HOW TO: Improve Your
Email Response Routing
Personalized email marketing means inspiring
customers to engage you with two-way communications.
This also means making sure when a customer responds
to an email marketing message it is not bounced
or lost.
You can improve your email response routing
by setting appropriate email addresses within
your email message. There are three addresses
in a typical email header and there can be up
to four email addresses associated with an email
message: the Return-Path address, the From address,
the Reply-To address and the To address. The first
three email addresses describe who sent the email
message, and the last one describes the recipient.
Most mass email marketing programs worth their
weight will allow you to specify separate addresses
for each of these message header parts, allowing
for increased customer interaction. Many marketers
will typically use the From address for all three
of the sender address fields if the Return-Path
and the Reply-To addresses are not specified.
Here's a quick primer for the function of each
address type and its importance to email campaign
message routing management.
Return-Path Address
The Return-Path address is where errors are
reported, and is regarded by remote mail servers
as the "real" From address. If there's a problem
with the Return-Path address, the entire bulk
email campaign might fail. It is practical to
set up a separate email account for the Return-Path
to monitor bounced messages, which are usually
sent to that account. A good mass email marketing
program can be configured to monitor this account,
and process bounced email messages automatically.
Using a separate Return-Path address also keeps
the From address free of all the bounced email
messages. In large bulk email campaigns, the number
of bounced email messages can sometimes inundate
the inbox of the From address, mixing valid email
message replies with errors. And if your inbox
is too cluttered with bounce messages, valid email
messages might not be seen and acted upon. Setting
up a separate Return-Path account lets you manage
bounce errors separately, even if your email marketing
program does not perform that function automatically.
From Address
The "From" address is the one that appears in
the recipient's email client inbox and should
be readily recognizable by subscribers. This is
the most important email address within a message
because it is the most visible. In the recipient
email client this email address is the one that
identifies who sent the email message.
It's a good idea to use a friendly name format
for the From email address. This allows you to
specify how exactly it appears in the recipient's
email client. Using a friendly From address can
be used to display the company name, or specific
representative, rather than just a bare looking
email address. A friendly From address format
looks like this:
"Company Name" <sales@domainexample.com>
When displayed in the email client, the From
line shows "Company Name" and not the email address.
Using the company name in the email address can
free up space in the subject line too, the company
name does not need to be repeated if it is already
listed as the sender.
If a separate Reply-To address is not an available
option with your mass email marketing program,
then the From address of your message should be
closely monitored. The customer may use the reply
button to volunteer feedback or begin two way
communications, and it can help catch any unconventional
unsubscribe requests.
Reply-To Address
The function of the Reply-To address is to route
the email message if the recipient clicks the
reply button in their email client. This email
address is automatically loaded into the email
address field of the new email message. In most
cases, the original message is also included for
a reference. By using a Reply-To address that
is different than the From address, you can direct
these replies to somebody monitoring that email
account.
The Reply-To email address can also use the
friendly format to better describe who will be
handling the email. It should look something like
this:
"Tech Support" <support@domainexample.com>
Unlike the From address, the Reply-To address
is not displayed to recipient until they click
the reply to button, or view the email message
headers. This may make it less susceptible to
targeting in a malicious manner. The From address
is usually the most visible, and therefore the
most likely to be spammed. By using a separate
Reply-To address, the From account can be virtually
ignored, or at least minimally monitored.
To Address
This is different from the other three email
address types mentioned, because it is to whom
the message is going. It is important to be able
to send email messages using a friendly To address
format. This is similar to the friendly From address
mentioned earlier. If you collect the first name
of the client along with the email address, this
can be done automatically from the information
stored in the database.
The email address To field itself should also
contain the email friendly format:
"Joe Customer" <joe@customerexample.com>
This obviously makes the message much more personal,
and will improve the chances that the email message
will be opened and read.
Summary
Having just one email address should suffice
for beginning email marketers, but as the customer
list grows, using several different accounts will
help with managing all the information going back
and forth. Setting up a separate Return-Path address
will especially help with managing bounce email
messages, keeping other important email inboxes
clean.
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