

Ask HN: Do you use no-reply[at]startup.com? - ookware

What are people's thoughts on the use of no-reply email addresses to communicate with customers and have you conducted any testing on this?
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timjahn
We just bounced this idea around a bit while launching the beta of matchist
(<http://matchist.com>).

The way I see it, every email is an opportunity for feedback and I like to
make it as easy as possible for customers to give us feedback. So we've
started sending all our emails from founders at matchist dot com, so if they
reply, they'll actually reach us.

I also think the "no-reply" thing is very impersonal. I personally HATE when I
read emails that say "DON'T REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. IT GOES TO AN UNMONITORED BOX
AND HONESTLY, WE REALLY DON'T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY NOR DO WE WANT TO HEAR
YOUR WHINING."

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deveshz
Never. We need to communicate. As 37 Signals say, your startup is known by the
amount of responses it give to people. Engage your customers, where they are
and in what way or by which medium or mail they want to reach.

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ljf
I've not done any testing, but I HATE them personally. I think it was Twilo
that I spotted recently had a really nice 'from' email address, I think it was
direct to an engineer or similar. Made me feel like I could reach out when/if
I had questions.

I really don't see any reason to ever use a 'no-reply', and not a monitored
email address.

~~~
ookware
This was my thoughts. As a customer it feels like you don't care about me and
just want to, usually, advertise your new services to me.

Even if the email reply went to a "call centre" of some description I think it
would present a better image than "we don't care about what you think, just
give us money".

~~~
ljf
Indeed - the most confusing for me are those that have a 'no reply' but then
contain email addresses in the body of the email - yahoo do that for their
groups.

There was a good article on no-replies on HN a while back, but I can't seem to
find it.

~~~
citruspi
I think I found it - <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4558433>

~~~
ookware
Excellent, thanks!

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citruspi
I haven't conducted any testing, but I've read several articles which said not
to use noreply. In addition, as a customer, when I receive an email from a
'non noreply', I feel better and I feel that they're there to help. Look at:

\- <http://customer.io/blog/dont-use-noreply-on-emails.html>

\- <http://blog.cakemail.com/why-you-should-never-use-a-noreply/>

I think this is the link ljf was looking for:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4558433>

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stephengillie
Let's look at it from the other angle: Why/when would you _not_ use a no-
reply@example.com? When you want to receive communications from a customer?
What about other examples?

