Here at Omnisend, a majority of our customers use the shared IP pool to send their emails. This pool consists of multiple clients sending their messages through the same sending path. The IPs on that path have great, longstanding reputations with all of the major inbox providers, such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc, and they are also well warmed up.
But some customers want to have a dedicated IP. To get a better understanding of whether you need a dedicated IP, first, let‘s get to know what a shared IP is.
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Shared IPs
A shared IP is an IP that is used by several companies or senders. For a real-world example, imagine a shared office space in which six companies share the seating are and all use the same address: Unit a3, Gateway Tower, 32 Western Gateway, London E16 1YL.
Omnisend has several pools of shared IPs, which allows us to distribute send volumes across those pools. Each pool holds the appropriate number of emailing contacts for the mentioned IPs to handle the volumes. The placement of the pools is managed by engagement metrics, such as compliance rates, bounce rates, and open and click rates. Any changes in these metrics within the pools can positively or negatively affect your sending practices.
Dedicated IPs
Talking about the dedicated IP, there is one most important rule - it only works if you work. You are the master of your success or failure when you use a dedicated IP. If you are not willing to add enough effort in the process, or if you are not using the best practices to build your sender reputation, then having a dedicated IP could be something that can harm you.
Dedicated IPs are usually used by companies that send a lot of emails on a regular basis, i.e. more than 300000 messages a week. Since you become the sole influencer to your sender reputation, you need to be confident that your contact list has all the permissions to receive communication from you and is fully engaged. If you have a high number of old contacts (higher than average bounce rate of 4% or above) or irregular sending volumes, you should probably stay on a shared IP.
If you have a dedicated Account Manager, he can walk you through your options and help you decide what is best for your company at this time.
Pros and Cons
Here are some major pros and cons of having a dedicated IP:
Pros
A dedicated IP address allows you to totally control your own sending destiny as an email marketer.
Your sending reputation will be affected only by the choices you make. If you have excellent sending and data management practices, this is generally the best way to send emails.
A dedicated IP gives you more control over your email-sending reputation and in return, can give you better delivery rates (if you are warmed up properly and maintain a consistent sending management plan).
Cons
The sender's reputation is tied to your volume history. When you are starting fresh with a new IP address, you will not have any volume history. Some ISPs are throttling IP addresses with no volume history to stricter reputation standards, so your reputation would need to be built slowly over time.
You could become your own worst enemy. When using shared IPs, you get the benefit of the reputation of other senders. On a dedicated IP, all success comes only from you. If you are not following the best practices, having a dedicated IP can harm you.
The dedicated IP address must be warmed up. Your new dedicated IP address will be “cold,” and you will need to put in hard work to warm it up with your company’s sending practices to establish and maintain a good reputation with ISPs. The warmup time may take 15-30 days, depending on your volume.