Here are 7 examples of emails that I received on Tuesday with the words “do not reply” somewhere in their email copy. Here is my question and perhaps I am a bit naive on the technical front, but isn’t response management by an ESP basic stuff?
To me there is so much value in having a response management system in place or at the very least a monitored email address (if you are small enough) to filter thru things. Call me old fashion, but email is all about dialogue right and peoples natural instinct is to hit reply.
I welcome your thoughts.
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email strategy, email marketing, bad email, do not reply, response management, ESP, email service provider, email engagement, strategy, promotional email
@Andrew
Yeah. Never understand this approach. Actually, from a deliverability standpoint it can also be deadly as people try to unsub/complain yet it goes into a black hole.
I’m torn between this being ignorance or laziness. Interested what others think….
DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
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I don’t get why marketers still do this. “Please, add us to your address book, read our content and take advantage of this special offer…but if you write us back don’t expect a reply.”
It’s a selfish way to communicate, especially with the people who help your business succeed.
From what I’ve seen the issue is that the marketers don’t have an email address to use for replies. And getting one set up with their IT dept can take weeks. If the ESP provides the reply-to, then it becomes an issue of managing the replies. Usually the person sending the message isn’t the person who should be managing feedback, so they simply use the “no reply” approach and try to direct feedback to another dept or business unit via an email, link or phone number.
So I guess it boils down to the marketing company being setup to properly handle feedback, which many aren’t. It’s not usually a technology issue.
Agree with all on this topic. Using “do not reply” or “black hole” email addresses is just not excusable these days. Email is about engagement. Email is about connecting with directly with subscribers. Email is about opening the line of communication between your brand and your subscribers and getting feedback. How can you hope to be relevant and targeted if you don’t know what your subscribers are saying/thinking/doing? Yes, you can track response rates and survey your audience, but what are you saying when you’ve ripped the welcome mat from under their feet? It’s like having a retail store without any associates. Marketers need to remember that following a “batch and blast” or a “turn this puppy on and then let it go” type email program is just not going to work in the long-term.
-Kelly Lorenz
I received an email communication from Microsoft this week about a rather expensive software application we own multiple licenses for, Microsoft Dynamics GP. It was a nice looking email about upgrading to the latest version and support ending for the older version. Then, it had the dreaded, DO NOT REPLY! This Email is not monitored. ??!! From Microsoft! You’d think they’d have figured out something to help monitor their mail. They have how many software writers and developers! I was shocked.
I just let the replies to our email marketing campaigns come right into our sales department as we are a small business and have the capacity. No matter how large we grew though, I would never want the replies to just disappear into cyberspace. Some of our best ideas come from customers replying to our email campaigns.