I tried Pepipost and it's the worst!

[Gerard Michel Vollet]

I was looking at using a new mail server to send my newsletter and try to improve my delivery.

I was tempted by Pepipost because their basic package is only $15, their interface looks good and it is easy to set up, and also you get 30,000 free emails, limited to 1,000 per day as free trial.

I am very disappointed by several things and I would recommend against using them.

After sending 4,000 emails, in 4 days, and sending via Mailwizz set at 200 emails per hour, which is reasonably slow, I got an email from them saying my account is suspended for spamming.

I contacted them sending for the second time a sample of my newsletter, plus answers to other questions and they maintain their suspension.

I have three opt-in lists that I all cleaned with a verification service prior using them thinking that I would eliminate all hard bounces, which was exactly what it did.

This is a screenshot where I was suspended.



As you can see the bounce rate is very minimal and they are all soft bounces, 0 unsubscribes or complaints.

What they said is that my open rate is too low!

That's exactly why I want to use their service, to improve my results, but they said I should have a 10% + open rate to use their services, which if I had that, I would not need their services.

Their support is terrible, they open a ticket that you can't open or register to and they direct you to pages that are 404 error pages.

I took the time to write my experience with Pepipost here for you so you don't waste your time with them.

After having used Mandrill, Amazon and then them, they are the worst.

 

[frm.mwz]

I was looking at using a new mail server to send my newsletter and try to improve my delivery.

I was tempted by Pepipost because their basic package is only $15, their interface looks good and it is easy to set up, and also you get 30,000 free emails, limited to 1,000 per day as free trial.

I am very disappointed by several things and I would recommend against using them.

After sending 4,000 emails, in 4 days, and sending via Mailwizz set at 200 emails per hour, which is reasonably slow, I got an email from them saying my account is suspended for spamming.

I contacted them sending for the second time a sample of my newsletter, plus answers to other questions and they maintain their suspension.

I have three opt-in lists that I all cleaned with a verification service prior using them thinking that I would eliminate all hard bounces, which was exactly what it did.

This is a screenshot where I was suspended.



As you can see the bounce rate is very minimal and they are all soft bounces, 0 unsubscribes or complaints.

What they said is that my open rate is too low!

That's exactly why I want to use their service, to improve my results, but they said I should have a 10% + open rate to use their services, which if I had that, I would not need their services.

Their support is terrible, they open a ticket that you can't open or register to and they direct you to pages that are 404 error pages.

I took the time to write my experience with Pepipost here for you so you don't waste your time with them.

After having used Mandrill, Amazon and then them, they are the worst.

Thanks a lot for that review, very good to know.
So far they looked good for giving free emails for engaged subscribers (open/click), but they seem to be very picky...

 

[redwicked]

your click rate is also zero

Most esps can deliver mail. It's up to you to get your list to engage with you (which increases open/click rate and makes esps like you more)

PS.
what were your open/click rates on Mandril and Amazon? Are you still using them?

 

[Gerard Michel Vollet]

your click rate is also zero

Most esps can deliver mail. It's up to you to get your list to engage with you (which increases open/click rate and makes esps like you more)

PS.
what were your open/click rates on Mandril and Amazon? Are you still using them?

How can I have engaged subscribers when the emails are not delivered in inbox?

I used to have 10% plus open rate,but now it's down to 5%.
Very difficult to get more than that with ecommerce. If someone does have more than that selling digital products, let me know.

 

[Ray Li]

I can concur. Pepipost was a huge waste of time and very disappointing for the following two reasons.
1. Limit of 1000 emails per day.
Pepipost advertises 30,000 free emails per month but in very small text they reveal that the 30,000 must be broken up into 1,000 emails a day. This means if you have a email list with over 1,000 emails, you can't send to all your recipients! I was hoodwinked by this limit and couldn't figure out why my emails weren't being delivered. Suspiciously, Pepipost marks emails over the 1,000 limit as delivered in Mailwizz while not actually delivering the emails!
2. Account Suspended by Pepipost After Sending 1 Campaign
I sent 1 campaign to 3,000 recipients. Pepipost only delivered 1,000 emails and then suspended my account. I invested 4 hours into setting up Mailwizz with Pepipost which turned out to be a complete waste of time.

 

[frm.mwz]

How can I have engaged subscribers when the emails are not delivered in inbox?

I used to have 10% plus open rate,but now it's down to 5%.
Very difficult to get more than that with ecommerce. If someone does have more than that selling digital products, let me know.

