Hot answers tagged email
18
What I like is:
The signature block begins with "dash dash space" ("-- "). This lets the email software know that its a signature block, and allows the email client to display it with less contrast, or not include it in replies etc, depending on the user's preferences.
For small companies, I'd say no titles in the signature. In large companies I think ...
17
Three practical reasons to use your own domain for email:
trust: If you run a web site on that domain, people can respond to you knowing it'll go to the right place.
branding: Reinforce that name!
free advertising: The effect is probably minimal compared to a signature with a clickable link, but hey it's free.
11
Don't send the proposal with your first message. It will shut the door close into your face and any following attempts will be perceived as stalking.
Why are you sending it to this person? I got it that you don't know him/her, but do you know anyone that may have an access to this individual. If not, don't be too aggressive. Send a letter, email or text ...
8
It is exceedingly rare for big companies to respond to unsolicited, incoming email from people that they have never met. You are much better off trying to get an introduction to the company from someone you know.
You may want to start at LinkedIn. One of your business contacts may already know someone at the big company, and LinkedIn will find this. It's ...
7
I would probably go with the PDF - I'm just learning now how hard HTML email is!
Having said that, I don't think I would respond well to receving a 'business proposal' that is unsolicitied and completely cold.
Maybe try to build a bit of a relationship with your contact first?
Maybe just introduce yourself via a mail or a call, explain that you have a ...
4
It really depends on how you are marketing your product, and how do you intend it to evolve. If you want to build a brand around the product, it may make sense for the product to have its own identity - its own website, its own contacts, email addresses, etc. On the other hand, if the product is being sold as one of the products offered by your company, ...
4
Althought this is something that many companies (typicaly large ones) do, my understanding is that such messages do not in fact have any legal standing.
To do it just to try to sound 'corporate', or bigger than you are seems a bit unnecessary to me - I think it sends the wrong kind of message to customers.
4
The big issue is figuring out to connect with the person. If they are at a high-level in the company they probably get dozens of unsolicited emails a week and you need to get through the initial deletion of your email.
As others have said you need to figure out how to build a relationship with them before you have any chance of them even reading your ...
4
Get a domain and use it for your landing page and contact form.
You'll need a domain at product launch. It takes time for new domains to get established and visible in the search engines. The small amount of money you invest in the domain to promote your product now will help you start with a professional image and establish your domain with the search ...
4
This is one area where a small startup can do a much better job than a big corporation so try and take advantage of it. Atlassian, which is not a small company, prides itself for its "legendary support." http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/Support/How+to+Get+Legendary+Support+from+Atlassian
If you can do the same, it's one way to show that you're much ...
4
I am in the process of launching an email based start-up and I have been struggling with this question too. I think it is going to depend on the type of content in your newsletter.
In my case my newsletter content is a variation of a "tip of the day", which lends itself nicely to being duplicated as a short blog post. On one hand I worry that some people ...
4
If you have an ad budget, even a small one, you could go to BuySellAds.com and purchase ad space on relative sites, and advertise 'now in free BETA, get your code' (or hopefully something a little catchier).
I would advise you to always be building relationships with people long before you ask something like this. I know that's advice a little late now, ...
4
It's highly unlikely that this is going to get the desired result as a direct marketing assault. At best, it might be ignored, at worst you might sour a potentially good business relationship by sending unsolicited e-mail. One of the hardest things to do is to develop an effective network into potential customers, because such development is often indirect ...
4
Answering the strategy question:
What value are you providing to the email recipient?
Receiving a "we do x, call us!" email is no better than all the "outsource your IT" emails many of us receive daily. Yeah, you run a business, we get that - but you have no developed relationship / accumulated trust to work from.
And changing a word or two isn't much of ...
3
It highly depends on the culture of your customer, and how closely you interact with your customers. In the U.S., speed of communication is what's most valued. If most of your customer correspondence is brief, one-off interactions, then it probably doesn't matter what time you respond to them. But if you have many interactions with the same customer, it ...
3
When I receive footers like that from a large corporation, I accept it because there are obviously highly placed morons that feel it must be done. Hopefully whoever I'm dealing with isn't part of that chain of command.
