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In my system there's an option for a user A to send an email reminder to user B. When choosing this option, user A gets the following form:

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In an ideal solution, the email sent to user B will look like sent from user A, however this is email spoofing, and it's not something I would like to do.

Is there a best practice for an email template / text that will make it clear that was originated from another user and is not an automatic email?

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  • In what sense is this email spoofing? User A is genuinely the author and the sender of the message, so why not identify them as such by putting their name and email address in the From: header? That's what applications like Outlook and Apple Mail do.
    – bdsl
    Aug 14, 2015 at 11:21

2 Answers 2

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LinkedIn messages sent from a person to another person could be a good example for such web app messages.

They are being sent by a person, but the sender appears as "member@linkedin.com". The subject is a regular subject (no "via LinkedIn" or anything)

Here is how some of the relevant fields in the sent email look like:

  • from: UserA via LinkedIn

  • reply-to: UserA@UserAEmailDomain.com

  • mailed-by: bounce.linkedin.com

  • signed-by: linkedin.com`

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  • LinkedIn is a perfect example. The details may be different but the point remains - the user knows from where the email came from.
    – Mayo
    Jan 12, 2015 at 16:18
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Businesses do this all the time, staff is in constant communication.

EXAMPLE: Buyer makes a Purchase Order and sends note to inventory to verify existing inventory (sometimes there is a difference between what's noted in the system and what actually exists).

Make it clear in the subject line and email address that this is happening (as well as in the body of the email. If this is not for an intranet but is more distributed then, of course, the user should have to opt in.

In any case the posts must be clearly shown that it came via a web form.

EDIT (As for example)

Subject: [Via App X] "Subject entered by user"

FROM: [Via App X] userA@someEmailAddress.com

The recipient needs to know (perhaps it's good branding as well) where, and from who, the email came from.

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  • Thanks! It's not intranet, it's a web app. What do you mean by "the use must opt in"? Opt in to what?
    – Tzach
    Jan 12, 2015 at 15:21
  • The user should opt in to receive email via web form. Say you send an email to me. I shouldn't go "who are you and how did you get my email address?" I should go "oh, someone from APP X sent me an email via a form."
    – Mayo
    Jan 12, 2015 at 15:39
  • Got you. In my case the other user is also a user of the app, so no need for additional opt ins.
    – Tzach
    Jan 12, 2015 at 15:40
  • I took your question to mean that I would be receiving an email in my inbox (Outlook, gmail, whatever) and not an email/msg within the app. If the user receives the note in the APP - then no problem.
    – Mayo
    Jan 12, 2015 at 15:42
  • You took it right. The user gets the email in their inbox, but they expect emails from my app because they are registered.
    – Tzach
    Jan 12, 2015 at 15:44

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