The ultimate goal of any email marketer is for deployments to have high deliverability, open, and click-through rates, leading to improved audience engagement. None of that can happen if your email ends up being routed to physicians’ spam folders.
It’s important to understand the different types of spam traps—as well as the damage they incur—in order to avoid ending up on a blacklist or blocklist.
This list could be likened to a temporary ‘inbox restraining order.
The Honey Pot
Sometimes referred to as a “pristine” spam trap, honey pots are used by anti-spam companies to identify email list providers who obtain their data via nefarious means. These anti-spam companies will impersonate a valuable target and put that email address out onto the web. If the address ends up on an email list, you know with 100 percent certainty it was scraped—an illegal method of sourcing data.
The Aged Spam Trap
All email providers (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) have policies in place to manage email addresses that have gone “dark;” that is, they are no longer in use. After a period of time, the email provider will deactivate the account. Then, to catch potential spammers, the provider may reactivate the account to see which senders are deploying to the dark address.
Blacklists and Blocklists
You’ll be designated as a “known spammer” and your deliverability will suffer significantly.
If you’re not following email best practices or ensuring proper, ethical sourcing methods, you will eventually end up on a blacklist. This list could be likened to a temporary “inbox restraining order,” where your email messages will not reach your intended recipients. If you don’t change your sending behavior, repeated blacklist appearances will negatively impact your deliverability for the length of time you are on the blacklist.
Beyond the blacklist is the more permanent blocklist. You could end up on this list if you hit too many pristine spam traps or you don’t change your sending behavior after being blacklisted a number of times. You’ll be designated as a “known spammer” and your deliverability will suffer significantly.
The first step for ensuring none of this happens is to use a responsible list provider or partner who has sourced their database in a legitimate and responsible way. Any email list that is sourced ethically and legally will not land you in spam traps.
Check out this video to learn more about spam traps and responsible marketing, as well as how to achieve, at minimum, a 97 percent deliverability rate. There’s also a very quick assignment at the end to help you understand how spammers try to trick their way into inboxes.