Well, I can’t get anything approved, but I can give you some tips on talking with the team who reviews and approves these types of requests. One thing to note is that even though their email address is “biz@” they’re not biz-dev people, nor are they salespeople. It’s just a “business-y” type of process, so we gave it “biz@.” Anyway, the email gets FWD’d to multiple people. Some of them are technical people, some are compliance people, some are support people.

First tip: You said you have a client who “wants to send out two blasts today.” I’d make sure that you never say the word “blast” when talking with anybody at MailChimp. Generally, it’s a bad word in our industry. It’s like walking over to the expensive knife section in a fancy cooking store, and asking for a “murder stick.” That could be one thing turning them off. I know the people who review these requests, and generally speaking, they’re going to be too nice to reply and say, “Well, the whole ‘blasting’ thing turned us off, so we’re not going to talk to you anymore.”

Second, just know that dedicated IPs are not easy to come by. We have to be selective. You really need a lot of volume to justify getting a dedicated IP. They’re also going to try to check out your reputation, experience, sending history, etc. A negative response, or no response at all, might not necessarily mean they found something bad, though. It might mean they’re swamped, or couldn’t find enough info about your (or your client’s) reputation out there.

Third, these emails get sent to a ticketing queue. Sending in multiple requests just adds more tickets, which can sometimes add to the confusion, or move you to the back of the line. I know it can be frustrating to not hear back from someone, but emailing multiple times tends to hurt the process.

Fourth, a lot can depend on the industry your client is in. Have you looked at our terms of use, to see if your client falls into any of our risky or banned-content categories? Even if it’s just kinda-sorta risky, they’ll probably not want to give up a whole IP for it.

Fifth, have you checked your spam folder? Maybe we’ve replied, but you’re not getting them.

Probably not as helpful as you’d like, but I’m really not in control over the approval process of — well, just about anything anymore. Proper checks and balances are in place to make sure I don’t let any senders in “just for the money.” There’s a process in place, and all I can do is walk down the hall and make sure it’s running.