Should I use a dedicated IP for email marketing at 500–1,000 sends per day?

Hi! At 500–1,000 opt-in sends per day, a dedicated IP usually won’t meaningfully improve deliverability on its own—and it can actually make things harder unless your volume is steady and you’re prepared to build/maintain that IP’s reputation. For most senders at your level, staying on a reputable shared IP and focusing on authentication, list hygiene, and engagement tends to deliver better (and faster) results.

A few reasons a dedicated IP often isn’t the “fix” at this volume:

• You’d be starting from scratch. A new dedicated IP has little/no reputation, so you must warm it up gradually. With ~500–1,000/day, warming can take a while, and any early missteps (bounces, complaints, low engagement) can set you back.
• Reputation is easier to sustain with more mail. Dedicated IPs shine when you have enough consistent volume to “train” mailbox providers that your mail is wanted. At lower volume, reputation signals can be weaker and more variable.
• Shared pools can be excellent. Good ESPs maintain high-quality shared IP ranges and actively manage abuse. If you’re on a well-managed shared pool, you’re often better off there.

When a dedicated IP does make sense (even at lower volume)
You might consider a dedicated IP if one or more of these are true:

• You send on a very consistent schedule (not sporadic bursts), and you can commit to a proper warm-up.
• You need full control and isolation (e.g., you can’t risk another sender’s behavior affecting you, or you have strict brand/compliance requirements).
• Your provider confirms your current shared pool is having reputation issues, and you can’t be moved to a better shared pool.
• You want to separate mail streams (e.g., transactional vs. marketing) and can support the operational overhead (sometimes separation can be done without a dedicated IP, depending on your setup).

What I’d focus on first (the things that most commonly move the needle)

1. Authentication + alignment (must-have)

• Make sure SPF and DKIM are passing for your sending domain.
• Add DMARC (even starting with monitoring) and work toward policy enforcement over time.
• Use a consistent “From” domain and avoid frequent domain changes.

1. List hygiene + engagement

• Suppress or re-confirm inactive subscribers (create a “sunset” policy for people who haven’t opened/clicked in X days).
• Remove obvious dead weight: hard bounces, role accounts (where appropriate), and chronic non-engagers.
• Consider sending campaigns first to your most engaged segment, then expand.

1. Watch complaints and “negative signals”

• Make unsubscribing easy and obvious (this reduces spam complaints).
• Keep your cadence predictable; sudden spikes can hurt.
• If you’re doing “one big blast” to everyone, try more segmentation and tailored content.

1. Don’t rely on opens alone
   Open rates have gotten noisier (privacy features and filtering can inflate or distort opens), so a “downtrend” doesn’t always mean deliverability is collapsing. Pair opens with:

• Click-through rate
• Conversions/on-site activity
• Inbox placement clues (like sudden drops in clicks, rising bounces, more “not delivered” events)

If you tell me whether your sending is steady daily vs. occasional spikes, what your bounce/complaint trends look like, and whether SPF/DKIM/DMARC are set up and passing, I can help you decide whether a dedicated IP is worth it—or what to change first to recover deliverability.