I can concur. Pepipost was a huge waste of time and very disappointing for the following two reasons.
1. Limit of 1000 emails per day.
Pepipost advertises 30,000 free emails per month but in very small text they reveal that the 30,000 must be broken up into 1,000 emails a day. This means if you have a email list with over 1,000 emails, you can't send to all your recipients! I was hoodwinked by this limit and couldn't figure out why my emails weren't being delivered. Suspiciously, Pepipost marks emails over the 1,000 limit as delivered in Mailwizz while not actually delivering the emails!
2. Account Suspended by Pepipost After Sending 1 Campaign
I sent 1 campaign to 3,000 recipients. Pepipost only delivered 1,000 emails and then suspended my account. I invested 4 hours into setting up Mailwizz with Pepipost which turned out to be a complete waste of time.

PepiPost works very well for those who have
# properly built lists (with really keen subscribers who expect and request the emails, hence double optin is no problem)
# with proper hygiene (low bounce rate due to regular bounce processing and regular sending, at least once a month, but not crazy 5x/day)
And then you get the engaged emails for free

It works the exact opposite, ie bad, like above examples show, if you have
# improperly built lists (e.g. scraped) or
# bad list hygiene (looong time no email or no bounce processing)
# and sometimes if some error happens and it looks like the above...

So for those who do it well, it is delivering super and has the best price.
(And I did not get paid for this.)

 

[Ray Li]

All my emails were double opt in and verified so nothing bad was happening. They say they suspended my account because their service wasn't supposed to be used for marketing emails and only transactional emails. In that case, not very useful!

 

[Ray Li]

I would say that if you have Pepipost working and it's working for you, great! Just wanted to share my experiences with them.
For some reason, their open tracking didn't work so the whole refund opened emails selling point didn't hold much water.

 

[Gerard Michel Vollet]

Thank you Ray for confirming what I think of Pepipost. If they only want transactional emails they just have to say it clearly. I also had a long chat with someone on their site explaining what my list was prior using the service and it was alright according to them. If they can't improve my results they are useless.

My list is in perfect order, I have the smallest bounce rate ever and I think I have the standard engagement rate for my industry, I think it has become impossible now to do email marketing with the so many loops you have to jump over to have your email go in inbox when you are not a spammer.

I see it's not only about me as a marketer, but as a subscriber as lots of the newsletters I'm subscribed to go in the Spam folder. Engagement is not everything, I don't open all newsletters as they come in as well, that does not mean I don't want to receive them anymore.

 

[frm.mwz]

All my emails were double opt in and verified so nothing bad was happening. They say they suspended my account because their service wasn't supposed to be used for marketing emails and only transactional emails. In that case, not very useful!

Interesting. I cannot find their definition of marketing or transactional, where is that?
But I found their email policy: https://pepipost.com/legal-security/#emailpolicy
I guess if you do affiliate marketing, you need to put up your own site for the promoted product, then it works on many services with similar rules.

For some reason, their open tracking didn't work

Odd, why? Did you ask them to fix it?

If they only want transactional emails they just have to say it clearly.

I also cannot find that anywhere clearly in their ToS. Only the last line of their email policy has some limits that are however also in similar services' ToS and there are ways to overcome those.

My list is in perfect order, I have the smallest bounce rate ever and I think I have the standard engagement rate for my industry

Agreed, really looks good. They should tell exactly why they suspend in fullest detail. It really seems odd.

it has become impossible now to do email marketing with the so many loops you have to jump over to have your email go in inbox

It is definitely harder than ever, and some ISPs fail to provide proper tech, like recent outlook blocks/filter failures show, which made many compliant senders suffer without reason.

as a subscriber as lots of the newsletters I'm subscribed to go in the Spam folder

Yes, same here. I then investigate, and oft find some tech flaw in it, e.g. authentication failures, but not always. So spam filters are far from perfect. And ISPs do not include some simple features, like quick and easy whitelisting, which should be one click. Until recently, there was only 'report spam' in gmail, but not 'report not spam'. And setting up a filter for each list, or constantly amending existing filters is just to cumbersome. Instead, ISP do cosmetic changes...

Engagement is not everything, I don't open all newsletters as they come in as well, that does not mean I don't want to receive them anymore.

Agreed

So, what can we do to improve the state of the art?

 

[Gerard Michel Vollet]

Interesting. I cannot find their definition of marketing or transactional, where is that?
But I found their email policy: https://pepipost.com/legal-security/#emailpolicy
I guess if you do affiliate marketing, you need to put up your own site for the promoted product, then it works on many services with similar rules.


Odd, why? Did you ask them to fix it?


I also cannot find that anywhere clearly in their ToS. Only the last line of their email policy has some limits that are however also in similar services' ToS and there are ways to overcome those.


Agreed, really looks good. They should tell exactly why they suspend in fullest detail. It really seems odd.


