James Explains: No No-Reply

Whenever I start thinking about a no-reply from address, in any sort of email message, it gives me severe anxiety. My heart starts pounding and I swear, I can hear the Jaws theme song…Duuun dun duuun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun.

 

So, let me explain: No-Reply from address

Anyone with an inbox has seen this before. In fact, its commonplace. It usually looks something like this: no-reply@thebusinessname.com.

There are several sensible reasons to use a no-reply address when sending commercial messages. Some do it because they do not want to bombard one team member with hundreds of out-of-office replies. Common as this is, the practice is generally disliked by email recipients, myself included.

Why? No-replies feel impersonal and convey a certain arrogance. They also come across as uncaring to customers and limits your engagement with them. After all, you are asking them to take the time to read your messages, and with a no-reply email address, you are blocking any feedback from them

So, what can you do?  Set up a proper from address (click here to learn how) and respond quickly to any inquiries you receive. Good or bad, this is an extension of your customer service. Still, it’s important to use a real email address, if only for the sake of being personable and polite. If there is a better, more reliable way to contact your company, display that information prominently inside your message.

Special thanks to JangoSMTP Account Executive, Erica Melzer, for helping me with this post!

Cheers,

James The Jangolope
Department of Awesome
JangoSMTP

About James

James the Jangolope is our JangoSMTP mascot. Each month, look for our new “James Explains” emails and blog posts on transactional email advice, trends, and quick tips. James will offer insight on how to improve your SMTP plan and how to use your JangoSMTP account to the fullest  

What is a Jangolope? Find out HERE

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Upgrade your emails with vBulletin

The first step to maximizing the effectiveness of popular forum software, like vBulletin, is to enhance them through configuration with JangoSMTP or JangoMail.

vBulletin is a helpful forum software package that facilitates online community discussions related to your business. The system also sends a variety of transactional emails: new registration confirmations, topic reply notifications, PM notifications, and more.

So how can JangoSMTP improve your vBulletin account?
JangoSMTP offers more email reporting features than what you will find in vBulletin's package. JangoSMTP's email delivery and tracking capabilities ensure that your signup confirmation emails will go through the first time and be open and click tracked. It's a common issue with forum software - if a user doesn't receive their confirmation email, they can't use your forum. As a result, users need to contact your forum administrator to activate their accounts manually, which is not ideal, especially if you have a large forum.

Here's how to set it up:
1. Log into your vBulletin Admin CP
2. Go to Settings - Options - Email Options - Edit Settings
3. Scroll down to choose the following settings:

• SMTP Email: Yes
• SMTP Host: relay.jangosmtp.net
• SMTP Port: either 25, 2525, 587 or 465 for SSL/TLS connections
• SMTP Username: use your JangoSMTP username
• SMTP Password: user your JangoSMTP password
• SMTP Secure Connection (can be enabled if port 465 is used)

vBulletin can also be used to send mass email newsletters to your users, to keep them engaged. To do so, go to Users - Send Email to Users within your Admin CP and configure it with a JangoMail account.

As always, if you have any questions or need extra help configuring your vBulletin account with JangoSMTP, contact us at any time.

JangoSMTP: Because Good Barbecue is Too Important to Leave to Chance

In the exciting world of email, there's a little niche that few think about. Remote monitoring emails are something many never think about. For many of JangoSMTP's customers, these emails are vital to their businesses. JangoSMTP is used to send thousands of monitoring emails for security systems, networking devices, and much more.

Many radio stations have broadcast towers in remote locations, while their offices are closer to town. FCC regulations require regular monitoring and logging of output power levels. In the old days of a decade ago an employee, or an expensive radio link would be used to monitor and log at the remote location. Modern equipment, though, allows the radio station to use JangoSMTP's inexpensive relays to replace expensive equipment and salary costs.

Many security cameras offer email monitoring. Using JangoSMTP, your security system can send you a photo anytime it detects movement. You can then view the email, and see the photo from your PC or even your phone, anywhere in the world.

But wait, you don't run a radio station.  You don't have a security system. You do, though, have a beautiful smoker that you use to make delicious barbecue. Personally, I'm imagining that it's Eastern North Carolina pork barbecue, but you may be a brisket fan. You can use JangoSMTP and the CyberQ II to monitor not one, but two barbecue pits at once. It can email you updates while it continues the low, slow, smoky heat that good barbecue requires.

If you're looking for an SMTP server for your remote monitoring tool, try a Free JangoSMTP Trial Account. You can send up to 200 emails per month with the trial. Need more?  Let us know.

We're JangoSMTP.  We don't make your barbecue, but we do help them make it taste better.