Major Email Providers’ New Blocking of Your Emails

Paul Russell
PaulRussell.net

Actor emails for seeking auditions, representation, or announcements of career updates are newly being blocked by email Big Boys like Yahoo. Gmail will soon follow. Actor emails, with multiple recipients, don’t survive the electronic journey to intended recipients. The emails don’t even go to spam obscurity. Important actor digital marketing is being completely blocked, i.e. bounced.

My office, which contacts 20,000 actors with casting & actor career improvement updates, was contacted by our email management provider iContact; informing of Yahoo’s unannounced changes taken to block mass email announcements:

“…if you’re sending email through an Email Service Provider, like iContact, and your From Address is [example]@yahoo.com, Yahoo is going to reject your email by processing it as a bounce.

…If you’re currently using a yahoo.com From Address, even on just one campaign, you should discontinue it immediately.”

And bounce the emails have.

Prior to iContact’s advisory, a recent announcement by Paul Russell Casting to actors bounced more than Dolly Parton’s baubles:

Upon seeing the tracking results I immediately switched from our public Yahoo address to our public Gmail address. But that work-around will fail for anyone with a Gmail account as iContact explains:

“…there is no tangible benefit to using a free From Address [such as Yahoo, Gmail, AOL and alike]. Yahoo makes up 33% of the webmail market. Now that a Big Boy has made the first move, other webmail clients — Gmail, Comcast, Outlook, etc. — might not be far behind.

The best practice for your mass email marketing is to use the domain that you control, preferably the same one tied to your website.”

Yahoo is making this change because the provider wants to prevent phishing attacks on their users. It won’t be long before Gmail, and other email titans follow Yahoo’s lead.

Related Articles:

Top 10 Email Mistakes Actors Make

Best Solution on How to Send an Actor Headshot & Resume via Email

Paul Russell’s 5-STAR, Best-Selling Book for Actors on How to Achieve Success & Avoid Mistakes

Share this:

Paul Russell’s career as a casting director, director, acting teacher and former actor has spanned nearly thirty years. He has worked on projects for major film studios, television networks, and Broadway. Paul has taught the business of acting and audition technique at NYU and has spoken at universities including Yale, Temple and the University of the Arts. He is the author of ACTING: Make It Your Business – How to Avoid Mistakes and Achieve Success as a Working Actor. For more information, please visit www.PaulRussell.net.

Casting Directors, Talent Agents, Directors & Actors

Love the Best-Selling Book for Actors
ACTING: Make It Your Business!

“Humorous and witty…

Actors everywhere who are trying to succeed in the business, young or old, on stage or on camera, anywhere in the world, take note:

This is your roadmap!”

— BERNARD TELSEY, casting director – CSA
(NBC’s Peter Pan – LIVE!, Into The Woods – The Movie, Wicked, Sex & The City)

“All the right questions asked and answered…
and with a generous portion of good humor.”

— SUZANNE RYAN, casting director, CSA
(Law & Order, Unforgettable)

 

“I love this book!

Paul’s book tells you what you don’t want to hear but really need to know

EVERY actor should read this book!”

— DIANE RILEY, Senior Legit Talent Agent
Harden-Curtis & Associates

 

“Paul’s book made me proud to be a part of this community we call ‘show!'”

— KAREN ZIEMBA, TONY & Drama Desk Award Winning Actress

 

“Paul Russell’s words are not only blunt & accurate they zero in on all the questions every actor wants to know but is afraid to ask!”

— KEN MELAMED, Talent Agency Partner
Bret Adams, Ltd.

 

“I had my Business of Acting, BFA Seniors, class do book reports on a variety of “business of acting” books and ACTING: Make It Your Business came out a clear winner—considered to be essential for their bookshelves!

— Dr. NINA LeNOIR,
Dept. Chair – Dept. of Thtr.
Chapman University

 

Get smarter on the business of acting from legendary Hollywood & Broadway actors and talent agents in a casting director Paul Russell’s Best-Selling Book ACTING: Make It Your Business!