In the email system there are all sorts of different belief systems. One contingent will have you believe that IP reputation is the be all and end all of delivery. Get a decent IP reputation, and the clouds will part, angels will sing and your mail will reach the inbox. This group of folks often recommends every sender should have their own dedicated IP address. Anything less is just admitting your mail will never reach the inbox.
I’m not one of those people.
In the current environment there’s absolutely nothing wrong with sending off shared infrastructure. Filters, particularly those at Verizon Media, Gmail and Microsoft are good at sorting good mail from bad, even when that mail comes from the same IP address. This does, of course, assume the ESP commits to actively monitoring shared IPs and requiring customers to meet minimum standards. But any decent ESP is going to be doing that for dedicated IPs as well.
The B2B space is a little different and IP reputation may have more impact on delivery there. but I’m seeing that change, too.
If you’re going to be on a dedicated IP you need to be sending at least 50,000 emails a minimum of 3 times a week. And I think, these days, that’s low. I’m more in the dedicated IPs for folks sending more than 1 million a day. Everyone else, can sit on the shared.
Don’t believe me? SendGrid and Mailchimp each send millions of emails across shared IPs every day. These two successful companies don’t need to have everyone of their customers on dedicated IPs, and still have great delivery.
Older IP reputation posts:
- What does good IP reputation get you (March 2018)
- Dedicated IPs pros and cons (November 2018)
- IP reputation (edited and updated April 2014)
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