ContactMonkey is designed for internal communications within your organization. While you can send emails to external recipients for one-off communications (ex-employees, prospective clients, vendors, or users outside your domain), you must ensure you have the appropriate expansion and tracking method selected. We strongly recommend against using ContactMonkey for external marketing or mass external communications.
How to Send to External Recipients
For occasional one-off communications to external recipients:
- Add recipients through CSV import or directly in the Outlook To field
- Ensure you select the correct expansion and tracking method for external sending
Why External Sending Is Limited
ContactMonkey works best within your organization because your IT team can configure settings across your entire email environment. When sending to external recipients, several limitations impact your email performance:
IT Permissions and Configuration
Your IT team cannot configure settings for external email domains. This means:
- Tracking may not work - External email servers may block tracking pixels
- Email designs may break - External recipients may see formatting issues
- Deliverability suffers - Without proper domain permissions, emails may be rejected
- Advanced features fail - Features like Google Group expansions only work within your organization
Compliance and Privacy Risks
External sending creates potential compliance issues:
- No unsubscribe option - ContactMonkey emails don't include unsubscribe links, which may violate regulations for marketing emails (such as CAN-SPAM or GDPR requirements for commercial communications)
- Privacy concerns - Sending tracked emails to external recipients without their consent may violate privacy laws
- Consent requirements - You may not have permission to send to external domains
Spam Filter Problems
External email servers treat unexpected emails differently than internal ones:
- Recipients who aren't expecting your emails may mark them as spam
- Your organization's email reputation could be damaged
- Without IT control over external settings, you cannot prevent filtering issues
Inaccurate Analytics
When you send to external recipients:
- Open rates and click tracking may not work correctly
- External email servers handle emails differently than your internal system
- Your IT team cannot configure external mailboxes to ensure accurate tracking
- Analytics data becomes unreliable for decision-making
See Also