a heads up for hotmail emails

[kilty55]

hi all,just thought i would share this if you send your estimates via email

it seems hotmail throws my estimates in the trash!!!!

there were a couple of jobs a while ago i was convinced i was going to get and heard nothing back now i know why!

i did 3 emails last week all to hotmail accounts by pure chance...only just heard back from 1 saying sorry but it had gone into her trash account...so i called the other 2 customers to see if same had happened and yes they were both waiting on the prices and thought i hadnt bothered quoting!

 

[user123]

Urrgh, good job you found out at least. H and I have had a similar thing with our subsciption emails lately, but that's not via hotmail, so probably happens across the board?

 

[Stewart]

Not had that problem, but I guess it depends on how they have their account set up and how your email account is set up....

 

[kilty55]

hmm,would it be something at my end thats maybe causing this stewart?

 

[Mike]

It sounds more like their settings. I block certain words like viagra etc lol to stop junk getting through but I always check my junk mail before permanantly deleting in case an important email has gone with the junk

tapatalk on my HTC

 

[Dan]

It could be getting caught in spam folders for one of a few reasons. 1 is if there are too many links in an email it is often marked as spam. So if you're using a signature with links in it and then linking in the email a few times, that sometimes trips the spam filters. If you're sending the estimate/quote as an attachment and it's a .doc file or .xls file or something that can sometimes trip spam filters as they can contain malicious code. What I do to get around that is save the file as a PDF. PDF's can get scanned easier than .doc files, and also can't run malicious code so easily either. So they're more trusted. Unusual wording can often trigger spam filters too. So any quote with half a dozen tile related brand names in them might get caught just due to it thinking you're selling pharmaceuticals or whatever.

What I'd consider doing just to make sure customers are getting quotes is send them by snailmail. I know it's going back to the dark ages but at least you can guarantee that they'll get them and have a hard copy lying around to remind them to get back in touch with you.

You could get your customers to add you to their 'safe' or 'white' list. Though guaranteeing they actually do add you and know how to might be hard, and out of your hands so perhaps not the best solution.

Hotmail just sucks though. If you have gone into a junk folder in several different hotmail accounts, you could find all your emails to hotmail now go into junk folders, as customers are not unmarking them as junk so hotmail thinks 'oh it must be junk then if nobody is unmarking it so we'll keep adding them to junk folders' type thing.

We had an issue with AOL once. A few people out of 20,000 email accounts we emailed had AOL email addresses, and one of them marked the email as junk not knowing it was from the forum and not actually junk, so AOL blocked our domain name, which meant new registrations from people with AOL accounts were not getting the activation emails sent to them so that they could verify their accounts. Took a while to find a work around, and eventually we got white listed and trusted with AOL.

Could you send me an example quote to [email protected]? I might be able to spot why it's being marked as spam. Please don't send any actual customer details to me though. Just mock one up for me and send it over and I'll take a look at it for you.

Also - what email account are you using to send the emails? Is that a hotmail account too?

 

[kilty55]

hi dan thanks for the info,i will send you a mock email now,no its not hotmail i use its a seperate email address

so far it only seems to be hotmail thats the issue...other ones like gmail etc all seemt o be ok

 

[Dan]

Okay mate I'll look out for the email now. I'll just make a quick brew.

 

[kilty55]

thanks dan just sent it

 

[Dan]

Received and replied. That email you sent me should be fine. Do you not add attachments to it or anything like that then?

 

[Stewart]

hmm,would it be something at my end thats maybe causing this stewart?

I was gonna say exactly what Dan said...... lol

 

[kilty55]

hi dan cheers no i dont add any attachments i simply email the estimate

 

[Dan]

Then that's strange. It should go through fine.

I've checked your email headers to make sure nothing is dodgy there. They're fine. My email server has a very good antispam filter and it's checked it for malicious software etc and has all passed if I got the email. So it isn't that either.

It can only mean their spam settings are set very high, or perhaps one customer in the past has marked it as spam by mistake, so hotmail thinks your email address is a spammer, and perhaps until people start unmarking it as spam it'll keep going in their spam folders. I couldn't be 100% on that though. Hotmail don't tell people much about how they work out spam for obvious reasons (spammers would just quickly find a work around).

I would leave a comment at the bottom of all emails (perhaps even set it up as a signature) saying...

"Please acknowledge receipt of this email by replying and letting me know it has been received" - somebody who actually went to school might be able to sort out the grammar in that sentence for you mind. :lol:

Like I said though I'd consider posting them out as well. The time it takes to post half a dozen a week even is well spent if you can guarantee people are getting the quotes.

 

[kilty55]

cheers for the help dan,appreciated

 

[Gall.B]

for the heads up Jamie

I usally follow up with a text or call to make sure its recived tho, hope you get it sorted .

 

[John Benton]

for the heads up Jamie

I usally follow up with a text or call to make sure its recived tho, hope you get it sorted .

If I send a quote by e-mail, the customer always gets a hard copy in the post. By e-mail it is always sent as a PDF so it can't be edited. At the end of every quote I state that I will call to "discuss matters further" or "answer any questions you may have about the quote". That way you are keeping the momentum going with the customer. Once you stop contact it can go cold leaving the opportunity for someone else to fill your shoes.