally even, maybe 5-6 IPs would be a starting point, but assuming they're not, 7 IPs sounds right. They suggest checking what the platform (Sendgrid) recommends, too.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Amazon Web Services explains that dedicated IP addresses are suitable for senders who want to manage their own reputation. They provide complete control over the sending reputation, which is crucial for high-volume senders who can maintain consistent sending practices. They don't directly address shared pools vs. separate IPs for multiple newsletters but provides core information to help come to a conclusion.
Documentation from RFC explains that SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is an email authentication method designed to prevent spammers from sending messages on behalf of your domain. It specifies which mail servers are authorized to send email from your domain, improving deliverability.
Documentation from SparkPost states that using IP pools allows you to segment your mail streams. You can use different pools for different types of mail (transactional vs. marketing) or for different brands. This approach lets you isolate reputation issues. While not directly answering shared vs. separate, it infers benefits to different pools, but this could be done in different subdomains too.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that maintaining a good sender reputation is crucial for email deliverability. They emphasize the importance of using authentication methods (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to verify the sender's identity. This can be applied for both dedicated and shared IP addresses.