Should I use a noreply email address for abandoned cart emails?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests guiding customers to the right resources directly from the cart abandonment emails. A noreply address will give a non-caring impression to possible new or returning customers, who often need more trust in the service.
Email marketer from an Email Marketing Forum says that using a no-reply address can lead to lower open rates and engagement. It discourages customer interaction and may damage brand image.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests that customers are likely replying because they can't easily find the information they need. Turning off customer service is not the answer and using a noreply address will generate bad will and hurt the brand. Instead, update the website with the information customers are requesting, and announce these updates in the newsletter.
Email marketer from Help Scout explains that no-reply addresses can damage sender reputation. Receiving replies is good for feedback and engagement, and a no-reply address can frustrate customers who need help.
Email marketer from Litmus explains that using a no-reply address creates a poor customer experience, and the perception of a lack of care or support. It can hinder deliverability. Instead, monitor and manage replies effectively, and provide clear options for customers to contact support.
Email marketer from Neil Patel explains that no-reply addresses are generally not a good practice as they signal a lack of engagement and discourage customer interaction, and can impact deliverability. He recommends using a real, monitored email address to encourage customer feedback and build trust.
Email marketer from Quora shares that no-reply addresses are generally discouraged in modern email marketing. They negatively impact sender reputation and hinder engagement. Providing a real email address improves customer experience and builds trust.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests doing a set of abandonment cart messages that guide customers to resource categories answering their most common questions and comparing results of old, CS replied and resource guided approaches by looking into completed orders. This requires data matching and tagging. You need to observe quite a large volume of cart abandonments to come to any meaningful conclusion. If your business is such that people may order multiple items, another KPI to compare could be the 'completed cart value'. He also mentions, from past experience, there was no significant difference between the options and the no-reply was ordered in power by the next higher-level management. He did not consider that an absolutely correct choice, but at that moment, the customer service was already overloaded. Later on, they were able to reduce the customer service load by giving more online support options and information resources in our email marketing.
Email marketer from SuperOffice explains that a no-reply email address doesn't give recipients a way to engage with your business. They say that it damages your brand reputation and impacts deliverability negatively.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests running an experiment of replying with excellent follow-ups to see if it increases conversions. A real friendly, prompt, helpful response would likely inspire a purchase. A canned response or no reply would inspire shopping elsewhere as it doesn’t inspire faith in a company when they appear to be phoning it in. Templates could be written for common questions that staff edit to fit the details. Most of it semi-automated with a personal touch and clear responses indicating the rep read the email not just blasted an unedited canned response.
Email marketer from Klaviyo explains that a no-reply address impacts engagement, and creates a negative impression. Instead, ensure you offer clear and easy ways for customers to contact you.
Email marketer from Reddit argues that using a no-reply address is a bad practice and signals a lack of customer service. It damages customer relations and can lower engagement.
What the experts say2Expert opinions
Expert from Spam Resource explains that no-reply: from addresses are a really bad idea. They don't work, and create huge deliverability problems. Mail to valid addresses goes somewhere to get handled. Mail to invalid addresses gets tossed (or worse, depending on circumstances).
Expert from Email Geeks explains that people will send emails to no-reply addresses anyway. If the system rejects these emails, it will look bad. If the system doesn't reject these emails but ignores them, people will get angry.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from Constant Contact shares it's best practice to avoid using noreply email addresses, they damage your deliverability and signal to users that you don't want to interact with them. Instead, you should encourage replies to gather feedback, insights, and engage with your audience.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that while not explicitly forbidden, using a no-reply address can be seen as unprofessional and may impact user perception of your brand. It recommends providing a clear and accessible way for users to contact you.
Documentation from Mailchimp states that while it may seem convenient, using a no-reply address can negatively impact your sender reputation and decrease engagement. It suggests using a monitored email address and encouraging replies for better deliverability and customer relationships.
Documentation from SendGrid says that using a no-reply address is discouraged as it can harm deliverability and sender reputation. ISPs may filter emails from no-reply addresses more aggressively, and it can lead to lower engagement rates.
Documentation from SparkPost notes using no-reply email addresses hurts your email deliverability and sender reputation. They suggest that the lack of interaction signals to ISPs that your emails aren't valuable, leading to potential filtering or spam placement.