It is definitely harder than ever, and some ISPs fail to provide proper tech, like recent outlook blocks/filter failures show, which made many compliant senders suffer without reason.


Yes, same here. I then investigate, and oft find some tech flaw in it, e.g. authentication failures, but not always. So spam filters are far from perfect. And ISPs do not include some simple features, like quick and easy whitelisting, which should be one click. Until recently, there was only 'report spam' in gmail, but not 'report not spam'. And setting up a filter for each list, or constantly amending existing filters is just to cumbersome. Instead, ISP do cosmetic changes...


Agreed

So, what can we do to improve the state of the art?

Thank you for keeping the conversation going.

I don't do affiliate marketing. We sell our own children clothing.100% eCommerce.

I told them that their policy page was broken, so they might have fixed it.

What I was the most frustrated with is that I talked with someone on the chat prior to sending, sent all info they wanted and after that they just qualify you as a spammer and that's it.

I think I might get more issues than others because my newsletter is in Thai and for some "not English = Spam."

I am trying another service now and it's going better, will give feed back later.

The problem with email marketing and as a user is that email providers like Gmail, which is the worst I think, want to decide what is Spam and what is not. We should be able to decide what goes in the Spam, not them. And it's not because someone else thinks it's Spam that it is for me.

How annoying it is to have a notice like: "This message was not sent to Spam because of a filter you set." If as a user, I whitelisted a sender, why mentioning it again? That I should just listen and consider it as Spam too?

I am afraid that there is nothing we can do to improve this situation.
Imagine the postman trashing some of your mail! "Yep, the post office said it was Spam!"

 

[frm.mwz]

What I was the most frustrated with is that I talked with someone on the chat prior to sending, sent all info they wanted and after that they just qualify you as a spammer and that's it.

Yeah, that is really unfair and short-sighted of them.
Probably their system is taken more seriously than their own judgement

I think I might get more issues than others because my newsletter is in Thai and for some "not English = Spam."

One way to possibly help it might be to have an English version underneath?

The problem with email marketing and as a user is that email providers like Gmail, which is the worst I think, want to decide what is Spam and what is not. We should be able to decide what goes in the Spam, not them. And it's not because someone else thinks it's Spam that it is for me.

This might stem from tools like spam-assassin, which emerged when there were no user feedback mechanisms yet (Gmail first had 'report spam', but no 'report no spam', as they have now, which helps), and one was hoping for the magical sauce (spamassassin algo) to determine ham/spam. With more providers offering users to voice their judgement into a service/global intelligence, the algos might become less relied upon. However, completely without them it might not work, since there is so much more mail in the inboxes otherwise?!

How annoying it is to have a notice like: "This message was not sent to Spam because of a filter you set." If as a user, I whitelisted a sender, why mentioning it again? That I should just listen and consider it as Spam too?

I guess they try to strike a balance between transparency / disclosure / alert / warning / options / etc. Maybe they should have an option 'do not show this again' and 'do not show this again for this whitelisted sender'...which makes you wonder how large the user preference database will be

I am afraid that there is nothing we can do to improve this situation."

Over time the user voice will be heard, just as people do not want AI to take over.

Imagine the postman trashing some of your mail! "Yep, the post office said it was Spam!"

That would be terrible, but fortunatly, with email we have the spam box next to the inbox

 

[Ray Li]

Thank you for keeping the conversation going.
What I was the most frustrated with is that I talked with someone on the chat prior to sending, sent all info they wanted and after that they just qualify you as a spammer and that's it.

This was what frustrated me the most. So I send marketing and transactional emails. So Pepipost doesn't want to deliver marketing emails? Then let me use your service to send transactional emails. But when I contacted them, I was told I was a spammer and "we don't want to deal with people like you". The fact that they seem to be filtering for "big fish" clients through their dismissive attitudes was very offensive.

 

[twisted1919]

I know someone from pepipost staff and i have asked him to take a look over this thread, maybe there's something they can learn from here and make their service better.

 

[Gerard Michel Vollet]

I know someone from pepipost staff and i have asked him to take a look over this thread, maybe there's something they can learn from here and make their service better.

Thank you very much for this.
I did receive an email from them.

I don't know yet if I will give it another try as I have removed the DNS setting and everything.
I am a bit hesitant going through the automatic suspensions again, which obviously are too sensitive.
I will see after the new year.

 

[frm.mwz]

Thank you very much for this.
I did receive an email from them.
View attachment 6684
I don't know yet if I will give it another try as I have removed the DNS setting and everything.
I am a bit hesitant going through the automatic suspensions again, which obviously are too sensitive.
I will see after the new year.

Thanks for posting this. Seems like they want to be good