Should I use subdomains for promotional and transactional emails on a shared IP?

Summary

Experts, marketers, and documentation consistently recommend using subdomains to separate promotional and transactional emails when on a shared IP. This isolates sender reputation, protecting critical transactional emails from deliverability issues potentially caused by promotional campaigns. The approach enables granular control through separate SPF and DKIM configurations, simplifies issue monitoring, and is considered a best practice for maintaining a healthy email infrastructure on shared IPs.

Key findings

  • Reputation Isolation: Subdomains isolate sender reputation, preventing deliverability problems with promotional emails from negatively impacting transactional emails.
  • Granular Control: Separate SPF and DKIM configurations for each subdomain provide granular control over email authentication.
  • Shared IP Benefit: Subdomain separation is particularly beneficial on shared IPs due to the potential impact of other senders' practices.
  • Issue Containment: Deliverability issues are contained within a specific subdomain, limiting the overall impact.
  • Enhanced Monitoring: Subdomains allow for easier monitoring of deliverability issues.

Key considerations

  • SPF/DKIM Configuration: Properly configure SPF and DKIM records for each subdomain to ensure proper authentication.
  • Transactional Priority: Prioritize protecting the deliverability of transactional emails due to their importance for user experience.
  • Clear Segmentation: Plan a clear subdomain structure (e.g., trans.domain.com, promo.domain.com) to effectively manage different email streams.
  • Shared IP Awareness: Be aware of the sending practices of other users on the shared IP and proactively implement subdomain separation for protection.

What email marketers say
11Marketer opinions

The consensus is that using subdomains to separate promotional and transactional emails on a shared IP is highly recommended. This practice isolates sender reputation, preventing deliverability issues with promotional emails from negatively impacting the delivery of critical transactional emails. Subdomain separation also enables individual monitoring of email streams for better issue detection and resolution.

Key opinions

  • Reputation Isolation: Subdomains isolate sender reputation, protecting transactional emails from promotional email deliverability issues.
  • Deliverability Improvement: Separating email types improves overall deliverability on shared IPs.
  • Issue Containment: Deliverability problems are contained to specific subdomains, limiting impact.
  • Monitoring: Individual monitoring of subdomains allows for quicker detection and resolution of deliverability issues.

Key considerations

  • Shared IP Impact: Using subdomains is particularly important when on a shared IP due to the potential for negative impact from other senders.
  • Transactional Importance: Prioritize the deliverability of transactional emails due to their critical role in user experience.
  • Sender Reputation: Segmenting email traffic helps protect your sender reputation.
Marketer view

Email marketer from Litmus responds that it's crucial to separate email streams using subdomains when on a shared IP. This approach helps to manage sender reputation and ensures that transactional emails, which are vital for user experience, aren't affected by any deliverability issues with promotional emails.

December 2022 - Litmus
Marketer view

Email marketer from GMass explains that employing subdomains can help improve deliverability on shared IPs. By separating promotional and transactional emails, you prevent the negative reputation from promotional emails affecting transactional emails. If there are any deliverability problems, they stay isolated to a smaller subdomain.

February 2025 - GMass
Marketer view

Email marketer from EmailGeek explains that segmenting email traffic through subdomains helps protect your sender reputation, ensuring transactional emails maintain high deliverability rates by isolating them from potential problems affecting promotional campaigns. This becomes even more critical on shared IPs.

February 2024 - EmailGeek.com
Marketer view

Email marketer from GlockApps explains that using subdomains helps isolate deliverability issues. If your promotional emails have problems, your transactional emails sent from a different subdomain won't be impacted, ensuring consistent delivery for important notifications.

December 2023 - GlockApps
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks seconds the recommendation of using one subdomain for promotional emails and one for transactional emails.

July 2022 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from MailerCheck shares that when using subdomains to separate email streams, you can monitor each one individually for deliverability issues. This makes it easier to identify and address problems before they impact your overall sender reputation, which is especially valuable on shared IPs.

July 2022 - MailerCheck
Marketer view

Email marketer from Sendinblue shares that separating your email streams using subdomains helps manage your sender reputation. If one subdomain has issues, it won't impact the others, ensuring important transactional emails are delivered reliably. This is particularly helpful with shared IPs.

September 2023 - Sendinblue
Marketer view

Email marketer from Mailjet explains that using subdomains to separate transactional and marketing emails allows you to isolate your sending reputation. If your marketing emails suffer deliverability issues, your transactional emails, which are critical for user experience, won't be affected.

May 2021 - Mailjet
Marketer view

Email marketer from SMTP2GO answers that using a subdomain for marketing/promotional emails is advisable. This practice helps maintain a clean sender reputation for your primary domain used for transactional emails. If your marketing campaigns encounter issues, your transactional emails remain unaffected.

