Should I use subdomains to segment email streams for better deliverability and inbox placement?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Litmus responds that using subdomains helps protect your overall sender reputation. If one subdomain experiences issues, it's less likely to negatively impact the deliverability of emails sent from other subdomains.
Email marketer from GlockApps shares that having a well-structured subdomain setup can improve email deliverability. They recommend using separate subdomains for different types of emails, and monitoring the reputation of each subdomain individually.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that using subdomains allows you to separate your sending reputation. If one subdomain has deliverability issues, it won't affect the reputation of other subdomains used for different email types. This is particularly helpful for separating transactional and marketing emails.
Email marketer from ExpertSender explains that subdomains can isolate sending reputation, helping to maintain deliverability for critical email streams like transactional messages. By separating marketing and transactional emails onto different subdomains, you protect the transactional stream from any negative impact of marketing campaigns.
Email marketer from HubSpot explains the importance of sender reputation. They emphasize that consistent sending practices and engaging content are critical for maintaining a positive reputation. Although it doesn't directly discuss subdomains, it provides the foundation of why subdomains are important.
Email marketer from ZeroBounce shares that using subdomains for separate email streams (transactional vs. marketing) is a great idea. It isolates your reputation and ensures that your important transactional emails are not impacted by marketing email deliverability issues.
Email marketer from SendGrid shares that using subdomains is a good strategy for separating different types of emails, such as transactional and marketing. This helps protect the reputation of your transactional emails if your marketing emails encounter deliverability problems.
Email marketer from Reddit user u/email_marketing_pro responds that using subdomains can help isolate reputation issues. If one subdomain gets a high spam complaint rate, it's less likely to affect the deliverability of other subdomains. They advise warming up each subdomain separately.
Email marketer from StackOverflow explains that segmenting email streams with subdomains is beneficial. If one subdomain develops a poor reputation due to spam complaints or bounces, it won't necessarily impact the deliverability of other subdomains.
Email marketer from MailerLite answers that improving your sender reputation can improve your deliverability and engagement, suggesting that sender's consistently authenticate emails and maintain low spam rates, which you can do with subdomains.
What the experts say9Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks explains that the recommendation for separate subdomains is often about protecting some mail streams from bad behavior by other mail streams. However, if your program is pretty clean, then you might not need subdomains.
Expert from Email Geeks advises that you will need to warm up new subdomains. Suggests using the same domain in the from address, but use subdomains for the DKIM d= value. By doing this, you will make the d= the primary key for reputation and you can use <mailto:updates@emaildomain.com|updates@emaildomain.com> with a d=<http://updates.emaildomain.com|updates.emaildomain.com|updates@emaildomain.com>.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that subdomains can be useful for segmenting email streams and managing reputation. They respond that using a different subdomain for marketing vs. transactional mail can help isolate deliverability issues and prevent problems with one stream from impacting the other.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests doing double DKIM signing to warm up new DKIM domains.
Expert from Email Geeks mentions that the local part of the email address (e.g., transactions@example.com vs. newsletter@example.com) is not significantly tracked for reputation, with ISPs primarily focusing on the domain.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that ISPs prefer subdomains because it allows them to selectively filter mail. This helps isolate the reputation of different mail streams, ensuring transactional emails are delivered even if marketing emails have a poor reputation.
Expert from Email Geeks reinforces that the d= value in DKIM is a strong indicator for segmentation, while the email local part is not as influential.
Expert from Word to the Wise responds that using subdomains allows you to isolate your email streams for reputation and deliverability purposes. They advise implementing subdomains so that the sender can determine how to isolate issues with their stream and not damage all streams.
Expert from Email Geeks reiterates that if your email program is well-managed and clean, you might not see a significant difference by implementing subdomains. It depends on your goals, risks, and business needs.
What the documentation says3Technical articles
Documentation from RFC explains that DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) permits a signing domain to indicate administrative responsibility for signed messages. This allows recipients to verify the authenticity of the email, and subdomains can be used to differentiate signing domains for different mail streams.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that subdomains allow you to organize your online presence. You can use subdomains to host separate sections of your website, like a blog or store, or to differentiate between different email sending streams. This can improve deliverability by isolating reputation.
Documentation from Google explains that establishing a good sending reputation for both your domain and subdomains is essential for email deliverability. They emphasize the importance of consistently sending valuable content that recipients want and engaging in responsible email practices.