Email Sending Best Practices and Troubleshooting

Email Sending Best Practices

Email is a core component of PhoneBurner. 

In addition to emailing your contacts via the contact manager, PhoneBurner can be configured to automatically send specific emails for specific call outcomes, saving you hours of follow-up.

Here are some important things to know when setting up and using email.

Default settings

By default, emails are sent through PhoneBurner’s mail server on your behalf.

You can set the sender name and email address via your Email sending profile. Mail sent via our server will include the following messaging in the footer of the email:

Reasons to use a custom SMTP server

Users are encouraged to send email directly through their email provider’s mail servers. That is, the same server from which your emails are typically sent (i.e. Gmail/GSuite, Office365, Sendgrid, etc.). Anyone can do this, and doing so carries several distinct benefits.

Improved deliverability: Since PhoneBurner sends emails on behalf of thousands of clients, you are likely to enjoy improved deliverability when your email is sent directly from your email provider’s server.

Accurate sending profile: By setting up a custom server, your emails will be sent directly from your email address, rather than “via” ours. That means, in most cases, emails you send from your account will also show up in your email client’s “Sent” folder as if you sent them directly from your mail client.

Footer messaging can be removed: If you choose to enable your own SMTP server, you will be responsible for complying with CAN-SPAM and other applicable laws about how to send marketing emails.

Choosing which email and server to use

You can use any SMTP server that you have access to.

Typical candidates include:

1. Gmail/GSuite, Yahoo or another public email service

2. Your business email address (ie. you@yourdomain.com)

3. A prospecting email address (ie. you@yourdomain.biz)

To determine the best option for you, it is important to consider who you’re emailing, the nature of your business, and the types of email you send.

Other Considerations

Every SMTP server is different and each has its own restrictions.

For example, Gmail/GSuite limits the number of emails you can send to approximately 500 per day. Other servers, like Office365, only allow 1 email to be sent every few seconds, which can cause slowdowns in delivery. SendGrid has different limits based on the account level. These restrictions are out of PhoneBurner’s control. Be sure to choose a solution that is right for your unique needs. 

Also, once you enable your own SMTP server, PhoneBurner can no longer process bounced messages from your contacts. This means that you will continue to send emails to undeliverable (bouncing) email addresses until you manually unsubscribe them.

Watch this video for more help setting up a custom SMTP server:

https://youtu.be/Q-tVq-eIGeU

Troubleshooting: Emails not sending vs Emails going to Spam: 

At times you may feel that emails are not being sent when in reality, the email is being triggered and sent by Phoneburner, but the email is getting trapped either by the outgoing SMTP server, or the contact or leads SPAM filters before even getting to their inbox. 

You can check to see if your emails are being sent from Phoneburner in a few ways. 

1.  Dial sessions: Go to Call History and under recent dial sessions, you will see the number of emails sent for each session.  If under emails it says 0, then you are not sending emails. If there are numbers there, the one-touch emails are being triggered by Phoneburner. 

If there is a number there, then emails are being sent and you can click details to see who they were sent too. If the user is not receiving them, then this may be a SPAM issue and you can check the link below. 

2. Activity tab: The activity tab of your contacts will show activity related to the contact and if it says you sent a one-touch email or that an email, then it was triggered from Phoneburner. 

Some things to check if you see emails are not being sent: 

•  Emails being blocked by 72 hours ( 3 days) restriction: 

Phoneburner has a 3 day ( 72 hour) restriction on emails by default. If you try to send a similar email to a contact/lead less than 3 days apart, the system will block it with the following message at the bottom of your dial session details. 

Notice: some emails for this dial-session were intentionally stopped
Dial Sessions intentionally stops repeat emails from being sent if the last message was sent less than 3 days prior or if the recipient has previously requested no more emails to be sent. When an email is stopped, the reason is provided in the Email column.

• Verify your contact has a valid email address. 

• Make sure the email status is not marked as unsubscribed. 

• Is Automatic email delivery turned on in your dials session settings?

• Make sure your server is allowing connection from PhoneBurner's IP addresses: 

             We will connect to your SMTP server from these two IP addresses: 13.57.114.30 and 52.53.118.44

 How Can I Prevent my emails from being treated as SPAM?