Role-based addresses like info@ belong to a function, not a person, and are a poor target for cold email.
Key points
- RFC 2142 standardizes several role mailboxes, including INFO, MARKETING, SALES and SUPPORT for business functions and ABUSE, POSTMASTER and WEBMASTER for operations [1].
- RFC 5321 requires every mail-receiving domain to accept mail for postmaster, the best-known role address [3].
- Mailchimp blocks a list of role prefixes, such as admin@, abuse@ and postmaster@, from bulk imports because they drive bounces and complaints [2].
- Role addresses often act as a Gatekeeper, and messages to them rarely reach the Decision Maker.
- They are generally lower-risk under privacy law when they do not identify a person, since GDPR applies to data about identifiable individuals [4].
- For outreach, prefer a named person, found with an Email Finder and verified with Email Verification, over a role address found on a website.
What role addresses are for
Role addresses give a stable contact point that does not change when staff do. RFC 2142, published in 1997, lists standard mailbox names so that people can reach the right function at any organization: business names such as info, marketing, sales and support, and network operations names such as abuse, noc, security, postmaster, hostmaster and webmaster [1]. RFC 5321 goes further for postmaster, requiring SMTP servers to accept mail addressed to it [3]. In practice companies create many more, such as hello@, team@, billing@ or careers@. They are typically delivered to a shared inbox, a help desk tool or a distribution list, and may be read by different people on different days.
Why they perform poorly in cold email
A Cold Email to info@ or sales@ lands in a queue that exists to handle customer requests, not vendor pitches. Whoever reads it has little reason to forward it and may mark it as spam, raising your Spam Complaint Rate. Because several people see the message, complaints are more likely than with a personal address. Role addresses are also more often abandoned or unmonitored, which contributes to bounces. For these reasons Mailchimp restricts role-based addresses in audience imports, citing their association with bounces and complaints [2]. Personalization suffers too: you cannot write in a way that fits one Buyer Persona when you do not know who will read it.
When to use them and privacy considerations
Role addresses have legitimate uses in outreach. Partnership or press inquiries sometimes belong at a dedicated address, and small companies may only publish hello@ with the founder reading it. If you do write to one, say clearly who you are trying to reach and why, so it can be forwarded. On privacy, GDPR defines personal data as information relating to an identified or identifiable person [4]; a generic sales@ address usually is not, while jane@ usually is, so role addresses can carry lower data protection obligations. The US CAN-SPAM Act applies to all commercial email regardless of address type, so the Opt-Out and identification rules still apply.
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