Do Not Reply address in outgoing mail, AWeber Gives You A Lesson?.. or Not?

[JayXtreme]

Upon receiving my most recent AWeber affiliate commissions cheque (Thanks Tom )

I was presented with the usual little note about affiliate program enhancements etc...

In this letter, there was also an URL to the discussion on AWeber blog about marketers using a "do not reply" address in their outgoing mail/broadcasts etc

I'm undecided on this topic.. I personally, never use a "do not reply" address.

But I can sort of see the point, even if I don't agree with it.

Here is a link to the AWeber blog post:

“Do Not Reply” Address? Don’t Bother. - Inbox Ideas: Email Marketing Tips by AWeber

Some of the replies on that post are interesting.. and even more interesting is AWeber saying this:

When you create a campaign in AWeber, we check the “from” address for many common variants of “Do Not Reply” addresses. If a customer enters one, they’ll be notified that this is not OK and will be prompted to choose a new “from” address.

Your thoughts on this?

I think it's a cool idea from AWeber.. but maybe some might see it as a bad thing?

Peace

Jay

[Alexa Smith]

Interesting. I think it's a good thing.

This comment sums it up, really, for me: "a one-way conversation isn’t a conversation at all. It’s a monologue."

[Sean Kelly]

John Reese uses this technique and I copied it

The 'bounce' message tells the person where they can reach you, eg: twitter or your blog.

Too many people have autoresponders on their subscription email addresses with things like: 'I'm busy now and only check my email once a day...' as taken from the 4-hour workweek.

That wastes my time more than anything else so the 'noreply' works perfectly well and directs the user to ask their question at an appropriate place. It's a simple copy & paste job for them.

Having said that, Aweber's idea works for them because they are an email service provider and need to ensure quality, reduce spam and protect their brand.

Sean

[JayXtreme]

Originally Posted by alexa_s

Interesting. I think it's a good thing.

This comment sums it up, really, for me: "a one-way conversation isn’t a conversation at all. It’s a monologue."

Personally, Alexa.

I would agree with you, but maybe, sometimes..a monologue is the intended outcome?..

I'm always asking for feedback and questions from my list(s).. but some people are purely newsletters. Maybe they aren't looking for a dialogue?

Peace

Jay

[DavidParnell]

Here's a question... are isp's going to filter our email newsletters if we use "noreply@" email addresses???

[JayXtreme]

Originally Posted by DavidParnell

Here's a question... are isp's going to filter our email newsletters if we use "noreply@" email addresses???

Hi David..

How are you?

This question is what got me to look at the AWeber blog in the first place. In their letter that I received, they mentioned about delivery rates.. so I had to look to see if this was the case.

This wasn't the case and they just meant that people would hit the SPAM button more if you use a donotreply.. thus killing your delivery rates...

It'll be interesting if isp's do start this kind of filtering, although I cannot see it..

Peace

Jay

[Jesus Perez]

I've never used a no-reply addy. Never plan to.

I prefer to build relationships and open dialogue. I've learned a lot from these dialogues.

If it ever gets crazy, I'll simply use an autoresponder directing them towards my support site. No biggee.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by JayXtreme

but maybe, sometimes..a monologue is the intended outcome?..

Yes, I accept this, of course.

For myself, I feel that a "donotreply" email address is like saying very openly "This is a monologue, not a conversation", and that puts me off. I don't really mind it being a monologue, and probably that's more or less what I expected when I opted in to it, but using a "donotreply" address just seems like a tactless and usually unnecessary way of pointing it out to me at every opportunity.

[Floyd Fisher]

For Aweber to be doing this is totally unbelievable.

There are spammers out there who harvest those reply to addresses. Marketers who do this are doing it to cut down on spam (it's part of a technique originally revealed in Mark Joyners farewell package).

I can't believe a company that is so dedicated to fighting spam would require something that could expose marketers to receiving tons of it.

I don't comment much on Tom's policies, but this is just plain dumb. I hope anyone who uses an Aweber autoresponder forwards the spam they are now receiving to Tom, with an attached note to show how dumb this policy is. Maybe that will drive the message home.

[LB]

Aweber is wrong.

As pointed out above, there are programs that harvest those email addresses.

But most importantly- email is not reliable! When you have a list of 50,000 people you HAVE to funnel them to a ticket system.

It's nice to talk about the evils of "noreply" when you have 400 people on your list, but for real business-size lists it is simply not a good idea.

Consider the fact that many people will write your reply address but when you respond, their spam filter on yahoo or hotmail will eat it. That's why ticket systems are absolutely needed.

[JayXtreme]

Originally Posted by LB

When you have a list of 50,000 people you HAVE to funnel them to a ticket system.

You don't HAVE to...

I appreciate what you are saying, and maybe some people like to do it that way, but it isn't a necessary thing..

I think Floyd makes a good point though.

Peace

Jay

[LB]

Originally Posted by JayXtreme

You don't HAVE to...

I appreciate what you are saying, and maybe some people like to do it that way, but it isn't a necessary thing..

I think Floyd makes a good point though.

Peace

Jay

Nothing is absolute, true.

The problem is someone will ask you a question or ask for customer service through the reply address. Then, when the list owner replies it gets marked as spam by yahoo or hotmail or some other service...and then the chain of communication ends.

With small lists you can keep track of everyone contacting you, once they reach a certain volume though, it simply doesn't work.

How many times have we seen someone complain on this board about not getting service from a big product launch?

If they said they simple replied to an autoresponder to seek out service they would certainly hear about it.

I don't really care how anyone chooses to run their lists, if it works, that's great! But I think aweber is wrong to state that "noreply" is always bad.

[Paul Myers]

This comment sums it up, really, for me: "a one-way conversation isn’t a conversation at all. It’s a monologue."

While I consider using non-working addresses in any From field to be abusive, I have to take exception with the quoted comment.

Some lists are not "conversations." They are broadcasts, and intended only as such. I think that's silly most of the time, but it's possible that's what the sender and subscribers agreed to.


Paul

[Paul Myers]

Floyd,

There are spammers out there who harvest those reply to addresses. Marketers who do this are doing it to cut down on spam (it's part of a technique originally revealed in Mark Joyners farewell package).

So? People use SpamArrest to cut down on spam, too. It's not MY job to keep THEIR mailbox clean. My responsibility in that regard stops at not sending them UBE.

No-one said that the From field had to contain the sender's personal email address. Simply that it should contain an address that exists and is monitored by a human.


Paul

[kobe24]

I think Aweber is right. I dont even understand why someone would build a list with such email address because the real purpose of building a list is to build the trust and get to know your market well enough and if there is no communication between the leads and you then there is no point of building a list.

[tommygadget]

Many of the big guys do this, especially when they broadcast specials. Most companies I get email from use do not reply email addresses.

TomG.