Contact form or email link on website for customers?

[Fluffernutter]

I have a contact form on my website, but often when I reply to customer's questions using the email address they provide, it goes to their spam box (I'm only just finding this out as a couple of people have told me). I'm using a Gmail account. Would I be better to get rid of the contact form and just have my company's Gmail address they can click on to email me? That way if they 'instigate' the email and I reply, it won't go into their spam? Or does it not work like that? Just don't want to lose business because of this. Thanks.

 

[fisicx]

If it goes to their spam it could be how the email is structured or how the account is configured.

Keep the contact form but use a domain email address.

 

[Justin Smith]

I have a contact form on my website, but often when I reply to customer's questions using the email address they provide, it goes to their spam box (I'm only just finding this out as a couple of people have told me). I'm using a Gmail account. Would I be better to get rid of the contact form and just have my company's Gmail address they can click on to email me? That way if they 'instigate' the email and I reply, it won't go into their spam? Or does it not work like that? Just don't want to lose business because of this. Thanks.

Speaking as a customer I hate contact us forms.
You do not have a record of the message, and even when some send you an auto reply most do not quote the original message.
Even more annoying many of the forms are really small (to try and encourage short E mails), but when you need to write more it's very annoying. Best tip to get round that is to write out the message elsewhere (on an E Mail or notepad or wherever) then paste it in, but some contact us forms have short limits on the size of the message they will accept.
The Co-Op are the worst, when they do answer a contact us form it's from a NO_REPLY email address, so if you want to reply you have to start it all again and copy and paste in the previous correspondence !
Basically "contact us" forms are a PITA for customers and they are purely for the convenience of the site's owner.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Have both and let the customer decide!

 

[DontAsk]

Especially if the customer accounts are gmail, make sure SPF and DKIM are setup correctly with your hosting, otherwise Google will reject the e-mails.

 

[antropy]

if they 'instigate' the email and I reply, it won't go into their spam? Or does it not work like that? Just don't want to lose business because of this. Thanks.

I believe it can work like that, but a Gmail address looks so unprofessional.

You should contact an email "deliverability" expert like my friend Russ Michaels: https://michaels.me.uk/contact/

Paul.

 

[Russ Michaels]

I have a contact form on my website, but often when I reply to customer's questions using the email address they provide, it goes to their spam box (I'm only just finding this out as a couple of people have told me). I'm using a Gmail account. Would I be better to get rid of the contact form and just have my company's Gmail address they can click on to email me? That way if they 'instigate' the email and I reply, it won't go into their spam? Or does it not work like that? Just don't want to lose business because of this. Thanks.

the reason for this is almost always that you have not set up email authentication properly or at all. I deal with this every day. Most websites have not done this and have this issue.

if you are sending from a Gmail address via your website, this will always fail authentication, as your web server is not authorised to send email from gmail.com and never will be, because you do not own that domain or have any control over the authentication.

The only way around this, is to use a plugin that connects directly to Gmail to send the email through the Google server, not from your server.
Or better still, use your own domain name to send the email, but send it via SMTP not via sendmail and make sure you have setup your email authentication (dmarc, dkim, spf) and properly tested it.

read these articles for more info

What is DMARC and how does it work? - Domain Admin Tools

Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) is a free and open technical specification that is used to

domainadmintools.com

What is SPF (Sender Policy Framework) - Domain Admin Tools

Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is used to authenticate the sender of an email. With an SPF record in place, Internet Service Providers can verify

domainadmintools.com

What is DKIM? - Domain Admin Tools

DKIM stands for DomainKeys Identified Mail and is used for the authentication of an email that’s being sent. Like SPF, DKIM is an open

domainadmintools.com

 

[DontAsk]

When I started having issues attending TO gmail, I just sent the failure message to my host and they sorted out the authentication settings. They needed tweaking for mails from the e-commerce app as opposed to mails from my desktop e-mail client.

 

[Russ Michaels]

When I started having issues attending TO gmail, I just sent the failure message to my host and they sorted out the authentication settings. They needed tweaking for mails from the e-commerce app as opposed to mails from my desktop e-mail client.

Trust me, what i have said above is 100% correctly. I do email authentication and deliverability for a living.
If you could do email authentication for someone else's domain, then it would be completely pointless and defeat there while point of it's existence.
Please read the articles i posted above.

 

[DontAsk]

Trust me, what i have said above is 100% correctly. I do email authentication and deliverability for a living.
If you could do email authentication for someone else's domain, then it would be completely pointless and defeat there while point of it's existence.
Please read the articles i posted above.

