HN Explorer

Ask HN: Do Not Reply to This Email Why Not?

1 points by nwenzel ↗ HN
I think this question worth asking on HN because... it has been bugging me for awhile (so probably others too), there are people on HN who like to ask "why not" pretty regularly, and the answers may be helpful to founders/sales/customer support folks.

Why do companies send emails from "do not reply" email addresses?

At my company, we send onboarding emails, confirmation emails, notification emails, and more from our help email address and we tell people to reply to the email if they have a question.

What are valid reasons for sending an email from an email address that won't/can't receive replies? What am I missing?

2 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 14.4 ms ] thread
orian
idea: antispam protection may treat it as spammy address/url
gradschool
From what I've read in related discussions on HN, current thinking seems to be that customer feedback can be managed more efficiently by directing customers to a web form that answers frequent questions and requires customers to classify their remaining inquiries for the appropriate department by checking boxes. It's like getting customers to do some of your work for you. Since people are being increasingly socialized to accept that kind of treatment, you might as well use it to your advantage.