Summary

In the world of email, Mailjet gives you two options: shared IPs and dedicated IPs. As the names imply, a shared IP is used by multiple senders, while a dedicated IP is exclusively reserved for you and your emails.

Why Use a Dedicated IP?

With a dedicated IP, your sender reputation is entirely yours. No more worrying about the practices of other senders affecting your deliverability. Your ability to reach the inbox is directly tied to your own list-building practices, email quality, and targeting strategies.

However, if your dedicated IP is new, it has no history—meaning internet service providers (ISPs) will be cautious. To establish credibility, you need to warm up your IP properly.

Is a Dedicated IP Right for You?

We recommend dedicated IPs for customers sending over 100,000 emails per month. To maximize their effectiveness, you should send at least 3,000 emails daily. If your sending volume is lower, irregular, or occasional, our shared IPs may be a more efficient choice.

How to Get a Dedicated IP with Mailjet

If you're on a Premium 100,000 plan or above and interested in using a dedicated IP, you'll need to reach out to our support team. Our deliverability experts will assess whether a dedicated IP fits your needs. If it does, they'll create a tailored warm-up plan just for you—designed to ensure your email program starts on the right foot.

Want to learn more or get started with a dedicated IP? Contact our support team today.

How to Warm Up Your Dedicated IP

1. Check Domain Quality

Before starting your IP warm-up, make sure your domain has a healthy reputation. Here are the key steps:

Domain Reputation: Use Google Postmaster Tools to assess your domain reputation. Avoid using recently purchased domains, as ISPs often associate them with spammers.
Active Website: Your domain or subdomain should be tied to an active website. If you're using a subdomain, ensure there's a redirect in place.
Authenticate Your Emails: Email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are essential for proving the legitimacy of your emails and preventing them from being flagged as fraudulent.

2. Set Your Sending Increase Rate

Warming up a dedicated IP requires a steady increase in email volume:

Starting Point: Begin with sending about 300 emails on the first day.
Daily Increase: Increase the volume by roughly 20% per day. This schedule can vary based on reputation, engagement, and list hygiene.
Expert Guidance: If you need to ramp up faster, consider consulting a Technical Account Manager for a customized plan to avoid harming your reputation.

Our deliverability team takes care of setting up the entire warm-up process. Your responsibility is to closely follow their recommendations to ensure your IP is properly warmed up, as no additional IPs will be provided in case of issues.

3. Maintain a Consistent Sending Schedule

ISPs value consistent sending behavior:

Daily Sending: Ideally, send emails every day to establish a reliable pattern. If you send less frequently (e.g., three times a week), ISPs may take longer to assess your reputation.

4. Prioritize Recipient Interaction

Engagement is a key metric for ISPs when evaluating sender reputation:

Target Active Users: Focus on sending to your most engaged users during the warm-up phase to keep complaint rates low and demonstrate positive engagement to ISPs.

Leverage our segmentation feature to target users who actively engage with your emails.

5. Regularly Clean Your Email Lists

List hygiene is critical during the IP warm-up phase to maintain deliverability:

Remove Bounces and Unsubscribes: After each campaign, remove soft bounces, hard bounces, and recipients who mark your emails as spam.
Manage Inactive Contacts: Consider removing recipients who haven't interacted with your last five campaigns. Re-engagement efforts should wait until after the IP warm-up is complete.
Avoid Invalid Contacts: Correct typos in email addresses and avoid sending to generic addresses like "info@company.com."

For detailed guidance on keeping your lists clean, refer to our guide.

6. Optimize Email Content

The content of your emails also affects deliverability:

Text/Image Ratio: Keep a balanced text-to-image ratio (around 70% text to 30% image) to avoid looking like spam.
Avoid Spam Triggers: Minimize the use of spammy words (e.g., "Free," "Urgent") and special characters (e.g., "!!!").
Encoding: Use "quoted-printable" encoding to avoid being flagged by spam filters.

For more content optimization tips, check out our blog on how to avoid the spam folder.

7. Monitor Your Reputation Regularly

Track your IP reputation and campaign performance during the warm-up period:

Google Postmaster Tools: Regularly check your sender reputation.
Track Engagement: Monitor open rates, click rates, and complaints to adjust your warm-up strategy as needed.

How Long Does IP Warm-Up Take?

The duration of an IP warm-up typically ranges from two to six weeks, depending on factors like:

Email Client Policies: Different email clients may have varying evaluation criteria.
Sending Volume and Frequency: Higher email volumes and more frequent sends may require a longer warm-up period.

A successful warm-up process requires patience and consistency to build a positive reputation with ISPs.