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Avoid Spam Traps

Protect your business reputation and the deliverability of your emails by avoiding sending emails to spam traps.

Spam traps, also called "honeypots", are email addresses created (or re-activated) by ISPs, spam filter providers, and Domain Name System deny lists to identify and block spammers. Sending an email to a spam trap can cause your emails to be blocked system-wide by these organizations.

Spam traps are usually email addresses that were previously used as role-based addresses (e.g. sales@example.com, info@example.com, support@example.com).

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Avoid sending email to spam traps

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Protect your business reputation by using sound list-sourcing and list-maintenance practices.

  • Don't use email lists containing addresses that haven't opted in to receiving your company's messages (e.g. purchased lists).
  • Use double opt-in for your lists.
  • When a list that uses single opt-in or notified opt-in, confirm the spelling of email addresses before adding them to your list. Consider using double opt-in instead.
  • Maintain your lists by deleting unusable contacts, especially in lists where a year or more has elapsed between sending emails to contacts. Going for long periods of time without emailing a contact can cause your email to be marked as spam.
  • Use list segmentation to identify contacts that haven't opened any emails for over six months. Once identified, send one last confirmation email to the contacts and delete contacts if necessary.

For a more detailed look at spam traps, including tips for identifying and removing them, check out "Spam Traps: What They Are & How to Avoid Them"(link takes you to an external page).

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