How to Segment Campaigns with Multiple IPs
Running cold email campaigns? Using multiple IPs is a game-changer for protecting sender reputation and improving deliverability. Here’s the core idea: separate different email types (like transactional emails, cold outreach, and re-engagement campaigns) across dedicated IPs. This way, poor performance in one campaign won’t harm others.
Key takeaways:
- Why it matters: ISPs monitor IP reputation. Using multiple IPs isolates campaigns, preventing bad metrics (like spam complaints) from affecting critical emails.
- When to use: Multi-IP setups are ideal for high-volume senders (40,000+ emails/week) or campaigns with varying engagement risks.
- How it works: Assign specific IPs to campaign types. For example, use a dedicated IP for transactional emails and a separate pool for cold outreach.
- Tools to simplify: Platforms like Infraforge automate DNS setup, IP warm-up, and performance monitoring, saving time and reducing errors.
Why Segment Campaigns with Multiple IPs
How IP Reputation Affects Deliverability
Email providers closely monitor IP reputation by tracking sender behavior, recipient complaints, bounces, and engagement levels. When you send emails, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) evaluate your IP’s reputation based on how recipients interact with your messages. Positive interactions - like opens, clicks, and replies - boost your reputation, while spam complaints, high bounce rates, and low engagement can harm it.
Using multiple IPs for different campaigns allows you to create distinct "Reputation Realms", where each IP's performance is assessed independently. This separation ensures that high-quality campaigns remain unaffected by the performance of lower-quality sends. However, ISPs are vigilant against "snowshoeing", a tactic where low-volume sends are spread across multiple IPs to bypass spam filters. To avoid raising red flags, each IP should ideally handle at least 40,000 emails per week.
This approach highlights why isolating campaigns using multiple IPs is essential for managing email deliverability effectively.
When to Use Multi-IP Segmentation
Segmentation becomes crucial when managing email reputation across different campaign types. Here’s how and when to implement multi-IP segmentation:
For campaigns like cold outreach, where the risk of bounces and complaints is higher, separating these emails from critical transactional messages is key. Transactional emails require flawless deliverability, so they should always be sent from dedicated IPs to maintain their pristine reputation.
Cold outreach campaigns can also benefit from further segmentation based on engagement. For instance, recent openers and clickers should send from high-quality IPs, while lower-engagement contacts are routed through warming IPs. This protects your top-performing segments while giving less-engaged groups a chance to improve without harming your best-performing IPs.
Re-engagement campaigns targeting inactive subscribers are another scenario where segmentation is vital. These emails often go to recipients who haven’t interacted with your content in months. Sending to such groups from the same IP as your active users could damage your overall reputation. By isolating inactive subscribers on a separate IP, you can experiment with different strategies without risking your primary sending infrastructure.
The table below outlines the best IP strategies for various campaign types:
| Campaign Type | IP Strategy | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Transactional Emails | Dedicated IP (isolated) | Ensures high delivery rates for critical messages. |
| Active Subscribers | High-quality IP pool | Preserves strong engagement metrics. |
| Cold Outreach | Separate IP pool | Isolates higher-risk sends to protect other IPs. |
| Re-engagement | Warming IP pool | Prevents inactive users from harming active IPs. |
Tools like Infraforge (https://infraforge.ai) simplify this process by offering advanced multi-IP provisioning. These platforms handle DNS setup, IP warm-up, and real-time deliverability monitoring, making it easier to maintain distinct Reputation Realms for each campaign type. This ensures that underperforming segments don’t drag down the reputation of your most critical communications.
If you’re sending over 40,000 emails per week across different campaigns, multi-IP segmentation can help safeguard the reputation of your most important email streams.
Prerequisites for Multi-IP Campaign Setup
Before diving into a multi-IP strategy, make sure your technical setup and operational processes are ready to handle it. The first step? Secure full control of your domain. Without proper domain ownership, you can’t configure essential DNS records for email authentication, which can lead to ISP rejections and poor deliverability.
Next, focus on volume planning. To build and maintain a strong sender reputation with ISPs, each IP needs to handle a high enough email volume. Review your weekly sending volumes across all campaigns to decide if a multi-IP setup makes sense for your needs. Once you've determined the volume requirements, confirm that your DNS configuration can scale without issues.
Technical expertise is critical here. Properly configuring DNS records - like SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and MX - is essential for each domain and IP combination. This process can get tricky, especially if you're using services like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, which require manual DNS setup. A single misconfigured record can derail your entire campaign's deliverability.
Platforms like Infraforge (https://infraforge.ai) make this process much easier. They automate DNS setup, taking care of SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and MX records when you add new IPs. What’s usually a tedious task can be done in about 5 minutes per IP. Plus, Infraforge supports bulk DNS updates, so you can adjust records across multiple domains and IPs all at once through a single dashboard.
Finally, integrate your sending platform. Infraforge works seamlessly with tools like Salesforge, linking your private infrastructure directly to your outreach sequences. This integration eliminates the hassle of manual SMTP configuration and reduces the risk of authentication errors when managing different campaign segments.
