Spam Traps and More – Email Deliverability Hot Buttons
Email deliverability for marketers is a hot topic. Following the recent webinar, Breaking Through the Email Deliverability Barrier with eTrigue and ANNUITAS, the questions just kept coming in on email deliverability and what it means for marketers today. Take a look at some of the outstanding questions from the webinar about spam traps and the answers to help you take control of your deliverability challenges.
Q: What are Spam Traps?
A: Spam traps are real email addresses that are used to identify and track (test validity) of the emailers. There are two types of spam traps – pure and recycled. Pure spam traps are emails created for the sole purpose of trapping spammers – this is super serious stuff that affects your Sender Score (reputation) and can impact your ability to send emails in the future.
Recycled spam traps are generally when an ISP (Internet Service Provider) will take over abandoned email addresses and turn those into spam traps. These email addresses are then set up and monitored by blacklists.
Both pure and recycled spam traps can cause disruption of your email and in some cases, cause you to be blocked immediately (pure spam traps = harsh punishment).
Q: How do you minimize the risk of hitting a Spam Trap in your list?
A: First, use explicit opt-in methods when you capture names to secure permission to email. For best practices- especially now with the pending CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation) law going into effect July 1, 2014 – use double opt-in. This means the subscriber has to take action and sign up for continued communication, then additionally, they must confirm their address before they are actually added to your list. This is done by sending an email to the recipient – once they confirm subscription, they are added to the list.
Second, scrub your list regularly. Data degrades quickly over time, scrubbing your list ensures you have the most recent contact data for your list and have only those that are interested in your communications, receiving them. It doesn’t do any good to have a name on a list that doesn’t fit your ideal customer profile or who isn’t interested in your messages. Keep the lists clean and up to date to minimize hitting spam traps and any ongoing deliverability issues.
Take the Email Deliverability Assessment to see if your emails are making to the Inbox. Email deliverability matters – it’s time to engage marketers. It impacts revenue.
Author: Chris Arrendale CIPM, CIPP/US, CIPP/IT, MCTS @Arrendale Chief Deliverability and Privacy Strategist, ANNUITAS
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