How can I improve email deliverability on a shared IP for marketing automation emails like abandoned carts?

Key findings

• Sender reputation: Your domain's reputation is paramount, even on a shared IP. Mailbox providers prioritize how recipients interact with your mail stream, not just the IP address it originates from. Focusing on positive engagement is crucial to improving your overall email reputation and deliverability.
• Engagement matters: Opens, clicks, and replies signal to mailbox providers that your emails are wanted. Conversely, low engagement or high spam complaints can severely impact your deliverability, regardless of authentication setup.
• Content relevance: Sending emails that recipients genuinely want to receive is key. Even with double opt-in, if the content (like abandoned cart emails) isn't consistently engaging, deliverability will suffer.
• Authentication: While often cited as a foundational step, properly configured SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records (at the subdomain level) are essential. They allow mailbox providers to accurately track your mail stream reputation independently of the shared IP. Learn more about a simple guide to DMARC, SPF, and DKIM.
• Volume and consistency: New senders or those with very low volumes struggle to build a reputation. Consistent sending of wanted mail, even if small in scale, is necessary to establish trust with mailbox providers.

Key considerations

• Audience re-engagement: For dormant or low-engagement lists, consider running re-engagement campaigns to prompt interaction before sending high-volume automation emails. This helps signals positive intent to ISPs.
• Monitor performance: Regularly check your inbox placement using tools and monitor metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and complaint rates across different mailbox providers, especially Google and Microsoft.
• Diversify content: If abandoned cart emails are your primary sends, consider introducing other valuable content, such as newsletters or product announcements, to improve overall engagement and build a stronger sender reputation. Building a positive reputation on a shared IP for marketing emails can be challenging, but it's achievable. More tips can be found in this HubSpot community discussion on email deliverability.
• Focus on permission: Even with double opt-in, ensure recipients genuinely expect and want your emails. This involves clear communication at signup and delivering on expectations. Learn how to improve your email reputation and deliverability.

Key opinions

• Sender behavior: Many marketers believe their own sending practices and list quality are more impactful than the shared IP's reputation, especially if the ESP is reputable.
• Engagement metrics: Opens, clicks, and conversions on emails (even abandoned cart ones) are seen as direct indicators of deliverability health and sender reputation.
• Content perception: Abandoned cart emails, while effective for conversion, are often disliked by recipients, which can negatively affect engagement and inbox placement if not managed carefully.
• Subdomain setup: Proper configuration of custom sending domains and link tracking domains is considered crucial for maintaining sender control and reputation, even on shared IPs. This directly impacts how your emails are perceived by ISPs and recipients. For more information, read how to improve email deliverability for large emails.
• Low volume challenges: New senders with very low email volumes face an uphill battle in establishing a positive reputation, as there isn't enough data for mailbox providers to trust their sending habits.

Key considerations

• Audience segmentation: Segmenting your audience and tailoring content can significantly boost engagement for abandoned cart emails.
• Content diversification: Integrate newsletters or other valued content to build a more rounded positive sending reputation beyond just transactional or automation emails.
• Sender reputation building: Focus on strategies that build sender reputation, such as explicit opt-in, relevant content, and managing unsubscribes. Dive deeper into why your emails fail with our expert guide.
• Strategic timing: Optimize the timing and frequency of abandoned cart emails to maximize their effectiveness while minimizing recipient annoyance. Klaviyo suggests sending the first reminder 2-4 hours after abandonment; read more about abandoned cart email best practices.

Key opinions

• Domain reputation: Experts highlight that mailbox providers can track mail stream reputation based on the sending domain, independent of the shared IP. This means your domain's health is critical. Learn how to improve email IP and domain reputation.
• User interaction: The core of good deliverability is sending mail that people want to read. If recipients consistently do not interact with your emails, deliverability will decline. This is why it's so important to improve sender reputation for better email deliverability, as suggested by QuickEmailVerification Blog.
• Perception of wanted email: While a sender might believe abandoned cart emails are wanted because they lead to conversions, recipients may perceive them differently, influencing engagement signals.
• Low volume challenges: Sending low volumes of email, especially as a new sender, makes it harder to build a positive reputation because there isn't enough consistent traffic for mailbox providers to assess reliably.
• IP warming misconceptions: For shared IPs, the issue isn't typically about traditional IP warming, but rather about warming up the domain's sender reputation through consistent, positive recipient interaction. Learn about what happens when your domain is on an email blacklist.

Key considerations

• Beyond authentication: While SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are crucial, they only ensure mail is legitimate. Deliverability hinges on whether mail is wanted by recipients.
• Strategic sending: Implement a sending strategy that prioritizes engagement, possibly by diversifying email content to include more wanted emails like newsletters, before solely relying on transactional flows like abandoned carts.
• Recipient education: For double opt-in or confirmation emails, advise recipients to check their spam folder if they don't immediately see the email, encouraging positive interaction. This helps manage initial deliverability hurdles.
• Quality over quantity: Even with a small list, high engagement from wanted emails is far more beneficial for reputation than sending many emails that are ignored or marked as spam.

Key findings

• Authentication standards: Documentation universally stresses the importance of properly authenticating emails with SPF, DKIM signatures, and DMARC to prove sender legitimacy and build domain reputation. This is the first step in ensuring your emails aren't immediately flagged as suspicious.
• Engagement signals: Many resources emphasize that recipient engagement (opens, clicks, replies) is a primary driver of sender reputation. Low engagement, conversely, can lead to poor inbox placement. Bloomreach recommends personalizing emails to increase engagement.
• List quality: Maintaining a clean, engaged list through practices like double opt-in and regular list hygiene is crucial to prevent bounces, spam complaints, and low engagement. This is a fundamental component of improving email deliverability with domain warm-up.
• Content relevance: Even for automated emails, the content must be relevant and valuable to the recipient to encourage positive interactions and avoid being marked as spam.

Key considerations

• Sender reputation monitoring: Continuously monitor your sender reputation metrics within your ESP's dashboards or via third-party tools to identify and address issues promptly.
• Consistent sending: Even on shared IPs, consistent sending volume (avoiding large, sporadic blasts) helps maintain a stable reputation. This is distinct from IP warming but still crucial. For insights on this, refer to how to manage large sends without sufficient IP warmup.
• Custom domain setup: Setting up a custom sending domain and dedicated click tracking domain is often recommended, even on shared IPs, to align your sender identity more closely with your brand and build a stronger, independent domain reputation.
• Feedback loops: Leverage feedback loops (FBLs) provided by major ISPs to quickly identify and remove subscribers who mark your emails as spam, protecting your sender reputation.