How to Segment Campaigns with Multiple IPs
6-Step Process for Segmenting Email Campaigns with Multiple IPs
Once your infrastructure is ready to scale, here’s how you can efficiently implement multi-IP segmentation. For more advanced insights, explore our cold email infrastructure resources to optimize your setup.
Step 1: Acquire Dedicated IPs
The first step is to get dedicated IPs from a provider that specializes in cold outreach. This ensures you maintain control over your sender reputation. For instance, Infraforge offers dedicated IPs at $99 per IP per month (billed quarterly) and includes automated setup features. Look for providers that offer pre-warmed IPs and automated DNS configuration to save time.
When estimating how many IPs you’ll need, consider your daily email volume. A good rule of thumb is to allocate one IP for every 5,000 to 10,000 emails per day. For example, if you’re sending 30,000 emails daily across various campaigns, you’ll likely need at least three dedicated IPs to maintain a strong sender reputation.
Step 2: Configure DNS Authentication
To ensure your emails are trusted by ISPs and don’t end up in spam folders, set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for each IP and domain combination. This involves accessing your domain registrar’s control panel and adding the necessary DNS records, a process that can take up to 48 hours for DNS propagation.
To simplify this step, providers like Infraforge offer automated DNS updates through a single dashboard, reducing manual effort and minimizing errors.
Step 3: Warm Up Your IPs
New IPs start with no sender reputation, so you’ll need to gradually increase your sending volume over 4–6 weeks. Begin with 50 emails on day one and slowly ramp up until you reach your target daily volume. Start by targeting your most engaged contacts to generate positive engagement signals.
If you’re short on time, consider using pre-warmed IPs, such as those offered by Infraforge, which allow you to begin sending at full volume right away. If you choose to warm up IPs manually, monitor metrics like open rates, reply rates, and bounce rates daily to ensure your IPs maintain healthy engagement levels.
Once your IPs are fully warmed and authenticated, you can move on to segmenting your campaigns for better deliverability.
Step 4: Define Your Campaign Segments
After completing authentication, organize your campaigns into segments based on audience behavior and engagement. For example, separate high-value prospects who have previously interacted with your brand from cold leads. This helps protect the reputation of your most reliable IPs.
Here’s a breakdown of common segmentation strategies:
| Type | Use For | Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement-Based | Protecting high-reputation IPs | Active subscribers vs. cold leads |
| Geographic | Regional compliance & timing | North America vs. Europe vs. Asia-Pacific |
| Industry-Based | Tailored messaging | Healthcare vs. SaaS vs. E-commerce |
| Campaign Type | Risk isolation | Nurture sequences vs. cold outreach |
For instance, if you’re running both warm nurture campaigns and aggressive cold outreach, avoid using the same IP for both. This separation shields your warm leads from any potential reputational damage caused by cold outreach.
Step 5: Assign IPs to Campaign Segments
Once your segments are defined, assign specific IPs to each one. Use your highest-reputation IPs for campaigns targeting engaged audiences and warm leads, as these contacts can further enhance your IP reputation. For cold outreach campaigns, which typically have lower engagement rates and higher spam risks, use separate dedicated IPs.
Keep track of your IP assignments to avoid accidental overlap. For example, you might designate IP 1 for warm nurture campaigns, IP 2 for cold outreach to healthcare leads, and IP 3 for SaaS leads. Record these mappings in your CRM or a simple tracking sheet.
Step 6: Set Up IP Assignment Rules
Use your platform’s API to automate IP routing based on recipient behavior, location, or email volume. For example, the Infraforge API integrates with Salesforge to dynamically manage IP assignments, ensuring each email is sent from the best IP for that segment.
Set up conditional rules to fine-tune this process. For instance, emails to contacts who’ve opened several previous messages can be routed through your high-reputation IP, while first-time cold contacts in a specific region can be assigned to a dedicated regional IP. This automation ensures your campaigns stay optimized and aligned with email performance metrics .
Monitoring and Optimizing Multi-IP Performance
Once you've set up multi-IP segmentation, keeping a close eye on performance is crucial to ensure your campaigns run smoothly. Regular monitoring helps maintain strong deliverability rates. During the first month, check key metrics daily. After that, weekly checks should suffice once your campaigns stabilize. Aim for open rates above 15–20%, bounce rates under 2%, spam complaints below 0.02%, and click-through rates between 2–5%. If you notice a drop in open rates or a sudden spike in bounces, it could indicate a reputation issue with a specific IP. Here's a breakdown of how to monitor, rotate, and test IP performance effectively.
Track Key Deliverability Metrics
Instead of focusing only on overall campaign performance, evaluate each IP individually. If an IP shows bounce rates over 5% or open rates below 10%, take action immediately - even if the overall averages look fine. Tools like Infraforge provide real-time dashboards that let you track each IP’s performance, making it easier to catch and resolve issues early. Set up alerts to notify you if an IP’s spam complaint rate goes above 0.04% or its bounce rate exceeds 5%. This proactive approach can save you from larger deliverability problems down the road.