?
What I said is 100% verifiable facts. Merely pointing out my own experience with outgoing email being treated as spam, in the hope it might help someone reading this thread in the future.

I really don't understand the tone of your response.

 

[Russ Michaels]

I don't understand the tone of your response or why you are feeling the need to argue and be defensive?.
Simply read the articles I linked to and understand how email authentication works, these are facts and are 100% verifiable and can be tested by anyone.

Its like saying that locks don't work, because every key opens every lock. Obviously that is nonsense and would make locks pointless.

 

[Shopclicks]

If you could do email authentication for someone else's domain, then it would be completely pointless and defeat there while point of it's existence.

This doesn't really make sense. A hosting company has access to DNS records and can edit proprietary email records if they need to (not necessarily free). @DontAsk said they contacted their host.

 

[Russ Michaels]

This doesn't really make sense. A hosting company has access to DNS records and can edit proprietary email records if they need to (not necessarily free). @DontAsk said they contacted their host.

Incorrect. You clealry do not understand how DNS works.
A hosting company only has access to the DNS records for domains for which they host the DNS. They do not have access to the DNS for every single domain in the world.

Your hosting provider does not have access to the DNS records for google.com or gmail.com or microsoft.com
These companies manage their own Dns and provide their own hosting.

This is like saying that because you have a key for your own door, you can open any door in the world.

 

[Shopclicks]

Incorrect. You clealry do not understand how DNS works.
A hosting company only has access to the DNS records for domains for which they host the DNS. They do not have access to the DNS for every single domain in the world.

Your hosting provider does not have access to the DNS records for google.com or gmail.com or microsoft.com
These companies manage their own Dns and provide their own hosting.

This is like saying that because you have a key for your own door, you can open any door in the world.

Oh dear. I was referring to @DontAsk 's experience. Their domain - their host.

I think you didn't read the post you got your knickers in a knot about.

When I started having issues attending TO gmail, I just sent the failure message to my host and they sorted out the authentication settings. They needed tweaking for mails from the e-commerce app as opposed to mails from my desktop e-mail client.

That one.

And yes, I have many years of experience working with DNS settings.

 

[DontAsk]

I don't understand the tone of your response or why you are feeling the need to argue and be defensive?.

You're the one who attacked my post.

Like I said, I was trying to relate my own experience in case it helps others. I don't know why I bothered now.

E-mails sent through my desktop client and my host have always worked fine.

When Google became more strict, I had a good few e-mails from my OpenCart instance being dumped as spam by customers' hosts. My own host spotted an error in the configuration for my domain and fixed it. Result: no more emails being treated as spam.

End of. I don't need to read your articles, nor argue, as there's nothing to fix, or argue over.

I'll leave the last word to you.

 

[Russ Michaels]

Oh dear. I was referring to @DontAsk 's experience. Their domain - their host.

I think you didn't read the post you got your knickers in a knot about.


That one.

And yes, I have many years of experience working with DNS settings.

I am not getting my knickers in a knot about anything, I am simply replying and trying to educate the ignorant.
Not sure why you feel the need to be rude and insulting.

 

[Shopclicks]

I am not getting my knickers in a knot about anything, I am simply replying and trying to educate the ignorant.
Not sure why you feel the need to be rude and insulting.

Anybody reading this thread can clearly see what was written.

 

[Shopclicks]

I have simply tried to educate you because what you have stated is wrong

No it wasn't wrong. Read it again.

 

[fisicx]

When you sent an email from a website there are multiple checks the recipient email server performs. One of these is the check for email spoofing. If the senders email address is a different domain the the website red flags are raised. This is what @Russ Michaels was saying.

Sending emails from your desktop email client or webmail has different rules.

 

[Shopclicks]

am simply replying and trying to educate the ignorant.

Well that's alright then ...

 

[DontAsk]

When you sent an email from a website there are multiple checks the recipient email server performs. One of these is the check for email spoofing. If the senders email address is a different domain the the website red flags are raised. This is what @Russ Michaels was saying.

If that's the case then I gave a real world example of what he was saying. Why did he have to go off on one, telling me to read his articles and calling people ignorant?

Sending emails from your desktop email client or webmail has different rules.

Correct.

 

[HFE Signs]

We had this issue years ago, I'd suggest using a domain to send from and paste the initial form into the email for traceability and reference. Also your own domain will look much more professional.