Email Marketing: Understanding How Spam Affects Your Campaigns
Email marketing helps you connect with your audience by promoting your products or services through targeted messages. However, understanding how spam affects your campaigns is crucial for maintaining your email deliverability and sender reputation.
Understanding spam complaints
Spam complaints occur when email recipients report unwanted emails. Most email providers (like Gmail or Yahoo) have a button to report spam.
A small number of complaints is normal, but excessive complaints can harm your email deliverability. Too many complaints may cause your emails to be filtered into spam folders, hurting your reach.
Tip:
Learn more about how it can affect your email deliverability.
Understanding spam traps
Spam traps are fake or inactive email addresses used by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and anti-spam groups to catch marketers who don't follow email rules (e.g. buying email lists or sending unsolicited emails).
Click below to learn more about the 3 main types of spam traps.
Pristine spam traps
Pristine spam traps are email addresses that ISPs or anti-spam groups artificially create in order to catch spammers. Emails sent to a pristine spam trap are usually part of purchased lists or have otherwise been obtained in an illegitimate manner.
Recycled or expired email addresses
These are email addresses that were once in use but are now inactive. Emails sent to these addresses bounce back to sender for at least a year. ISPs may reactivate them to catch spammers, since sending to these addresses shows that a sender isn't cleaning their list.
Typos
An email address with a typo can be a spam trap. Sending to such addresses show that the sender doesn't clean their list or that some contacts didn't opt in (e.g. an address like "gmai.com" instead of "gmail.com.")
Important:
Wix doesn't allow the use of illegitimate mailing lists. If a spam trap detects you're using one, your Wix Email Marketing account will be restricted. Purchased lists violate Wix's Terms of Use and Best Practices.
Understanding the Gmail spam filter
Gmail’s spam filter is key in deciding which emails get through. Since many of your subscribers likely use Gmail, it’s important to understand what their filter looks for when flagging spam.
Here are some of the factors Gmail uses to decide if emails are legitimate:
If the sender's email address or domain name has been blacklisted before.
Suspicious phrases and words (i.e. "how to make money online fast").
Spelling mistakes and bad grammar.
Corrupted or misconfigured email headers.
Suspicious email attachments (Google recommends sharing files as links using cloud storage services).
Tip:
Learn more about the Gmail spam filter.
FAQs
Click below to learn more about how spam affects your campaigns.
What is a good spam complaint percentage?
A good spam complaint percentage is 0.02%, which means one complaint for every 5,000 recipients.
How can I avoid spam complaints?
If you know your audience and only send content to subscribers, you'll likely avoid spam complaints. Following email marketing best practices is the best way to prevent being marked as spam.
Here are some tips:
Create engaging email content.
Develop good frequency practices and establish a consistent email schedule.
Only email your subscribers.
Tip: Add a subscribe form to your site to make it easy for people to join your mailing list.
What happens if an email campaign is sent to a spam trap?
Sending to a spam trap can result in penalties, such as your emails being sent to junk folders or restrictions on future campaigns.
How can I avoid spam traps?
Here are ways to avoid spam traps:
Do not purchase email lists.
Make sure all your recipients have given explicit permission to send them emails.
Send your email campaigns only to your active contacts.
Clean your contact list at least twice a year.
Make sure to remove recipients with whom you have not been in touch for over 6 months.
Tip: You can also use campaign statistics to locate and remove addresses that consistently bounce or remain unopened.
How can I improve my email deliverability?
Here are some tips to improve deliverability:
Maintain a clean email list by regularly removing inactive subscribers.
Avoid spammy language and ensure your emails are well-formatted.
Monitor your sender reputation using tools like Postmaster Tools by Google.
Learn more about improving your email deliverability.
Can I use purchased email lists?
No, using purchased email lists can lead to high spam complaints and harm your sender reputation. Always build your list organically with express consent from subscribers.
Tip: Test your email campaigns by sending them to yourself or a small group first to catch any issues before sending to your entire list.
How can I report a site I think is spam?
If you encounter any Wix sites that you believe are sending electronic spam, you can file a complaint.
Can I see which email address marked my campaign as spam?
Yes, you can see which email address marked your campaign as spam from the Contacts page in your site's dashboard. Filter your contact list by Email deliverability status and select is spam complaint. You'll be able to see which contacts marked your email as spam.
Why was my email marketing account deactivated?
If you're seeing the pop-up message "Your Email Marketing Account Was Deactivated" in your email marketing dashboard, it is because our system detected unusual or risky patterns in your recent email activity. This can include things like poor list quality, low engagement, or high spam complaints.
When this happens, your email marketing account is deactivated to protect your sender reputation and protects your contacts from receiving potential spam.
To reactivate your email marketing account, fill out the questionnaire presented in the message. We will address your case and respond via email just as soon as we can. You can always view your ticket to see its progress.
Why did my test email go to my spam folder?
When you send a test email to yourself, it is sent from a default Wix testing address, not your own authenticated domain. Because of this, your inbox provider may flag it as spam.
This can happen because:
The sender address does not match your brand.
Test emails may include placeholder content.
Test emails may not include standard unsubscribe links.
This does not mean your live campaign is broken or blacklisted. When you publish and send your campaign from your authenticated custom domain, mailbox providers evaluate it based on your actual sender reputation instead.