Rotate IPs to Balance Load
In addition to tracking metrics, rotating IPs based on performance can help maintain consistent deliverability. If an IP starts underperforming - like a drop in open rates or a spike in bounces - remove it from rotation immediately and investigate the cause. Studies show that rotating domains and IPs can improve inbox placement by up to 25% compared to static setups. Infraforge’s automated IP management tools make this process seamless by redistributing traffic away from struggling IPs and shifting it to those performing well. This dynamic rotation ensures no single IP gets overwhelmed while keeping your campaigns running smoothly.
Test and Refine Your Segmentation
A/B testing different IP segments can uncover what works best for your audience. For instance, you might test whether a dedicated industry-specific IP outperforms a general cold outreach IP for certain segments. Compare metrics like open rates, reply rates, and spam complaints to fine-tune your strategy. If geographic segmentation reveals that a regional IP gets better engagement in a specific area, consider expanding that approach. Make it a habit to review your segmentation strategy every month, adjusting IP assignments based on real performance data to keep improving results.
Conclusion
Using multi-IP segmentation can transform your email marketing efforts by isolating IP reputations, improving deliverability, and sharpening targeting. These benefits pack a punch, with email marketing generating an impressive $36 for every $1 spent. Plus, segmented campaigns boast open rates above 40% and click-through rates that are three times higher than non-segmented methods. These perks are especially valuable when navigating the technical complexities of managing multiple IPs.
Handling multiple IPs can be tricky - think DNS configuration, IP warm-up, and constant monitoring. That’s where Infraforge steps in. It simplifies the process with automated DNS setup and pre-warmed mailboxes, giving you full control over your sender reputation for just $99 per IP per month. Unlike shared infrastructures like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, Infraforge offers dedicated IPs, so you’re in charge of your email performance.
With Infraforge’s real-time dashboards, you can monitor each IP's performance as it happens, helping you catch and address issues early. Plus, it integrates seamlessly with The Forge Stack, making it easy to scale your segmentation strategy without breaking a sweat. With performance tracking at your fingertips, you’re set to fine-tune and optimize your campaigns.
To stay ahead, focus on a dynamic segmentation approach. Define segments based on engagement levels, assign dedicated IPs, and review performance metrics weekly. If an IP’s performance starts to slip, rotate it out to maintain optimal deliverability. By turning these technical challenges into strategic opportunities, you’ll ensure your emails consistently make it to the inbox.
FAQs
What happens if you don’t use multiple IPs for your email campaigns?
When you rely on a single IP address for all your email campaigns, you’re setting yourself up for potential trouble. Overloading that one IP can harm your sender reputation, which could lead to your emails landing in spam folders - or worse, getting blacklisted entirely. Plus, email providers often enforce rate limits, slowing down delivery and throwing a wrench into your campaign’s timing and effectiveness.
Spreading your campaigns across multiple IPs can make a big difference. It helps improve deliverability, sidestep rate limits, and keep your reputation intact, ensuring your emails make it to the inbox where they belong.
How does Infraforge make it easier to manage multi-IP email campaigns?
Infraforge takes the headache out of managing multi-IP email campaigns by automating tasks that usually demand manual effort. Adding a new IP? Infraforge has you covered - from setting up and verifying DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to linking the IP with your domain. No need to dive into DNS settings yourself. Even better, dedicated IPs come pre-warmed with domains and mailboxes. That means you can start sending emails from an address with an established reputation in just minutes, skipping the weeks-long manual warm-up process.
The platform doesn’t stop there. It keeps a close eye on the health of each IP in real time, monitoring key metrics like sender reputation, bounce rates, spam complaints, and blacklist status. If an issue arises, you’ll get alerts, so you can quickly reroute traffic to healthier IPs and avoid deliverability problems. With an easy-to-use dashboard and RESTful API, you can rotate IPs, assign them to specific campaigns, and scale up to thousands of outreach efforts - all without dealing with the technical complexities. Plus, Infraforge integrates smoothly with Salesforge, letting you manage your outreach campaigns from a single, streamlined interface.
What metrics should I track to ensure optimal email deliverability when using multiple IPs?
To keep your email deliverability strong when using multiple IPs, it's important to keep an eye on several key metrics:
- Sender reputation: Regularly check the reputation of each IP to ensure email providers continue to trust them.
- Spam complaint rates and bounce rates: These can signal potential problems with your campaigns and should be addressed promptly.
- Blacklist status: Stay vigilant about whether any of your IPs end up flagged by spam databases.
- Authentication pass rates: Ensure your emails pass SPF, DKIM, and DMARC checks to verify their legitimacy.
- Recipient engagement: Metrics like open rates and click rates reveal how well your emails connect with your audience.
- Sending volume per IP: Keep your sending quantities within acceptable boundaries to avoid triggering spam filters.
By consistently monitoring these areas, you can fine-tune your campaigns and maintain excellent deliverability.