When you send your email campaigns, what email address do your subscribers send replies to?
If you said, “my Yahoo/Hotmail/AOL/Gmail address,” I have some unpleasant news for you:
You’re hurting your email deliverability.
And after what just happened at Yahoo, you’ll want to fix that, and fast.
Why Some of You Keep Putting Your Email Delivery Rates at Risk
We and most reputable email providers discourage you from using an address at Yahoo, AOL, Gmail, and other free providers as the FROM line on your newsletters.
Many of you heed this advice, set up an email address on your domain, and use that as your FROM line. Good for you. (If this is you, you can stop reading now.)
However, some of you keep on using that free email address, because hey, it’s easy, it’s free, and it’s a little less work. I get it.
But if you’re cutting that corner, it’s time to stop.
Here’s why:
Your Freebie Address Is Hurting Your Email Delivery Rates — Now More Than Ever
Two words: Email Authentication.
Let’s skip the technical details here and get to the point:
One way that ISPs like Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, etc. fight spam is to use something called email authentication to check whether an email that claims it’s from you, is actually from you.
The current standard for authentication is DMARC (warning: technical link, read only if you’re really interested).
On Friday 4/4, Yahoo changed their DMARC settings, causing a lot of mail from Yahoo users to start being rejected by other ISPs.
If you want the technical details, there’s a great post at Word to the Wise about DMARC, what exactly changed, and what it means for senders.
Here’s the important thing: if you’re sending your email campaigns through an email marketing service, and you’re using an @yahoo.com email address as your FROM address, Yahoo is saying they don’t vouch for your email.
Note: this is not an AWeber-specific issue. It’s affecting a lot of email. Here are just a few of the latest news articles about this issue:
Yahoo’s New DMARC Policy Destroys Every Mailing List across the World
Yahoo Mail Brings the Pain with DMARC Policy Change
Yahoo Email Anti-Spoofing Policy Breaks Mailing Lists
Here’s How To Fix Your Email Delivery Problem
The good news is, there’s a very simple fix to this problem:
Change your FROM address to one at your website’s domain.
For example, for the emails that we send out to subscribers of this blog, we use help@aweber.com.
You don’t have to use help@(whatever your domain is), but… you need to set up an address (if you don’t already have one) on your domain, and then enter that in the FROM line in your email marketing software.
Here’s how to change your FROM address in AWeber.
Don’t know how to set up email addresses for your domain? Get in touch with your web hosting company and ask.
If your email list is worth money to your business, you owe it to yourself to get this done quickly. Until you do, you’re leaving emails undelivered and keeping money off of your bottom line.
Ask About This and More at Our Facebook Chat on Deliverability
Wondering what other email delivery issues and changes may impact your business?
Join us tomorrow, April 9th 2014, for a Facebook chat on deliverability.
Mohammed Ahmed, our Director of Deliverability, will take your questions live from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time (USA).
Do you have a burning question about getting your emails delivered? Comment below.