Our email going to customers spam boxes

[privateb]

Hi guys,

Most of the emails we send to customers goes directly into their spam folders, I am assuming that this is due to the business name.

Is there any way we can get it into peoples inbox?

Cheers

Ryan

 

[Websitehandyman]

Start by sending a plain text not html and no images.

If that falls into spam folder then you need to look at the email headers, check you are not on blacklists.

If the plain text message folder then it's your client or images you send as part of the email.

 

[fisicx]

Nope. Unless you change the business name or the domain name. In fact you may well find some people can't even see the site because of content blockers.

What you can do is add a big notice on the site that explains the junk mail problem.

If the customer has a hotmail email it's even worse, it doesn't even get as far as the junk folder.

 

[privateb]

Nope. Unless you change the business name or the domain name. In fact you may well find some people can't even see the site because of content blockers.

What you can do is add a big notice on the site that explains the junk mail problem.

If the customer has a hotmail email it's even worse, it doesn't even get as far as the junk folder.

So could I go back to 123 reg and add another email address such as [email protected] then send our customers emails from that?

 

[Websitehandyman]

You could just use google mail or fastmail.fm for your email.

 

[privateb]

You could just use google mail or fastmail.fm for your email.

So do you think [email protected] would still go to the trash?

Or should we send them from [email protected]?

Cheers

 

[fisicx]

I'd give it a go. And do as handyman suggests and send the message as plain text. I'd even remove any links back to the site and see if that makes a difference.

Set up hotmail, yahoo and gmail accounts and send messages to yourself and see if they get junked. If they get through then it's the recipient that is the problem not the spam filters.

Incidentally, my gf gets regular emails from ann summers and they don't get blocked - but she did have to change her personal settings.

 

[Websitehandyman]

So do you think [email protected] would still go to the trash?

Or should we send them from [email protected]?

Cheers

I don't know if you domain is the problem, might be for some who have decided to setup filters for the terms boob (not likely) baby (even less likely)

Why not send me an email and I'll take a look at your headers, I've checked blacklist for you and your ok there.

[email protected]

 

[Timothius]

you might find that:

• some a**hole in the past ran a spam-op from the same netblock your server is on
• a competitor has spitefully added you to spamhaus etc
• too many customers have marked your newsletters as spam

are you sending mail 'from' a domain that isn't on the server? most email providers do a check to see if domain points to the same IP the mail is from

 

[cmcp]

Ryan, add an SPF record and look into domain keys.

 

[privateb]

Ryan, add an SPF record and look into domain keys.

A what, sorry?

 

[privateb]

I don't know if you domain is the problem, might be for some who have decided to setup filters for the terms boob (not likely) baby (even less likely)

Why not send me an email and I'll take a look at your headers, I've checked blacklist for you and your ok there.

[email protected]

I have mailed you.

Thanks

 

[cmcp]

A what, sorry?

Google "SPF Record" and "domain keys". They're ways of signing your mail with DNS entries and similar methods to verify you are who you say you are. Worked well for me, past clients and past employers.

 

[BobbyBoy]

Try sending your mail via AuthSmtp - we found it improved email deliverability considerably when we had problems

Inexpensive and effective

Hope this helps

Bobby

 

[webstore]

So do you think [email protected] would still go to the trash?

Or should we send them from [email protected]?

Cheers

As suggested elsewhere you should go into your 123-reg.co.uk and purchase an email address eg [email protected] (costs about £11 pa approx) and make sure that your ecommerce software has the email sender as [email protected] to match your domain www. boobbaby.co.uk

I would be surprised if that does not fix your problem.
.

 

[a1anm]

Nope. Unless you change the business name or the domain name.

Not true. You can reduce the amount of mail getting sent to spam boxes by using a service like http://sendgrid.com

We use this for all our transactional emails now and find it really helps. They have a free account which allows you to send up to 200 mails per day. After that you need to start paying but it is really inexpensive.

 

[Websitehandyman]

Not true. You can reduce the amount of mail getting sent to spam boxes by using a service like http://sendgrid.com

We use this for all our transactional emails now and find it really helps. They have a free account which allows you to send up to 200 mails per day. After that you need to start paying but it is really inexpensive.

Also not true true because spam filters don't look at the domain side for keywords. If the domain/host/ip is on a spam list then maybe but in this case it seems that the local-name side was malformed, so with luck should be better now.

 

[a1anm]

Also not true true because spam filters don't look at the domain side for keywords. If the domain/host/ip is on a spam list then maybe but in this case it seems that the local-name side was malformed, so with luck should be better now.

Strange. Well, we have definitely seen improved deliverability since using it. Seems we're not the only ones:

"...been thrilled with our choice of Sendgrid, not just because of the improved deliverability..." Co Founder of Get Satisfaction

I believe this is what services like Sendgrid specialise in.

 

[Websitehandyman]

Strange. Well, we have definitely seen improved deliverability since using it. Seems we're not the only ones:

"...been thrilled with our choice of Sendgrid, not just because of the improved deliverability..." Co Founder of Get Satisfaction

I believe this is what services like Sendgrid specialise in.

I wasn't commenting on your recommendation, I'm sure they do a good job.

I can comment - I would have thought the only real benefits of using them would be scalability. SMTP standards are the same everywhere and I don't see how someone who takes my envelope and pushes into into slot in a postbox can possibly determine what happens to it from there. Sure they can make sure it's address correctly or can they ? in the case of this problem it was user error on the email client side (from what I can tell) they had put an @ in the Local part of the From field and that's not allowed in SMTP standards. I don't think Sendgrid would have prevented that unless they were looking over the person's shoulder while they setup the account in outlook.