January 2023 - SMTP2GO
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that using subdomains protects the reputation of your transactional emails. By keeping promotional and transactional sends separate, you prevent potential issues with promotional emails from impacting the delivery rates of critical transactional emails.

July 2021 - Email Marketing Forum
Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit explains using subdomains is a good idea for separating different types of email traffic (transactional vs. marketing). If you have a shared IP, this segregation can help protect your transactional emails from deliverability issues that might arise from marketing campaigns.

October 2021 - Reddit

What the experts say
3Expert opinions

Experts generally agree that using subdomains to separate promotional and transactional emails on a shared IP is a best practice. This helps isolate reputation issues stemming from potentially problematic promotional campaigns, protecting the deliverability of critical transactional emails. The use of subdomains also allows for better management and segregation of different email streams, especially vital given the impact of other senders on a shared IP address.

Key opinions

  • Reputation Isolation: Subdomains effectively isolate reputation issues between promotional and transactional emails.
  • Shared IP Mitigation: Subdomains mitigate the risk of poor sending practices from other users on shared IPs affecting your transactional email delivery.
  • DKIM Subdomain Usage: Using subdomains within the DKIM signature (d=) is recommended to manage email domain reputation.

Key considerations

  • Shared IP Vulnerability: Shared IPs are vulnerable to the sending practices of other users, making subdomain separation crucial.
  • Strategic Subdomain Use: Consider using separate subdomains for promotional, transactional, and corporate emails for clear segregation.
  • Deliverability Protection: Prioritize protecting the deliverability of transactional emails due to their importance.
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise, Laura Atkins, responds that when using a shared IP, it's beneficial to separate different mail streams via subdomains. Since others are using the same IP, their sending practices can impact your deliverability. By segregating promotional and transactional emails, you mitigate the risk of poor promotional mail practices affecting your transactional email delivery. It mentions that reputation is per domain, and subdomains can help manage this.

June 2024 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks explains using a subdomain for the d= of the DKIM signature is a good practice, especially if promotional emails might cause deliverability problems. They suggest using separate subdomains for transactional (e.g., trans.whatever) and promotional emails (e.g., promo.whatever), reserving the root domain for corporate mail. This is Laura's preferred way of managing email domains.

October 2024 - Email Geeks
Expert view

Expert from Spam Resource, John Levine, shares that using subdomains to separate different types of mail (transactional vs. promotional) is generally a good idea to isolate reputation issues. This is especially important on shared IPs where one user's bad sending habits can impact everyone else. It prevents deliverability problems with promotional mail from affecting the delivery of transactional messages.

February 2022 - Spam Resource

What the documentation says
5Technical articles

Technical documentation consistently recommends using subdomains to separate promotional and transactional emails, especially on shared IPs. This approach enables distinct SPF and DKIM configurations for each subdomain, providing granular control over email authentication and sender reputation. Isolating email types in this manner helps protect the deliverability of critical transactional emails by preventing issues with promotional sends from negatively affecting the main domain.

Key findings

  • Authentication Flexibility: Subdomains allow for configuring separate SPF and DKIM records for different email streams.
  • Reputation Protection: Separating email types protects the sender reputation of transactional emails.
  • Granular Control: Using subdomains provides granular control over email authentication and deliverability strategies.
  • Infrastructure Best Practice: Subdomain separation is part of a well-structured email infrastructure.

Key considerations

  • Shared IP Implications: Separate configuration is more important when using a shared IP due to reputation risks.
  • SPF and DKIM Setup: Properly configure SPF and DKIM records for each subdomain.
  • Transactional Email Priority: Prioritize protecting the deliverability of transactional emails.
Technical article

Documentation from RFC states DKIM signatures can be applied using different subdomains in the 'd=' tag. This practice allows for granular control over email authentication and helps to isolate the reputation of different email streams, which is especially useful with shared IPs.

September 2024 - RFC 6376
Technical article

Documentation from SparkPost shares using subdomains for different email streams (transactional, marketing) allows you to configure separate sender authentication (SPF, DKIM) for each. This level of control is beneficial when on shared IPs, as it allows you to fine-tune your deliverability strategy for each type of email.

March 2025 - SparkPost
Technical article

Documentation from AuthSMTP states a well-structured email infrastructure includes using subdomains to separate email types. This allows for better management of sender reputation, particularly on shared IPs, by isolating the impact of deliverability issues to specific subdomains.

February 2025 - AuthSMTP
Technical article

Documentation from Microsoft shares that maintaining a good sender reputation is essential for deliverability. Using subdomains to separate email types can help to protect the reputation of your transactional emails, as any issues with promotional emails won't directly affect the domain used for critical communications.

September 2022 - Microsoft Docs
Technical article

Documentation from Google explains that each subdomain can have its own SPF record, allowing you to authorize different sending sources for different types of email. This is important when using a shared IP, as you can specify which sources are allowed to send marketing vs. transactional emails.

August 2023 - Google Workspace Admin Help