How would you feel when you cannot reply to an email sent by someone known to you, just because they decided to use a no-reply email address? Wouldn’t that frustrate you?
That’s how subscribers feel when you send marketing, promotional or even important information emails using a no-reply email address. It makes them feel as if you are not ready for a conversation yet.
It is time you opt for something more responsive in nature. You need to initiate a two-way communication so that you know what your users have in their minds.
Every time you feel like sending an email using a no-reply address, here’s what you should think of—the reasons why people don’t like receiving emails from no-reply addresses.
Why Avoid No-Reply?
48.16% of all the global emails are marked as junk emails by the automated spams. One of the major reasons for this could be attributed to the no-reply emails. Here are a few reasons we suggest you should avoid no-reply emails.
#1 It Increases spam rates
One of the major concerns for the email marketer is the email deliverability. You will find it hard to reach the subscriber’s inbox and stay there for a longer while, if you have a no-reply in your reply-to email section. This email is generally used during email blasts, and people don’t really think it would be relevant to them, even if you have personalized all the other factors.
If people have switched on the automated spam filters, your email would land in the spam folder, and no one is going to open it from there. With a no-reply, you are not only getting zero open rates, but your reputation takes a major dive.
#2 It reflects “I don’t care” attitude
When your subscribers receive an email with a no-reply email address, they believe the brand is being arrogant, and doesn’t really care for them. They believe that the brand wants to block all sorts of communication with them. A lot of subscribers also assume that the brand will resort to no-reply addresses only when they don’t want to listen to them or does not want to have a two-way communication. Either ways, it is going to hurt the brand’s customer engagement and retention in many ways.
#3 Legal concerns exist
In many countries, the no-reply email addresses are not legally valid. In fact, they don’t allow you to include the no-reply emails as part of their contract. If you breach this contract, and use no-reply for your email marketing, then you will hurt the brand, and land in a legal soup in these countries. If you don’t want to get into trouble, you might as well use a proper email address for communication
#4 Your contact is not saved
Having a no-reply email address means you are not going to be added to the contacts of the subscriber or get whitelisted. So, in case they want to get in touch with you for some product or service, they will never know where to contact you. In many cases, your open rates are heavily reduced, which means you have already lost out on a potential lead with the no-reply email address. In short, you are hurting your email marketing strategy, which is based on the goal of converting potential leads to customers.
#5 Get “out-of-office replies”
One of the main reasons people use no-reply is so that they don’t get the “out of office” replies. However, that is the main reason why you should use a reply-to address. When you get the out of office replies, you will realize that some of the people you have been sending the email to are no longer working with the organization. In fact, you will be able to increase your open rates by avoiding no-reply.
With these points, we have made it clear why you should not opt for the no-reply emails. However, it is yet to be made clear what type of emails you should use instead to increase your open rates, and improve your email marketing.
Best Practices to Incorporate
Here are a few best practices, which if used instead of the no-reply emails, can benefit you and your brand in the long run.
- The first best practice is to use a proper email address in the reply-to section. You can go with info@brandname.com or the marketing email id for best results. It is when you assume that your customers are not likely to see the email address you are using to send them emails that you hurt your email marketing campaign the most. Instead, identify the most relatable email address that you can use to send the emails. It is important to have a dedicated email ID where you can receive responses from the subscribers so that you look professional and you don’t miss out on any email type.
- Once the email ID has been defined, it is time to engage the subscribers with the right kind of emails. Find out how they relate to your brand, and personalize your emails accordingly. The idea is to incorporate the brand’s personality and its image as part of your email marketing campaign, so that you get more open rates and increase the engagement of the email marketing campaign. For this, you will need to segment your email list, identify what each list is looking for in the campaign, and build it accordingly.
- Segment the list according to the email marketing stage they are in- lead nurturing, follow-up or reengagement
- Identify what will connect with them best- the message as well as the way in which the message needs to be drafted
- Design the email with the right kind of fonts, whitespace and colors so that it reflects the brand’s personality
- The one reason why most of you decide to use the no-reply email addresses is that you don’t want to receive any automated responses. There is a better way to deal with it, than choose to use no-reply email addresses. You can simply filter out the automated responses into another folder. In case, you want to check on the people who have left the company or are no longer using the address, then you can simply look into the folder.
- With the reply-to email addresses, you can easily better your support system towards the subscribers. You can proactively engage your people into helping resolve the problems that the subscribers are facing, thus improving your brand’s reputation.
When using the reply-to email address, always monitor the account. In case, there are people who want to unsubscribe to your program or, had never opted for your emails and have been receiving it, they may want to communicate the same to you. Make sure you reply to them and confirm their unsubscribe, else your email address may be blacklisted.
Summing up
The reply-to email address is the best way to increase engagement with your subscriber. Not only does it help in lead nurturing, but also helps personalize the conversation between you and your subscriber. While a reply-to address builds confidence and trust in your brand, among the subscribers, the no-reply will simply ruin your one opportunity to generate leads and convert better.
Include these email best practices to reduce the spams and increase email open rates.