Does changing the "from" name but not the reply email affect deliverability?

Phoebe Lee

We often send emails to our list with a staff person's email in the "from" field. However, we do not change the reply-to email from the generic inbox. Does this affect our deliverability? Will email filters block us because we look like a spoofed email? We haven't seen any major drop in numbers for percentage delivered, but if anyone has any info on this, it is much appreciated.

TJ Spinks

Changing the From name while maintaining a consistant From or Reply-To email address should not affect deliverability adversely. Recipient domains are most concerned with the From or Reply-To email address as it refers to the domain from which the message is sent. In the case of Convio email is sent through the product infrastructure to the recipient domain on behalf od the sending domain. It is for this reason that Sender Verification should be implemented with Sender ID, SPF, and Yahoo! Domain Keys. Sender Verification is used to grant sending authority to the Convio product infrastructure to deliver messages on behalf of you organization's domain.

The prevailing thought in email marketing is to use a consistent From or Reply-To email address for you organization's communications and to encourage constituents to add this address to their address book. This tactic is based in the practice of recipient domains providing preferential treatment to messages from a source the user has chosen to trust. This can get complicated with multiple From names needing to be maintained in the recipient address book.

There are further suggestions regarding the use of variable From names. Variable From names might pose a problem for the recipient. If the name is not immediately recognizable in the Inbox the recipient might mistake it for Spam or over look it. In cases such as this it might become necessary to utilize the Subject line in order to identify the organization using up valuable character space.

The From name is not going to affect the deliverability of the message when using a consistent From or Reply-To email address but it could present difficulty from the user perspective if the variable From names are not immediately recognizable or are too numerous to maintain separate address book entries.