READ THIS BEFORE BUYING SENDFOX!
Sendfox has an "Optimization" feature that can decimate your email list. They will tell you that it helps you (and helps them) by increasing your deliverability, because it STOPS SENDING YOUR EMAILS TO ADDRESSES THAT HAVEN'T OPENED AN EMAIL IN 90 DAYS.
Why is this sub-optimal? Read on...
First of all, 90 days is way too short. Another listserv I used previously, for example, will let you know that after 6 months you might want to send your non-opens a re-engagement campaign. You might not get a high percentage of them back, but even 10% is a lot better than writing them all off, as Sendfox does.
Secondly, I had ONE low-performing email (15%) that was a "re-send to non-opens," which is a feature Sendfox offers! Because of that one email, SF started sending my subsequent emails to only 60% of my lists, AND THIS WAS AFTER I HAD ONLY BEEN WITH THEM FOR 6 WEEKS! How could their algorithm possibly know which addresses were opening zero emails for 90 days when I had only been with them for half that time????
Like I said, crazy.
If you're a hard core email marketer, maybe Sendfox is right for you. But I'm an entertainer, and I have spent 25 years painstakingly building my email list through live performances. I don't want some Sendfox algorithm arbitrarily determining who will receive my newsletters and who won't. That is A.I. at its worst.
In some ways Sendfox is a good product. It's certainly simple. But this one Optimization feature is a killer for me. I'll get my refund and go elsewhere, unless they change it quickly.
David_SendFox
May 9, 2024Hi, Sumo-ling!
There's some misinformation here that I want to clear up.
First, the only reason a user account gets into "Optimization" mode is because of very poor email stats. We put accounts into optimization mode that, on average, are 3-5x worse than industry standards. I want to really emphasize that — we're talking about an account that performs SIGNIFICANTLY lower than just industry averages.
We also publicly talk about our Optimization mode here: https://sendfox.helpscoutdocs.com/article/178-what-does-optimized-mean. It's all public knowledge, and we don't hide anything.
So for an account to go into Optimization mode, there need to be some serious flaws in the emails that account is sending. When we put an account into optimization mode, we do it to protect the integrity of both the sender and our brand.
When a user sends very poor emails, it hurts deliverability on our tool for everyone. At this point, 97% of our users have avoided any type of optimization — so it's an extreme case for people to be optimized.
If you have any further questions about SendFox's deliverability decisions, please email our SendFox support team directly. We're glad to show you more actual data that stops the spread of misinformation.