 

[a1anm]

@Websitehandyman: When I initially recommended Sendgrid I wasn't implying that it would fix the OP's problem. I was merely stating that actions can be taken to improve deliverability other than changing your domain/business name such as using a service like Sendgrid. For you to say that wasn't true was incorrect.

If you google it you can find case studies/examples of services such as Sendgrid, Mailchimp, Postmark improving deliverability. Not sure how they do it but it seems to work.

 

[Websitehandyman]

@Websitehandyman: When I initially recommended Sendgrid I wasn't implying that it would fix the OP's problem. I was merely stating that actions can be taken to improve deliverability other than changing your domain/business name such as using a service like Sendgrid. For you to say that wasn't true was incorrect.

I think we just got our wires crossed chap, you said "not true" I said "also not true because..." I was in fact agreeing with you and adding my own reason.

 

[a1anm]

I'm confused Ha ha.

 

[astutiumRob]

So do you think [email protected] would still go to the trash?
Or should we send them from [email protected]?

Anything @gmail.com will go straight in the trash, simply because no-one will trust a business that relies on a free email service.

 

[fisicx]

It's still the word 'boob' that's got to get through the filters. Even 'breast' can get blocked.

If you had a domain of baby-feeding-supplies not only would you get more keywords but it's less likely to get blocked. You would still have the same trading name, only the URL would change.

 

[gibby]

There are loads of things that can be causing these problems.

We have severe issues with hotmail & yahoo in that they lose order confirmations or put them in the spam bin. The silly thing is that 2 customers on hotmail can have very different outcomes with our email. Some are fine but a certain % will never see an email from us.
It appears there is nothing we can do about this other than asking customers to add the email address to their address book.
It seems many customers are dropping hotmail & yahoo because of these issues & Gmail seems to be the favourite which works very well.

You can get black listed as spam too. A problem with our shopping cart meant millions of emials were sent through it a few months back & its taken some work to unravel it all.

For outgoing email newsletters we use Get Response meanaing emails are not send from us, it save alot of hassle & does alot of the work for you.

The name of your biz can cause issues as there are so many different filters and systems so using a 3rd party mail handler is worth looking into.

Recently we ahve found that some mail dleivery systems will allow you to contact them & resubmit your domain or email.
We started getting blocked last week by a German system and all our emials to a supplier were being returned with a mail delivery messeage. We did some work, found the system and were asked to submit details. 48 hours later we were back to normal.

G

 

[Dominic Taylor]

Returnpath are the specialists in deliverability - not cheap however, but they will get your mail through.

 

[Websitehandyman]

It's still the word 'boob' that's got to get through the filters. Even 'breast' can get blocked.

If you had a domain of baby-feeding-supplies not only would you get more keywords but it's less likely to get blocked. You would still have the same trading name, only the URL would change.

Sorry a lot of people seem to have a lack of understanding when it comes to spam filters. Default spam systems on servers and places like hotmail will not check FROM fields for keywords they don't work at that level.

The only way spam is filtered on such servers is on IP or host and know places. You as the end recipient are the only person who has the right to filter that sort of thing in your system or client. After all why would Microsoft or Google have the right to stop me getting Boob emails or Viagra etc ?

But at the end of the day we all know not everything that goes into spam or junk mailboxes is spam or junk. This is because these systems also check for known ways spammers try to trick the system. So if you make a simple mistake in addressing your email or your SMTP server credentials are not setup to conform to standards then you stand the risk of that email being filtered and if the is no reason to return the email they may default to junk or spam rather risking you telling people the system doesn't work.

Emails services can do a lot but one thing that they can't do is govern how the recipient server is setup therefor they can't give 100% guarantee that your email will not be filtered, although they can make sure it's being sent correct much like the post office counter staff checking you have the postcode and house number of the envelope.

 

[fisicx]

Sorry a lot of people seem to have a lack of understanding when it comes to spam filters. Default spam systems on servers and places like hotmail will not check FROM fields for keywords they don't work at that level.

Who said anything about the FROM field? Marketing emails and delivery notes and so on nearly all have links block to the host site. So an email with boobbaby in the content and especially as a link will get junked by hotmail and others.

Just do a search on google for 'boobbaby' and it doesn't take long before you start seeing pr0n.

 

[Websitehandyman]

Who said anything about the FROM field? Marketing emails and delivery notes and so on nearly all have links block to the host site. So an email with boobbaby in the content and especially as a link will get junked by hotmail and others.

Just do a search on google for 'boobbaby' and it doesn't take long before you start seeing pr0n.

Porn or pr0n as you prefer to call it is perhaps the biggest industry in the world so how do the all manage without email ?

boobbaby is a perfectly valid word for a domain, perhaps not the best option as some people will fall for the obvious but the is no reason why email sent would end up in spam if not for specific filtering of the terms boob or baby.

If support staff are stupid enough to do that then they shouldn't be in the job. Just how many people might type say "hi baby" or "she's had the bady" or "I made a boob", "she had a boob job" or even mispell bob for boob or even beed for boob.

And the fact remains that the most obvious cause for this problem was the FROM field because it had @ in the local part.

 

[ukperson1]

You may want to have a look at how to let your emails go through spam filters, etc. See http://emarketingkb.naxtech.com/