Is Your ISP Helping Or Hurting Your Website Business?
Skip | 23 February, 2005 13:29
I received a very welcome email from the Internet Service Provider that
provides my home office with high-speed Internet access. Most of the
email was welcome. But....
While I'm building a series or themed websites to expand my online business, one aspect of what my ISP, who happens to be Cox Communications, is doing is VERY alarming.
Here's the relevant portion of the email they sent me:
----------
Cox High Speed Internet Email Includes…
Your Cox High Speed Internet service includes 7 usernames (one primary and six secondary usernames). Each username has an associated email address @cox.net. The mailbox holds up to 100 MB of messages; each message can be up to 10 MB in size.
Cox provides our free Spam Blocker for your email so that suspected spam is deleted before you even see it. Free virus scanning filters all incoming and outgoing email at the server for viruses. Contaminated messages are deleted before they reach your inbox or worse, your friends.
-----------
Notice the first sentence of the second paragraph?
That scares the "you know what" out of me.
I didn't ask for them to do that!
In fact, 4 months ago, Cox, like most big ISP's, offered their Spam Blocker as an option for our email accounts. We as users could turn their Spam Blocker on or off; it was our choice. Same with the Virus scanner.
When they sent me that notice 4 months ago, I went right there and turned it on. I had it on for about 4 days, didn't really notice any drop off in the inbound spam, but received 3 calls in one day.
They were angry customer calls.
Cox's Spam Blocker had blocked 3 legitimate emails - and perhaps more that we never learned about.
So I went and turned it off. I left the virus scanner turned on because there is NO virus that I want, no matter who sent it.
As an online business owner, I earn my living from the Internet today. I love what I do and think that my staff and myself do a pretty good job in our chosen areas.
But email is our golden goose. Not only for customer communication, but internal communication and communications with partner websites, supplier websites and the key contacts at our partners and suppliers.
So if I don't receive an email because of Cox, I get pretty upset.
Now today (the date stamp of this post), as you can see, Cox has turned on this Spam Blocker and I can do nothing about it.
And do you know the second major issue I have with ISP's doing this?
As a partner and supplier of dozens of other businesses and their websites, often times THEIR ISP's spam filters block my outgoing email to them.
So if I have an important issue, question, support need or comment, they may never receive MY email sent to them.
This problem exists in a very big way and is costing those of us who run great customer service operations. It costs us because we lose customers who, due to those spam filers and don't receive our email due to their own ISP's spam filters, get angry at us. Usually we replied within an hour!
So if you have customers, prospects, suppliers or partners who don't reply to your email, or vice versa, it very well may affect your online website building business!
The solution?
Take a deep breath whenever you send email if you think the recipient isn't responsive. It may be that they NEVER received your email. Patience, persistence and tolerance will go a long way toward building a winning and profitable website.
Oh, and pick up the phone every now and again!
Skip
While I'm building a series or themed websites to expand my online business, one aspect of what my ISP, who happens to be Cox Communications, is doing is VERY alarming.
Here's the relevant portion of the email they sent me:
----------
Cox High Speed Internet Email Includes…
Your Cox High Speed Internet service includes 7 usernames (one primary and six secondary usernames). Each username has an associated email address @cox.net. The mailbox holds up to 100 MB of messages; each message can be up to 10 MB in size.
Cox provides our free Spam Blocker for your email so that suspected spam is deleted before you even see it. Free virus scanning filters all incoming and outgoing email at the server for viruses. Contaminated messages are deleted before they reach your inbox or worse, your friends.
-----------
Notice the first sentence of the second paragraph?
That scares the "you know what" out of me.
I didn't ask for them to do that!
In fact, 4 months ago, Cox, like most big ISP's, offered their Spam Blocker as an option for our email accounts. We as users could turn their Spam Blocker on or off; it was our choice. Same with the Virus scanner.
When they sent me that notice 4 months ago, I went right there and turned it on. I had it on for about 4 days, didn't really notice any drop off in the inbound spam, but received 3 calls in one day.
They were angry customer calls.
Cox's Spam Blocker had blocked 3 legitimate emails - and perhaps more that we never learned about.
So I went and turned it off. I left the virus scanner turned on because there is NO virus that I want, no matter who sent it.
As an online business owner, I earn my living from the Internet today. I love what I do and think that my staff and myself do a pretty good job in our chosen areas.
But email is our golden goose. Not only for customer communication, but internal communication and communications with partner websites, supplier websites and the key contacts at our partners and suppliers.
So if I don't receive an email because of Cox, I get pretty upset.
Now today (the date stamp of this post), as you can see, Cox has turned on this Spam Blocker and I can do nothing about it.
And do you know the second major issue I have with ISP's doing this?
As a partner and supplier of dozens of other businesses and their websites, often times THEIR ISP's spam filters block my outgoing email to them.
So if I have an important issue, question, support need or comment, they may never receive MY email sent to them.
This problem exists in a very big way and is costing those of us who run great customer service operations. It costs us because we lose customers who, due to those spam filers and don't receive our email due to their own ISP's spam filters, get angry at us. Usually we replied within an hour!
So if you have customers, prospects, suppliers or partners who don't reply to your email, or vice versa, it very well may affect your online website building business!
The solution?
Take a deep breath whenever you send email if you think the recipient isn't responsive. It may be that they NEVER received your email. Patience, persistence and tolerance will go a long way toward building a winning and profitable website.
Oh, and pick up the phone every now and again!
Skip
Comments for post
spam
anita | 18/07/2005, 12:43
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Ithink that a company that set up my a friends website, has added spam to it, as msn has sent a message to say that if you do not control the amount of spam from your website ww will need to take further action what can he do?