Return Path – 4 Factors For Deciding the Number of IP Addresses For Your Email Marketing Program

By: Return Path

Knowing how many IP addresses to send from can be difficult without proper planning. The first thing you should look at is what’s available to you, as there may be some restrictions in place. Perhaps you only have a budget for 1 IP address. If you’re using an ESP, perhaps you only get 1 for transactional emails and 1 for marketing emails. There’s nothing wrong with these approaches, as long as you’re experiencing high inbox placement rates and high Sender Scores. However, if you feel that you can increase your ROI with more IPs, then you will need to make a business case. How? The answer has always been in the data.

Below are a few items to consider when evaluating the number of IPs required:

1. Risk – Depending on the riskiness of the email, there may be a need to have separate IP addresses. Use your inbox placement rates, Sender Scores, SNDS data, complaint rates, unknown user rates, spam traps, bounce logs, Certified reports, research papers, etc. to help gauge the risk level. For example, it is not uncommon for senders to tank their IP sending reputations with high complaint and unknown user rates by not removing their inactive subscribers. Yet, they still come to us to help them with their deliverability problems, even though they are not following best practices. Another example I see is when senders tarnish their email deliverability rates by deploying their “invite my friend” type of emails from their “good” IPs, even though it is a known high-risk list acquisition technique. As noted in our 2012 Sender Score Benchmark Report, social networking senders have the highest frequency of spam traps because they use the import address book method to grow their list file. In these types of situations, I recommend separate IP addresses so that the lower risk emails are not jeopardized from reaching the inbox.

Profile:  Jeff Ginsberg has 17+ years’ experience and is an industry known authority on email marketing who gets in the trenches with clients and helps them fulfill their marketing objectives, increase revenue and brand engagement. Clients rely on him and his team at The eMail Company to provide them with expertise from strategy to technology and from campaign management to channel integration. Jeff has worked with clients across all spectrums in the financial, automotive, retail and consumer packaged goods space. His experience covers both B2B and B2C markets. He has a strong background in educating and training agencies and clients about email best practices and is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to marketing tools and vendor selection. While Jeff’s team may be small, they know how to solve BIG email marketing problems. Looking for help with your next campaign? Don’t be afraid to give him a call – Jeff and his team ready to help you today. Give me a call: Toll Free: 877-We-eMail (877-933-6245) Local: 416-225-7711 eMail: jeff@theemailcompany.com Website:  http://www.theemailguide.com Twitter:   http://www.twitter.com/theemailguide LinkedIn:   http://ca.linkedin.com/in/chiefemailofficer

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