Serasi

I’m sure you’ve seen it before - an email newsletter or other email marketing piece that is sent from “Do-Not-Reply@DomainName.com” Well, just because it might be common practice, that doesn’t make it right.

Generally, when marketers use the “Do-Not-Reply@DomainName.com” email address in their from field, they are specifying an email address that does not exist. The problem with sending email from a non-existent address is that, eventually, it will trigger spam filters.

You see, when your readers have a question or a comment, they are going to reply to your email message, no matter what your sending address says. And those messages are going to bounce.

When you send out your email messages, there’s a high probability that at least one of the addresses on your list is going to bounce. Either the mailbox is full, the ISP might be experiencing temporary delays, the email box might have been abandoned… whatever the case, you are going to get a few bounces.

And when those bounces occur, the receiving ISP will attempt to notify you of the problem by sending YOU an email with the error log. The problem is, the email message they send to you is going to bounce, since the email address does not exist. Remember, the ISP will attempt to reach you at “Do-Not-Reply@DomainName.com” since, according to your from field, that’s the address you sent your mail from.

Now, when the ISPs notice that the error logs are bouncing, and they realize you are using a non-existent email address, they will naturally assume you’re a spammer - since that’s a common tactic that spammers use.

But here’s where the real problem comes in. The ISPs approve or disapprove of incoming email (that is, they either deliver the mail or send it to the spam folder) based on IP address and not email address. So, when you later realize that sending mail from “Do-Not-Reply@DomainName.com” is a silly idea and you decide to switch to “Your-Real-Name@DomainName.com” there’s a chance that your mail server IP address has already been blacklisted.

OK, that’s the bad news as far as deliverability goes. But what about on the branding and customer service side?

What is sending email from “Do-Not-Reply@DomainName.com” saying to your email readers? That you can’t be bothered with them? That you’re just “too busy” to hear from your customers? That if they click through a link or place an order or have a customer service question there is no way to get in touch with you?

Personally, when I see a from address of “Do-Not-Reply” I consider it an insult and it throws up a huge mental barrier about doing business with that company. After all, I prefer not to do business with anyone who is totally inaccessible.

Email marketing has become more complicated as corporate spam filters have become more stringent and the FCC CAN-SPAM Act more refined. Our summary below describes how to increase the odds of your emails getting both delivered and read.

1. The money is in the list. Make sure you have a clean, targeted and preferably double (confirmed) opt-in list. Quality is more important than quantity for deliverability.

2. Get an Email Service Provider (ESP). Professional ESPs stay on top of best practices in deliverability. Research shows high quality ESPs have 30% better deliverability than internal servers. They also automatically purge bounced and bad email addresses. ESPs we recommend include Icontact, VerticalResponse and Constant Contact.

3. Make your subject lines eye-catching but clear and concise. Avoid words such as “New”, “Act Now”, or “Free”; phrases that are likely to be picked up by spam filters. Carefully screen your entire email for keywords that trigger spam filters. A good reference list of words to avoid can be found on the WilsonWeb website.

4. Include web analytics tracking tags in all emails. The ESPs mentioned above all have easy tracking code insertion.

5. Use code with absolute URLs and keep your HTML simple. Refrain from using long-string and dynamic URLs. Use a high text-to-HTML ratio.

6. If you are sending many emails to a particular company or through a particular ISP, consider listing with a Reputation Service. Reputation is a way for the internet service providers receiving your emails to easily separate SPAM from legitimate bulk email. One Reputation Service provider is ISIPP; typical rates are $100-$300 per month.

7. Test away! Test different design layouts with varying numbers of articles and graphics. Test different days and times of day.