Are you accidentally being sent bouncing emails? 9 crucial things to check

No, not emails that literally bounce. I’m talking about emails that people try to send in reply to a message they received, but nobody ever gets it. Why? Because the message was an automated email from a ‘no reply’ address, and all messages addressed to it end up in a blackhole in cyberspace.

You may have seen these types of email addresses before. Sometimes the email address itself is a message in itself – like no-reply@website.com. Some say, “This is an automated message… do not reply” and some ask you to click on a link to reply using an online form instead.

Do you have a ‘no reply’ email address? Even if you don’t, it’s quite possible that people could get a ‘no reply’ email when using your website. I’ll get to that shortly.

When you send someone an email, you’re in a conversation with them. You send them a message, and hopefully they send one back, and so on, back and forth. It’s a lot like throwing a ball back and forth between yourself and the other person, with the ball being the message.

Are you dropping the ball?

But if you use a ‘no reply’ address, instead of you being there to catch the ball, the ball bounces off a brick wall in front of you. You never get the message, and the other person wonders why you dropped the ball.

I’m assuming you have enough sense to not email people using a ‘no reply’ email account, because you know there’s no point starting a conversation with someone who can’t respond.

But, you may be sending your website’s visitors ‘no reply’ emails without realizing it.

What could be sending no reply messages to your visitors?

Think of all the situations when your visitors could possibly be receiving automated (computer-generated) messages that they can’t respond to.

Automated systems (like some WordPress plugins, mailing list services such as AWeber, and online store programs) very often send a type of confirmation message after a visitor takes a certain action, like signing up or making a purchase.

Act as though you are a new visitor to your website. Carry out the actions that your visitors do, and see what automated messages you receive in your inbox. Look carefully at the email address that comes up when you click ‘Reply’. If it’s not one of the addresses you use for your business, then you have a problem!

Here are some things to check:

1. Sign up for your own mailing list (eZine/newsletter) and look at the confirmation email you get. Click ‘Reply’ and send a message in response. Where does that email end up?

2. Do the same for any autoresponder series you have set up (like an e-Course or a scheduled set of follow-up messages). What happens when you reply to these messages?

3. When you receive a copy of your eZine/newsletter, what happens when you click the reply button? Where does the reply end up?

4. What message do you get after you buy a product or service from your own website? Does your online store system send messages that can’t be directly replied to?

5. Do you use a support ticket system? Can people reply directly to emails generated by the ticket system, or do they need to click a link to go back to your website an fill in an online form? (And if you do make them click a link, I can tell you that personally I find that a hassle.)

6. Send messages via your online forms on your website.  Do you get an automated message from your website saying that the message was sent successfully? Maybe you even get a ‘carbon copy’ of the message you sent via the form – but can you reply to the email?

7. Do you have a blog? Can people sign up via a service like Feedburner to get your new posts by email? If so, sign up and see if the emails that are sent by the service can be replied to.

8. Also, if you have a blog, do you have a feature that allows people to be notified of new comments? What happens when you try replying to one of these ‘new comment notifications’?

9. In the same vein, if you have a forum, what automated messages get sent out by your forum? What happens when someone tries replying to a message notifying them that there is a new reply on a thread? If you send emails to all your forum members via an admin panel, can people reply directly to those email?

Depending on your type of website, there may be automated messages that I haven’t mentioned. But now that you’re really thinking hard about it, I’m sure they’ll occur to you.

Help! I can’t reply to this message properly!

Did you find that your website (or a service provider your website uses) actually does create some automated messages that have a ‘no reply’ address?

Here’s what to do:

1. If the messages come from your own website, check the settings in your Control Panel. If it’s created by a WordPress plugin, check the options for that plugin in your WordPress admin panel. Look for a way to specify the ‘Reply To‘ or ‘From’ address of the messages.

2. If the messages come from a service you use, like AWeber or Feedburner, log into your account and see if you can change the settings for the ‘Reply To‘ or ‘From’ address of the messages.

What if it’s unavoidable?

There are times when you just can’t change the ‘Reply To’ email address that an automated system generates. Here’s what to do if you’re stuck:

1. Can you switch to a system that does the same thing, but lets you use your own address for replies? If you’re using a WordPress plugin, check out other plugins to see if there is a more flexible alternative.

2. Can you contact the developer of the system (such as the author of a WordPress plugin) and ask them to help you? Tell them you would really prefer that the messages the system generates have your own ‘Reply To’ address. Ask them if there is a setting you overlooked – and if not, ask them kindly what the chances are of them making it possible in the next update. (Be especially kind if the system or plugin is free – they’re not making any money so don’t pressure them.)

3. If it’s a 3rd-party service that’s sending the ‘no reply’ messages, contact them and ask them how to change the ‘Reply To’ address. If it’s not possible, check out their competitors – it may be worth switching.

If all that fails? The Last Resort…

If there really is no hope of changing the ‘Reply To’ address, here’s what to do…

Make it extremely obvious that replying to the message is completely futile, and provide an email address that you can actually be contacted with.

And because you are inconveniencing your email recipient, it doesn’t hurt to throw in a bit of your sense of humor. Here’s one that made me smile when I saw it yesterday:

If the system doesn’t let you mention your real email address at all, anywhere in the message, then it’s time to seriously considering ending your relationship with that system.

Ask me for advice

Before divorcing the source of your automated messages, leave a comment here on this post (under a false name if you like) and I’ll let you know if there’s any hope of salvaging the situation.

And if you have any tips of your own, please mention them here in the comment section!