If I were to receive this kind of footer from a small company, I would immediately infer that the entire company was not worth doing ...
3
Rule number 1. There are no rules.
Rule number 2. It really depends on what kind of business you are in.
If you are just launching a site, put it in there.
If you have just won an award, put it in there.
If you have a quote put it in there.
If you are communicating through channels like Skype put that in there too.
Just remember to distinguish between ...
3
Sorry this is not a great answer but just wanted to point out my opinion on the subject. Feel free to down vote if you hate this sort of answers :)
I'm sure there are some good and bad implications but they are too small to bother.
If you are a small company I'd say just do something stick with it when it comes this sort of stuff. If you are big, the ...
3
Tristan, you should look at the previous discussions at Serverfault.com -- a site much like this one, but targeted at system administrators.
In short, there is no way for you to say "Hey, I'm not spam! Don't filter me.". If there was, then spammers would abuse this system too (sic).
There is a war going on between spammers and good people, and sometimes ...
3
I think you're trying to do too much in one move. I'd also say, you're also trying to do the wrong things.
Let' me explain:
Most people are not going to talk about stuff they haven't seen or used yet -- unless you're already important or known to make exceptional stuff. I doubt that's the case, here.
It's rather easy, however, to get some people to follow ...
3
I am using Google Apps for email and documents and think it's excellent value for the mail alone. It's all integrated via my domain so looks very professional and works well.
I am using ZenDesk for support and ticketing. It's just $9 per month for one agent and is a really, really well implemented product and fairly lightweight.
I would give ZenDesk ...
3
Having whitelisted servers is a minor plus, but why aren't your own servers whitelisted? In addition, isn't there a large chance that a servce sending emails for thousands of different compaies is going to attract a spammers?
Finally, whitelisting servers says nothing about your actual email content. Most spam filers look at the actual content of the ...
3
You create them as mail groups (a.k.a. distribution lists), and then add one or more of your regular mail users to the group. In the Admin dashboard; Users and groups --> Groups --> Create new group.
These groups and emails to them are 'shared' with Google in the sense that Google also reads the emails. That's because these addresses are required by ...
3
Google apps is an excellent tool for a startup, but let me also plug Google Voice (which is NOT Apps capable at the moment, unfortunately). I've found Voice to be unbelievable useful in allowing me to have a stable "business" phone number AND a private cell phone while only paying for and carrying my personal cell.
3
I would ignore the behavior. I know it's hard, but responding and/or giving them public attention only encourages their behavior.
If there are any recurring themes in the email subjects/body (e.g. "reactivate my account") perhaps you could set an email filter to delete them automatically, or (possibly safer, in case a legitimate one comes through) forward ...
3
I'd second Marina's advice to just ignore the issue.
One point that I've found can help reduce the incidence of this sort of issue is to make it explicit that this is not a random decision - but because the user violated the rules of the site:
1) Have a very clear human readable list terms of service
2) Warn people first before banning - and refer to the ...
3
The best answer to this that I have found discussed is to not ban bad users, but ignore them completely. And make it so that everyone else ignores them as well. Let them post whatever they want, but change your software so that they are the only ones that see their rants and raves. They will quickly tire of the lack of response and go away on their own.
...
3
The can-spam laws mainly state that you have to disclose that an advertisement is an advertisement if it is sent by email, and that you give your recipients an option to unsubscribe or opt out from your marketing list.
The bigger issue is getting blacklisted for your mail server, domain, etc.
This is why you see services such as constant contact, awebber, ...
3
Would you agree that it is safe to auto-filter and trash such email replies with a letter/number/freemail combination by default?
No, I wouldn't. As one little example, you would delete any feedback from me. I typically don't hand out my primary email address on such forms, I provide a secondary @gmail.com address, to avoid getting spammed.
Why do you ...
3
send large amount of emails to user's first degree connections (OPTED IN, NOT SPAM).
That's a bit hard to read. I will take it to mean that the "first degree connections" have themselves opted in, not that the "users" have opted in the "first degree connections" without asking them. The former would be fine, the latter could be debated, depending on the ...
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