Warning/Update: If you are breaking this new rule, your emails to your customers are landing in their spam folders (or not being delivered at all), due to the adoption of a new technical specification by some email operators like Yahoo! that is going into place immediately. This effects anyone using an email service (ResponsiBid, Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, etc.)
The brand new problem: If you are using an email for your automated emailing that is from your Internet Service Provider (i.e. an email that ends in cox.net, cable one.com, att.com, comcast.net, verizon.net, etc…) OR a free email service (i.e. yahoo.com, gmail.com, hotmail.com, outlook.com, etc…) your automated emails will start going directly to spam folders or in some cases not delivered at all. For example, if your emails through ResponsiBid or Mail Chimp are sent from “5starwindowcare@yahoo.com” they WILL not end up being delivered.
The solution: Always send your automated emails from a domain that you own. (For example “curt@mycompany.com” rather than “mycompany@gmail.com”) If you own a domain, make sure to setup your email accounts and start using them. Not only is that an email best practice, but now you will actively be punished if you don’t in your e-blasts or automated email followups.
This is going into effect starting now, so PLEASE… for the love of milkshakes… make sure to make these changes as soon as you can.