In this established email marketing industry, we still see many marketers routinely go against best practices by sending emails from a no-reply address. If your company sends email from [email protected], it’s an indicator to your recipient that you’re creating a one-way communication and that you don’t want to hear from them.

This action is often defended with statements like: “the email only includes business information” or “nothing in the email is something people should respond to.” Even if that is true, you are still closing the door on the potential of communicating with your contacts when they may want to get in touch with you.

There are many reasons NOT to use a no-reply email address…

Here are a few:

1. It Shuts the Door on Conversation A no-reply email says “We want you to hear from us but we don’t want to hear from you.” When you take away a subscriber’s options, it comes across as being self-serving or controlling. Do not limit your recipients’ actions, especially their ability to communicate with you.
2. Your Recipients Don’t Like It People like to think there’s another person at the other end of the email – not a bot or auto-responder. Using a no-reply address implies there’s no one at the other end, which feels impersonal. As a result, recipients are less likely to respond positively or take action on your message.
3. It Makes You Look Bad By not making an effort to allow recipients to reply to your email campaigns, recipients may get the impression that your company doesn’t care. Is that the kind of message you want to send to the people that have provided their consent to hear from you? People don’t want to hear from companies that don’t want to hear from them.
4. Lost Opportunities Recipients are used to being able to reply to emails, so if they can’t and if there’s no other logical contact method, you might miss a potential sale, referral or other important communication. Have you considered that recipients may want to give you some feedback that could help improve your next campaign?
5. Lost Subscribers Many subscribers, especially those less savvy, use replies to update their personal profile/contact details, even if you have a preference center or other ways they can do so. Don’t lose the connection with people that want to hear from you.
6. It Might Be Hurting Your Deliverability In an effort to fight spam and to place emails in appropriate folders, many email services factor engagement into the analysis of email campaigns. A reply to an email is a clear indicator of engagement and ISPs consider these actions to determine the quality of your message. Emails with higher engagement rates, are more likely to land in the inbox. Giving recipients the option to reply to your emails might help keep them out of junk, bulk or spam folders.

Give recipients the choice

The decision as to whether the recipient will want or need to respond should be theirs, not yours. Put the power in the hands of your recipients. Provide options – don’t limit them.

Do you feel there is ever an acceptable time to send emails from a ‘do not reply’ address? How do you feel about receiving emails from a ‘do not reply’ address? Alternatively, get in touch…