Connect a dedicated IP address for sending emails

If you send a high volume of email and want more control over your email sending reputation, you can connect a dedicated IP address to send your emails. A dedicated IP address is available for accounts with the dedicated IP address add-on or the transactional email add-on.

If you are using the dedicated IP address add-on, there will be a warm-up period of 40 days during which traffic is gradually shifted to your dedicated IP address. 

Before you get started

Before you begin working with this feature, make sure to fully understand what steps should be taken ahead of time, as well as the limitations of the feature and potential consequences of using it. 

Understand requirements

• You must have purchased either the dedicated IP address add-on or the transactional email add-on to use a dedicated IP address. 
• If you're in an active trial for the transactional email add-on, you do not need to connect a dedicated IP address during the trial.

Understand limitations & considerations

• Accounts with the dedicated IP address add-on will have a warm-up period of 40 days before all traffic is routed to the dedicated IP address. Accounts with the transactional email add-on can use the dedicated IP address immediately. 
• If you stop sending emails for a period of longer than 7 days, the warm-up process will be paused until you resume sending. 
• If you purchased the business units add-on, your dedicated marketing IP address will be the same across all your business units.

Connect your dedicated IP address

To connect your dedicated IP address in your domain settings:

• In your HubSpot account, click the settings settings icon in the top navigation bar.
• In the left sidebar menu, navigate to Content > Domains & URLs.
• Click Connect a domain.
• In the dialog box, select Dedicated IP, then click Connect.
• Under Email address, enter an email address that you use to send marketing emails, then click Next.
• Review the two domains that you'll be setting up:
  • Email sending domain: this domain will be shown in the From address field of your emails. This is the domain that your email recipients will see in their inbox.
  • Dedicated IP sending domain: this subdomain will be used as the mailed-by or return-path domain in the email header for marketing and transactional sends. The subdomain is necessary for the delivery of your emails, but isn't usually visible to your email recipients.
• Next, edit your DNS records:
  • Many common DNS providers support logging in and connecting your domain from directly within HubSpot. If you're using a common provider such as GoDaddy, AWS, IONOS, Namecheap, or Cloudflare, click Sign in with [provider] and scroll down to the bottom of the dialog box.

• • If you're using a domain provider that doesn't support signing in directly within HubSpot, or if you'd rather make changes to your DNS configuration manually, click No, I'll set it up manually. If you need more time, you can also click Finish later in the bottom left.
  • In the Update your DNS records section, click Copy next to the value in the Host (Name) column and paste it into the corresponding field in your DNS provider account. Then click Copy next to the value in the Value column and paste it into the corresponding field:
    
    • A record: associates your dedicated IP address with your domain.
    • MX record: processes bounces, spam reports, and unsubscribes to ensure the associated analytics will display in your HubSpot account after you send an email. The MX record priority must be set to 0 in your DNS hosting provider. 
    • TXT record: sets up Sender Policy Framework (SPF) authentication. SPF is used by your recipients' email servers to verify the identity of the sender.
    • CNAME records: grant HubSpot permission to send emails on your behalf by connecting an email sending domain for DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail) email authentication.

Please note: some providers, such as Network Solutions or GoDaddy, will add your brand domain and top-level domain to the end of these DNS records automatically. For example, if you enter {hsdomainkey}.yourdomain.com, a provider may change that value to {hsdomainkey}.yourdomain.yourdomain.com, which will result in a DNS error. Instead, copy the value but remove the extra .yourdomain.com when pasting it into the corresponding field in your DNS provider account.

• In HubSpot, select the Done checkbox.

• After you finish setting up your DNS records, you may need to wait while your email sending domain is verified:
  • If your DNS records are set up correctly, you'll see a Verified message. This can take up to 24 hours to take effect. Once you see the Verified message, click Done.
  • If your DNS records still need to be set up or are still processing, you'll see a Record invalid error displayed to the right of one or all of your records. Click check them again to see if the changes have propagated.

HubSpot will monitor the connectivity of your dedicated IP address, and if one of your DNS records is taken down or updated to an invalid value, you'll be contacted via email with details on how to fix your DNS configuration.

Understand the warm-up process for dedicated IP addresses

If you have purchased the dedicated IP add-on, HubSpot will initiate an automated warm-up process after you finish setting up your DNS records and you send your first marketing email. The goal of this warm-up process is to build sender reputation with mailbox providers and avoid bounces for your new dedicated IP address.

During this process, HubSpot incrementally shifts traffic from shared IP addresses to your new dedicated IP address. The warm-up process will take 40 days to complete.