How to Create a No-Reply Email

No-Reply email addresses have become a big part of the email marketing and product support world over the last couple decades. Before you create a no-reply email address for your business, however, understand both the pros and cons.

No-Reply Email Address Purpose

You may choose to use a no-reply email address for a couple of reasons, for instance, to automatically send email confirmation of purchased products or services. The no-reply part of your email address tells the recipient that the email address is not being actively monitored, and that the recipient should not email the address for support.

You might also use a no-reply email address when sending a newsletter or marketing email to potential or current customers. As with a purchased product/service confirmation email, the no-reply newsletter or marketing email tells the recipient to not reply to the email.

It is important to also include an email address for support in emails sent from the no-reply address to ensure that your recipient has an option for responding or getting help.

No-Reply Email Address Cons

Using a no-reply email address can be problematic. First, no-reply emails are commonly flagged as spam by email providers. That means your recipient may not even see your email.

In addition, a no-reply email address can signal to your customer that you don't want to hear from her and that your feedback is not valuable.

Further, no-reply addresses have been shown to decrease email open rates and increase unsubscribe rates. This can greatly impact the success of your email marketing campaigns.

Many email clients on computers and smartphones display the name and address of the sender in unopened emails, which means your customers may choose to ignore any emails sent from a no-reply address. You miss out on feedback from your customers as a result.

Create Your No-Reply Account

Create a no-reply email account just as you would any other account with your email service provider. Log into your email and click “Add user,” “Add email address, ” "Add Account" or similar. Type "no-reply" into the username field and then "no-reply" into the first or last name fields for this email account. Click “Save.” Use this email address for any marketing or product purchase confirmation emails that you want to send out as no-reply.

Create An Autoresponder

It is recommended to use an autoresponder for your no-reply email address. Most email providers offer a default option to set up an autoresponder for a specific email address. You can request adding this feature to your account if your service provider does not offer it.

Autoresponders work by sending a boilerplate email reply to every email received. This means that if someone does email your no-reply address, you can automatically send out a response that says something to the effect of “this email address is not monitored, but you can send email to another address for support.”

Autoresponders are typically not very expensive to add to your account, although this will depend entirely on email client. Hosts that use a cPanel backend almost always include the autoresponder feature for free.