[FAQ]

Hi,

I’m an email marketer for a company here in davao, and we’ve noticed our deliverability has been dropping recently. Our email platform’s support team mentioned that we might be sending emails to “spam traps,” but I’m not really sure what that means.

Is it a type of software, or a person who reports our emails? I’m very confused.

Can anyone explain what a spam trap is and, more importantly, what the best process is to find and remove them from our email list? I want to make sure we fix our sender reputation.

Any advice would be a big help.

[Jeff Bullas]

A very important topic. Understanding and avoiding spam traps is essential for long-term email success.

Short Answer: Spam traps are email addresses used by anti-spam organizations to identify and block spammers. They are not used by real people. You can’t remove them individually because you don’t know which ones they are; you remove them by implementing strict, ongoing list hygiene practices.

Think of them as secret landmines for email marketers; you don’t avoid them by finding them, you avoid them by never walking in the minefield in the first place.

There are two main types of spam traps you need to be aware of. The first are ‘pristine’ spam traps. These are brand new email addresses created by anti-spam groups and placed on public websites for email-harvesting bots to find. Hitting one of these is a major red flag, as it proves you are sending text-based marketing to addresses that never opted in. The only way these get on your list is if you are buying lists or using other improper list-gathering techniques, which you must never do.

The second, more common type are ‘recycled’ spam traps. These were once valid email addresses used by real people, but they were abandoned (for instance, when someone left a job). The provider deactivates the address, and after a long period of inactivity, they reactivate it as a trap. If you send an email to it, it signals to the provider that you are not regularly cleaning your list of inactive contacts.

Since you cannot identify individual spam trap addresses, the only way to remove them is through disciplined list management. First, implement a double opt-in process for all new subscribers to confirm they are real and want your emails. Second, and most importantly, you must regularly clean your list. This means implementing a sunset policy to automatically remove subscribers who have not opened or clicked an email in a long time, for example, six months. An old, inactive email address is the most likely candidate to become a recycled spam trap.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Author]

Posts