From Address 101
The From Address is the name and email address that will appear in the From line of the email header when your subscribers receive your email. It is important that this email address clearly indicate your company name (the sender) to increase the likelihood of your subscribers opening your email. People are less likely to open emails from senders they don’t recognize.
A From Address will have a format similar to the following:
My Name <myname@mydomain.com>
Note that the two parts of the From Address in the example above that say “My Name” do not need to be the same. You could have the “name” of the publication be the part before the < as in:
My Company’s Weekly Deals <mycompany@mydomain.com>
Often, the part in the < > doesn’t show in the recipient’s inbox From line. You’ll want to be sure that you include your company name in the portion before the < so that your recipient knows who the sender is. In our example above the portion before the < is “My Company’s Weekly Deals” and not just “Weekly Deals” for this reason: “Weekly Deals” does not tell the recipient who the sender of the email is. Alternatively, you could set up the email address as:
My Company <weeklydeals@mydomain.com >
Many companies also set up their From Address as an email only, with no name. This format looks like:
myname@mydomain.com
In this case, they don’t add a name in front of the email address and so they don’t enclose the email address in the <>. When you enter your From Address this way, the actual email address (myname@mydomain.com) is what will appear in the recipient’s From line on the email header.
If your company name changes, you need to carefully handle the name change in the From Address. Subscribers need to be eased into the new company name or your open rates might suffer as they might not recognize the new name as the company whose email they subscribed to. Start with an email sent from the old company name announcing the name change in the subject line. Then for a couple months send mail displaying a From Address with both company names, until eventually you eliminate the old company name. If you need to change the actual email address and domain that’s sending the email, again, move slowly; try and get your subscribers to add the new domain to their address book and be prepared for a dip in open rates. Depending on the subcribers’ settings, the messages from the new email address could go to junk mail until the subscriber notices and adjusts their settings.
Whatever method you choose for your From Address, it is recommended that you authenticate your From Address domain name with Domain Keys and SPF. Having these records will help your email deliverability and can also help your domain from being spoofed or forged. If Mustang List hosts your domain, this is set up for you. If Mustang List does not host your domain, then consult with Mustang List or contact your domain service provider for assistance.