Why you need to own your Marketing Email Domain…
There are many, many good reasons why you should own your marketing email domain – but I’ve come across another one, and that’s what this blog is all about.
What is a Marketing Email Domain?
Well, really it’s the from address – the bit after the @ sign of the email address that your marketing emails are sent from.
Most email service providers (the software which you send your marketing emails from, could be Adestra, Infusionsoft, Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, etc) will let you customise your sending domain. So instead of your emails coming from:
mybrand@esp.com
your emails will come from:
me@mybrand.com
The second option is the one you want for a whole host of reasons.
Why should I personalise my email sending domain?
Ok, very quickly then:
- branding – you want to look like you!
- to avoid being classed as a spammy phishing email (so that the links in your email go to same domain that your email has been sent by)
- to improve deliverability (that’s a long and complex one – so trust me, it’s worth it!)
What’s the new very important reason I should personalise my email sending domain?
Google+ and Gmail.
If you don’t use Gmail you won’t be familiar with this – if you do, you’ll have seen Google+ recommendations popping up in your inbox for quite some time now. The problem is that Gmail bases those recommendations on the sending domain…
(edited to protect the guilty)
When I opened this email Google suggested I follow DotMailer on Google+ – which surprised me as the email was from someone else!
But it was from someone else who was using dotmailer (an esp) and hadn’t got their own sending domain set up – hence the from address is ______@___.dotmailer.co.uk. Leaving Google to assume that dotmailer sent me the email, leaving Google to do some free promo for dotmailers Google+ account.
Good for dotMailer? – yes
Good for the company whose marketing email this was? – no.
Make sure your have control of your sending domain, to make sure you’re getting all you should be from Gmail and Google+!