- Impact
- 46,458
Moving away from parking, I'm developing some of my domains. I've setup product specific websites, landing pages and gateway websites all in the same vertical.
As an experiment, I created catch-all email accounts on two under-construction websites.
WHY? We often have to choose less perfect domain names for our business websites. I want to know if I'm going to lose email as well as traffic when I make that compromise.
The first domain is the correct spelling of a misspelled "brandable" website. The domain had not resolved in 10 years and was never parked. The second is a word-blend taken in multiple TLD's and variations including dashes, geo abbreviations, etc.
All email not addressed to me was permanently deleted and the sender was notified to update their contact information.
After several weeks:
Results were better than expected. 99.9% of email received was from vendors. Errant email has stopped entirely from the first domain.
About half the email received was for generic addresses like parts@ and sales@. I received no private information, passwords or customer correspondence.
Initially, I forwarded a few emails to the correct address with a note but that solved nothing. Vendors on the other hand updated quickly, responding with a thank-you. Only one call was required to a vendor that used a "do not reply" address.
A few emails had confidentiality disclaimers with instructions how to deal with email sent to the wrong address. These were fine print 100+ words legalese at the bottom.
My take:
Since we no-longer display email addresses on our websites, customers initiate contact through web-forms, by phone and social media.
Don't use "do not reply", dead-end email addresses.
Instead of a disclaimer at the bottom of my email, I'll include a polite request to be notified if delivered to the wrong person at the bottom of my signature.
As always, don't use email to send private or sensitive information. It's frustrating that in 2018, popular entry level email clients can't send encrypted email.
Email Confidentiality Disclaimers: Annoying but Are They Legally Binding?
https://www.businessattorneyinaustin.com/annoying-email-confidentiality-disclaimers/
As an experiment, I created catch-all email accounts on two under-construction websites.
WHY? We often have to choose less perfect domain names for our business websites. I want to know if I'm going to lose email as well as traffic when I make that compromise.
The first domain is the correct spelling of a misspelled "brandable" website. The domain had not resolved in 10 years and was never parked. The second is a word-blend taken in multiple TLD's and variations including dashes, geo abbreviations, etc.
All email not addressed to me was permanently deleted and the sender was notified to update their contact information.
After several weeks:
Results were better than expected. 99.9% of email received was from vendors. Errant email has stopped entirely from the first domain.
About half the email received was for generic addresses like parts@ and sales@. I received no private information, passwords or customer correspondence.
Initially, I forwarded a few emails to the correct address with a note but that solved nothing. Vendors on the other hand updated quickly, responding with a thank-you. Only one call was required to a vendor that used a "do not reply" address.
A few emails had confidentiality disclaimers with instructions how to deal with email sent to the wrong address. These were fine print 100+ words legalese at the bottom.
My take:
Since we no-longer display email addresses on our websites, customers initiate contact through web-forms, by phone and social media.
Don't use "do not reply", dead-end email addresses.
Instead of a disclaimer at the bottom of my email, I'll include a polite request to be notified if delivered to the wrong person at the bottom of my signature.
As always, don't use email to send private or sensitive information. It's frustrating that in 2018, popular entry level email clients can't send encrypted email.
Email Confidentiality Disclaimers: Annoying but Are They Legally Binding?
https://www.businessattorneyinaustin.com/annoying-email-confidentiality-disclaimers/
Last edited:
