Why Free Email is Bad

Is your sender address could be hurting open rates?

If you're using a free email service, like Yahoo or Gmail, as the Sender email account -- keep reading. 

By the end of this article, you should understand why using an email address from a free mailbox is bad for your campaigns and how to find an alternative.

Make sure you understand and comply with the anti-spam rules set out by Google and Yahoo.

What's wrong with free email?

Just so we're on the same page, let me first identify the potential problem. When you create a campaign, each message includes a sender's email address.

Free Email and DMARC

DMARC is the main reason why a free email address from providers like Gmail is bad for your tinyEmail account.

Many email box providers use a test by DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) to decide if an incoming email message is legit or spam. That test tries to match the actual source domain of an email message and the stated sending domain (the address in the From field). When the domains do not match, email box providers often, but not always, trigger a spam filter.

tinyEmail campaigns are sent from our domain with your email address in the From field. If you use a free email address, a DMARC test will show a domain mismatch. Some email box providers might see that mismatch as a spam message, which hurts your delivery and open rates. And to be honest, that hurts our business, too, because tinyEmail servers get flagged as spam hosts.

Sending campaigns from a free account

I suppose you could send bulk email from your own free account, but there are drawbacks. There are no data to help you monitor campaign success, and there are send limits.

Take Google Workspace, for instance. The daily send limit is 2000 messages and 3,000 unique recipients per message. After hitting the cap, the campaign stops sending messages, and Google suspends your Gmail account for 24 hours.

• BTW The limits are even tighter for a regular Gmail account: up to 500 messages and 1500 recipients per 24-hour period.

Yahoo no longer publishes its daily send limits. Years ago, it used to be 500 messages per day and a cap of 100 recipients. Sure, things change, but it's hard to imagine the Yahoo limit is higher than the Google limit.

An alternative

I suggest you create a business email address with the domain @tinyemail.org. There are a couple of ways to do that. 

• If you already own a domain, create an alias email account. 
• The easiest solution is to create an email address with a tinyEmail custom domain (available with the Pro plan).

That's it.

If you have any questions, contact our helpful support team.