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In other webapps I've done I've always sent email from the same domain as the app. However for my next project I'm thinking of using a related domain. For example if my webapp domain was widgets.com the report emails would originate from widgets-reports.com

The app sends daily reports and I'm wary of getting blacklisted as a spammer. The emails are opt-in but in the past I've encountered users flagging automatic email they request as spam instead of disabling emails.

If I send from a related domain I should be able move to a new IP if necessary without disrupting the service's primary email. I really can't think of a downside other than user's expectations that mails would originate from the app domain.

Thoughts?

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If you go with another domain, you always have the option to forge the "From: email@email.com" header to make it look like the email comes from your main domain. – Olivier Lalonde Jan 3 '10 at 22:01

3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

It's nice to use a separate domain, but not because of black-listing, but rather to give you flexibility in how and where the email service is done.

There are SMTP services you can use that will prevent you from being blacklisted; you may want to investigate e.g. smtp.com or MailChimps.

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up vote 2 down vote

I like to use separate domains for outbound emails -- it's much more flexible.

The one downside to this is that there is some minimal "brand dilution" (because the domain doesn't exactly match), but I think the tradeoff is worth it.

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up vote 0 down vote

No. Generally, ISPs blacklist IPs -- not domains. So there is a benefit to using a different IP address from the one you use for outgoing corp email. But the deliverability benefit for using a different domain is smaller than the downside (brand confusion as dharmesh said, maintaining 2 domains, etc).

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