I can’t count how many times I’ve had to listen to other marketers speak using big words and even bigger concepts, while sitting there shaking my head because it was clear they had no idea what they were saying. They were just repeating the same hyperbole that one might read in a theoretical textbook.

The textbook tells you that you need to funnel your leads through a specific path to keep them moving forward. That the path is linear. That is the way it used to be. That’s not how it should be or is now.

A customer’s journey nowadays is not linear – it’s nonlinear. And we need to adapt to that. We cannot expect to completely control the pathway of a customer, and we need to be ready to respond to the nonlinear hurdles that come our way.

Cutting off two-way communication

By not including a reply-able email address, your taking away the possibility for a potential customer to ask questions. Not everyone you email is going to be ready to click on the only link you’ve provided, which takes them down that linear path.

But then you’ll get some marketers out there saying that if you don’t have a noreply email you’ll get inundated with tons of emails. To which I say, isn’t that the point?

If your business is too busy to engage with customers and only expect them to buy without building any type of repertoire or relationship, you’re missing out on a potentially large portion of long-term revenue.

On a personal level, I’ve probably got at least a dozen examples of where I was interested in moving forward with a purchase, but I didn’t simply because the company that sent me the email didn’t include a way for me to contact them.

The other issue with taking your customers’ ability to converse with you is that they might have more than just sales-related questions. I’ve found on multiple occasions where there were technical issues with the link or download from the generic email I received.

The problem is that, if you were sloppy enough to send out email marketing content without doing a quality check first, you’re not aware that your customers can’t actually do anything with your email, which will have you scratching your head when you look at your data results.

Generic, weak and lazy

Are these words that you would use to describe your company’s customer service?

Probably not.

But that’s exactly what a no-reply email address is. So, why do you use it if you don’t believe it represents your company?

The answer is that you have hired textbook marketing professionals who do not have the ability to think for themselves.

You might not be GDPR compliant

GDPR (Global Data Protection Regulation) is a newer set of European Union laws that state how companies gather data about customers and how they use it.

GDPR states that a customer can, at anytime, request information from your company about the data collected.

Taking away that possibility, you are essentially in breach of GDPR (if it applies to your business, that is). While the law does not specifically state that you cannot use no-reply email addresses, it does mean that you would not be compliant with its policies.

Spammy

A person’s inbox is sacred ground. To be invited in should not be taken lightly, especially since there is more marketing noise than ever, all screaming for the same thing.

Using a no-reply email increases the possibility of your email being identified as spam. And, if you value email marketing as you should, hurting your domain’s spam index should be a major concern.

Leaving a person without the ability to reply to your email also increases the chance that they’ll mark your email as spam. 

Adding to that, email providers and internet service providers have filters that stop spam from getting to your customers’ inbox. What’s the point of doing all that hard work of creating an email marketing campaign and spending hours going over awesome subject lines, if you’re email has no chance of even making it?

Super inconvenient

Not everyone is the diligent person we all say we are. Some people won’t realize that there’s a do not reply to email address and just hit reply. They’ll write their email, and then hit send, only to experience the frustration of the super inconvenient “failed to send”or “cannot deliver”.

A lot of customers will leave it at that, as why should they be the ones who have to make the extra effort to make you money?

Don’t make your leads jump around and figure out ways of making the purchase they want. Do what it takes to make that sale as easy as possible (for the customer), and focus on gaining their loyalty for long-term revenue.