Advice Needed: Dealing With Artists With Overzelious Email SPAM Filters

[sawblade5.livejournal.com]

I am having an issue with a most recent new body suit commission due to an artists do to my emails apparently getting lost in their email providers SPAM filters. (Email services like AOL.com, Mac.com, Yahoo.com, ETC) This is not the first time it has happened to me. I have suspected SPAM Filters from other commissions I did. Such as another Fursuit Commission from an Artist that had Yahoo.com as I seem to had emails lost or most likely ignored in their SPAM filter and that commission ended in very unsatisfactory results. I have heard Yahoo.com has issues with email throttling on top of their overzealous SPAM filters. I don't know what is going on with mac.com on this issue but it seems to be weird.

I currently use Gmail for my primary email account due to the problem with my incoming mail getting lost or throttled by my previous email provider AOL.com and so far I have not lost any email and I do check my SPAM folder regularly.

So I have a few questions about this:

How do I deal with or get into contact with an Artist with an Overzealous SPAM Filter?

Who is responsible for getting the SPAM filter issue resolved? If it's me the commissioner how do I resolve the issue with their email provider?

What do I need to do to keep my emails from getting lost in one of these overzealous SPAM filters?

Note to Artists on here please check your SPAM filters. You may be missing out on Commissions on it and may end up here if there's a problem with someones commission. This may cause you to have a unneeded AB Post about you here.

Your guys help will be appreciated.

Comments

[copper-season.livejournal.com]

As far as I know if your e-mail ends up in SPAM, the person on the receiving end needs to either add your e-mail to their accepted e-mails list (or address book) or they need to adjust the settings for their SPAM filter.

If you have a way to contact the artist another way (PM or a note?) you could let them know that you sent them an e-mail and to make sure they add your e-mail or check their SPAM folder. That's the only thing I can think of.

[taasla.livejournal.com]

It's up to the artist to resolve the issue. My Gmail really hates hotmail and msn accounts for some reason, so I regularly check my spam to ensure nothing gets bounced there.

If someone doesn't answer you after a few days, I'd pop a note on FA. At least that's what I ask clients to do if they don't get a response from me. I take pride in being quick to respond to emails/ notes/ etc.

[aerospiritual.livejournal.com]

As Copper pointed out, if the artist in question adds your e-mail to their contact list, it'll stop your messages from bouncing into their junk mail or not being received all together[i.e. Gmail's strange dislike for Hotmail/MSN accounts].

If they're on any site like FA, dA, or LJ, you should also try using the private messaging systems either as a means to inform the artist about their spam filters preventing your messages from going through or to continue to the business transaction.

Another avenue you can try, though this should really be a last minute resort, is via instant messenger. Due to the generally informal nature of the dialogue and the client as a whole, it's not really recommended, but if you don't have any other options, it's always worthwhile to try. Just be sure to save your conversations.

[trentxandrew.livejournal.com]

It's something that can be easily solved on the Artist's end with a filter. You can set a filter so every e-mail that contains the word "Commission" or something in the subject line will go straight to the inbox. I use one for Livejournal e-mails and so far its been very reliable.

[casteddreams.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to say that I too have been having the same issue! I've had to warn some artists by other means that my emails might end up in their spam, and that they should check to be sure.

[trunchbull.livejournal.com]

When i add people to my contacts, it still manages to end up in the spam box sometimes. This is not always the permanent solution. It only occurs in Yahoo as far as i can see

[radiocatastrophe (from livejournal.com)]

Changing spam filter options as well as singling out emails with keywords is a good way to bypass this. A nice warning to artists who don't own their own website with some emails at hand or anyone who doesn't use the same email provider as you. ^^

[varethane.livejournal.com]

This comment may not apply at all to your specific situation (I don't know the artist, nor do I know your email), but I just figured I'd throw it out there.

Depending on the artist (whether they use the email for anything business-related or are with a company or studio, for instance, or if they're in any situation where they have to deal with lots and lots of emails per day), they may not have that much control over their spam folder, nor inclination to check it.

If the artist isn't on any social media sites you could reach them through and email is the only way, one thing that could help an email get through is to check the message for anything that might trigger a spam filter; both things within the subject body of the email (there are some list of common trigger words online, for instance there's one here (http://www.bloomtools.com/articles/Spam-trigger-words-to-avoid.html); not all of them are obvious), and also your email address itself. Some spam filters are designed to automatically block emails where the sender's listed name doesn't match the email name itself (ie the name is 'Joan Smith' and the email is 'hotdoggity321@hotmail.com').

Like I said, not all of this may apply and some of it could be common sense, but it's come up for me in the past so I figured I'd put this out there.