I can't even begin to tell you the number of undeliverable or blocked email messages I receive daily where someone has requested information about this or that and my information could not get to them. It's highly aggravating to say the least.
Due to the number of emails I receive I can't possibly answer them all myself, or individually anyway. That is why I use auto-responder systems. They make life so much easier!
In case you don't know what an auto-responder is, it is a software system which will send out replies to incoming email responses people submit. They work similar to the vacation response settings on Gmail and other email clients as well. You write a message which tells people what you want them to know when you are away. When your email system gets a delivery it will automatically reply to the sender with the pre-written message.
Spam, which is unsolicited email, became and still is so much of a problem that major vendors of email accounts added spam blockers to their customers accounts. A lot of people are not even aware of how to change the settings, use a whitelist, and don't think to save important addresses they might have requested information from. Important incoming email may get sent directly to their spam box. If it is not checked most free accounts will automatically delete trash and spam boxes after a certain period.
What happens when all of this takes place? To someone who makes a living on the Internet, we lose potential prospects, potential sales, clients, members etc. The biggest issue is that our business is invalidated. When someone wants information and they don't receive it, whether because of spam blockers or not, our businesses don't just lose customers and sales, we lose a bit of respect. We were depended on and we failed. At least that's the way it's perceived. The lost business moves on to another source.
Most name brand free email accounts today (I won't mention any names) come already setup with the spam blocker on. Personally I think this is an injustice to the honest Internet marketers, those of us who do not spam to earn a living.
I own an online gift shop,among other things. Most of my business is seasonal and each fall I lose sales when we have our big Fall Blowout sale if customers don't include our stores email address in their whitelist or address book. Even though they have signed up to have our sales fliers sent to them, they will probably not see them if they receive a torrent of spam. The fliers will end up mixed in with the spam and be deleted because they are too overwhelming to go through. So the entire lot gets deleted.
All of this can be remedied by just adding the email address of businesses you have or may request information from to your address book or your email clients whitelist.
If you have a business be sure to include a short message at the bottom of your advertisements letting your customers know to add your address to their address book or whitelist. That doesn't guarantee anything, but it sure will help.
