Customize "Event Registration Confirmation" email to avoid spam classification

tplumb

Hello,

Currently the "Event Registration Confirmation" email that is sent after a client registers is short and "spammy" with it's language. e.g. "Excited yet?"

This has had clients saying they can't mark favorites, because right after one registers on an event, they can click the gallery thumb, instead of the personalized link in email. And if they never see that email, it looks like it didn't work.

Testing it, gmail/Corporate Outlook/yahoo all send the email to spam/junk. Making the feature moot.

Is there a way to customize this email's text anywhere in the control panel?

This is important. I don't want my "from" email starting to be associated with spamminess either.

"Excited yet?"

Bea

Hi,

You cannot customize the email's text, it's a standard, automatic email we send out. Unfortunately there is not much we can do about the email ending up in the spam folder either, as it depends on the recipient's email settings. Spam emails depend on every individual's email provider settings, some users have very strict filters set up, which results in "not spam emails" ending up in the spam folder as well. Although, some providers offer you to whitelist certain senders e.g. in gmail, if an email is marked as spam, you can unmark it and any subsequent emails from that address will not go into spam.

Perhaps you could send out an email separately with general instructions to your clients on how to register to an event, how to mark favorites and how to "whitelist" a spam. It would be also great if you could add your request of changing the email's text or the subject of the email to our feedback forum - we monitor all the feature requests there: http://feedback.smugmug.com/

I hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.

tplumb

My apologies, but considering Baldy et al's explanation months ago that Smugmug's business subscriptions increased price dramatically to ensure great usability for professional users (which has resulted in no real improvements or changes yet still), blaming spam filter's is a pointless BS.

Why then is the automatic email using spammy phrases like "Excited yet?", why isn't the registrant automatically sent to the registered link instead?

Have you tried registering any event yourself to see the issue? Smugmug boasted to event photographers about this feature, yet suggesting something like emailing clients instuctions... that is silly isn't it? Say you photograph an event with 500 attendees, you're really going to go around to 500 people and ask for an email and then spam all of them asking them to whitelist? Does Baldy/Andy do that process themselves?

Sorry about being direct. Because blaming spam filters which are downstream of a bad process is just that... blaming others instead of solving issues.

If business accounts are now charged double with the promise of "better", where's "better"?

vakvarju wrote: »

Hi,

You cannot customize the email's text, it's a standard, automatic email we send out. Unfortunately there is not much we can do about the email ending up in the spam folder either, as it depends on the recipient's email settings. Spam emails depend on every individual's email provider settings, some users have very strict filters set up, which results in "not spam emails" ending up in the spam folder as well. Although, some providers offer you to whitelist certain senders e.g. in gmail, if an email is marked as spam, you can unmark it and any subsequent emails from that address will not go into spam.

Perhaps you could send out an email separately with general instructions to your clients on how to register to an event, how to mark favorites and how to "whitelist" a spam. It would be also great if you could add your request of changing the email's text or the subject of the email to our feedback forum - we monitor all the feature requests there: http://feedback.smugmug.com/

I hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.

mbonocore

Tplumb,

We are in the process of evaluating features in the feedback forum, and I do think this would be a great suggestion. I personally have never had the problem you are describing. All of my wedding and event clients have successfully been able to confirm their registration. Most spam filters are a tricky beast, and no two are alike. I have a Yahoo account that I primarily use for useless registrations, knowing that I will be spammed. That Spam filter has been so accustomed to Spam, that even some emails I send to myself from other email addresses get filtered as Spam. There is no perfect solution for spam filters, but based on your suggestions, we can work on the feature to make it more flexible for our clients.

Michael

Ed LO

Hi guys - I was just wondering what progress on this particular issue has been made? If so, could you give us an update report....?

We know that you are busy with a million things but this question was asked now over a year ago, and there has been a significant roll out and improvement of the whole platform since then...

I am in complete agreement with tplumb about this; as a professional events and wedding photographer working on top-end weddings in London and the UK's Home Counties, I desperately do not want to sound like a chimp/6-year old when emails go out with my name on it... And whilst I love the 'events' feature (although it does have some other issues I'd be perfectly happy to PM anyone about if you are interested), the client facing emails, which are great if I collect email addresses at an event, but useless if someone simply registers through my site and receives the auto email which I can't change, make me sound like that proverbial 6-year old...

As an aside, I also appreciate the tplumb's remarks about spam - I've encountered similar problems with my clients. I also understand that all spam filters are different, but I do think that this whole area needs to be looked at quite a lot more carefully.

One final point/question on this... I'm unable to work out how I can download the emails of those that have registered successfully as a one-er into a cdv/xls doc so that I can then use them for other email marketing - could you enlighten me...? If it's not possible, please tell me why I'm bothering with the entire events function in the first place...? They are essentially agreeing to receive further emails from me... Are they not? If they aren't, can we add a checkbox for this option on the registration form, and add the download feature soonest...?

That's all from me - mbonocore, I look forward to hearing what progress you've made...!! Thanks.

AperturePlus

I would also like to add something to this... the email that is sent out is totally customisable (this might have happened after the OP's initial post?).

There is a function to save the mail that is re-written, but it is only saved for that specific event. As soon as a new event is created, the 'spammy-type' mail returns.

I would prefer to have the saved re-written mail set as my default.

Just my 2c
Thanks
Clive