What are common terms for the envelope.from domain in email marketing?
Summary
What email marketers say14Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Customer.io answers shares that Return-Path is used for handling bounces. To set it up you need to configure your DNS to send all Return-Path or bounce events from emails sent to a subdomain that belongs to you.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign explains that the Bounce address and return path domain is where undelivered messages are sent. It is sometimes referred to as the envelope sender.
Email marketer from Litmus explains that the bounce domain is the domain used in the Return-Path and is important for sender reputation and handling bounces.
Email marketer from HubSpot explains that the Return-Path is where bounced email is sent; it's also referred to as the envelope sender, or bounce address.
Email marketer from Mailgun explains that bounce address or return path is the email address where undeliverable messages or bounce notifications are sent. It is crucial for maintaining a clean sending reputation.
Email marketer from Sendgrid explains that Envelope From address, sometimes called the Return-Path, is where bounce messages are sent and is critical for feedback loops.
Email marketer from Email Geeks says that they ask the marketer what term they use and then adopt it while talking to them. Otherwise in writing they usually use Envelope From, but they usually spend a sentence or two defining the different from addresses and the term they will be using.
Email marketer from EmailonAcid explains that the Envelope FROM, is the address to which bounce messages are sent, and is hidden from the recipient.
Email marketer from Email Geeks says that this was so confusing to customers when they were called Return Path as a company and they asked for sender's return-path domain for certain questionnaires. They added this definition to it: _Return-path is a hidden email header that indicates where and how bounced emails will be processed. This header, also referred to as a bounce address or reverse path, is an SMTP address that is separate from your original sending address, and is used specifically for collecting and processing bounced messages._
Email marketer from Stack Overflow explains that Envelope Sender is another term for the Return-Path, which is used for sending bounce messages.
Email marketer from Email Geeks says they call it envelope from or envelope domain. Occasionally they've referred to it as SPF from, but that's more when security folks are brought in and their only exposure to email is from DMARC implementations.
Email marketer from SparkPost explains that the MAIL FROM domain is the domain used in the Return-Path address, crucial for authentication and deliverability.
Email marketer from Email Geeks just calls it the bounce-to domain to avoid any confusion.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that Return-Path is the address to which bounces are sent, whereas the From header is what the user sees in their email client.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Spam Resource explains that the Return-Path is often confused with the From: header. The From: header is what people see in their mail program. The Return-Path specifies where bounces go. Most spammers leave Return-Path blank, or put in an address they don't check.
Expert from Word to the Wise responds that in olden days, it was called the reverse-path, but now is the Return-Path header in the message, set by the receiving server to say where bounces go. For most marketers, the important thing is that it needs to align with the domain you’re using to authenticate with DKIM and SPF. It’s a bad idea to use a generic domain like mktg.example.com, and a better idea to use something like email.example.com or something even more specific, like em1.example.com.
Expert from Email Geeks calls it the bounce domain and clarifies that he sometimes means the return-path or envelope sender.
Expert from Email Geeks started collecting what the various ESPs call the strings: <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18ZTPCw1TNNdwqU-n4MjL-uKQPboW1_FTjZPciEt1TDM/edit#gid=0>
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Mimecast explains that the Reverse Path, also known as the Return-Path, is the address to which bounce messages are sent.
Documentation from RFC 2821 explains that the MAIL FROM command specifies the reverse-path, which identifies an address to which notification of transmission failures should be sent.
Documentation from Valimail explains that the Return-Path, also known as the Envelope From address, reverse path, or bounce address, indicates where bounce messages should be sent.
Documentation from EasyDMARC explains that the Envelope From is used for machine-to-machine communication between mail servers and is where non-delivery reports (NDRs) or bounce messages are sent.