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Role Accounts: What are They & When Should you Email Them?

Nov 14, 2019   |   3 min read

Knowledge Center  ❯   Blog

What is a Role Account Email Address?shutterstock_534111937

Role account email addresses are typically associated with functions, not individual people. Some that we run into include:

How Many Role Accounts Are There?

FreshAddress tracks over six hundred role account email handles, which of course could be associated with any email domain. If you are already using a service that helps you identify role accounts, make sure it is broad enough list to cover all common languages. Does your provider block the Russian version of “Admin@”? We do!

No, You Can’t Just Block Them All!

There’s no doubt that role accounts can create problems if managed improperly. That doesn’t mean that you can just block them all, willy-nilly. How your treat them depends on 2 key factors:

  1. The goal of your messaging; and
  2. Your relationship with the subscriber.

It is unlikely that you want to market to a role account. However, you may wish to transact with one. That’s why FreshAddress allows our clients to allow specific role accounts. Here are a few examples:

The Dangers of Marketing to Role Accounts

There are 3 key characteristics of role accounts that make marketing to them extremely dangerous:

  1. They’re usually monitored by a group of people.
  2. They change ownership frequently.
  3. Blacklist operators use them as bait to catch harvesters.

This results in the following negative outcomes:

Poor Engagement:

Let’s say you’re sending marketing emails to an “info@” address. That means people other than the one that signed up for your list are receiving your messaging. This is no good for you because:

Spam Complaint Issues

Nothing good comes from trying to market to people who haven’t opted into your list. So, before you go trying to send a flash sale email to role accounts, think about this:

Spamtraps, Blocking, & Blacklisting.

Email harvesters love to scrape role account addresses from websites. Your ESP knows this and watches your list for a high concentration of these accounts. Send to too many and your reputation will suffer. Also, blacklist operators use role accounts as bait. Send to one of these spamtrap addresses and enter a world of pain.

What should you do about role accounts? Have a plan!

You need to have a strategy in place to deal with role accounts. A skilled email hygiene provider can help you identify the ones that might cause problems. And then you can:

Talk with an Email Expert