Dealing with External and Internal Spam Complaints

For an email marketer, receiving spam complaints is dreaded because it can cause you your email reputation. You may be doing the best email practices in hopes of avoiding spam. Still, you get reported as spam.

According to Statistics, back in 2014 of January, 65.7% of the emails sent globally are spam emails. The pique was during April of the same year, running up to 71.1%. However, right after the height, the percentage went down. The rate during 2018 March has gone down to 48%.

You may check the full statistics here.

What does this imply?

With all the updates made from 2014 to early 2018, almost 50% of the emails sent globally are still being reported as spam.

Here’s a fact, even the top players in the industry have been reported as spam. But being reported more than often can be alarming. It could cost you your email deliverability. 

What is a Spam Email?

These are emails that are sent to huge numbers of people, without getting the recipients consent.

There 2 Types of Spam, 1) External and 2) Internal Spam Complaint

• External Spam Complaints
  You may have gotten an email in your inbox about a discount or about a shady medicine that can change your life. Most of the time, these emails find their places in the spam folder. However, we see it in our inbox. You don’t remember subscribing or signing up for it, but it mysteriously appeared. So, you opened the email and reported it as spam. This is an example of External Spam. When your email is reported as spam directly from the Email Service Provider (ESP) such as Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc., some of the ESPs will automatically opt the recipient out of your mailing list.

• Internal Spam Complaints
  Imagine this. You’re checking your inbox and reading emails newsletters that you subscribed. As you scroll down, you see an unfamiliar looking name in your inbox. You don’t remember subscribing from that website, nor have you seen the domain name ever. You open the email and found out that indeed, you did not sign up for it. You click ‘unsubscribe’, and it brought you to a confirmation page. You opted yourself out of their mailing list and then reported the email as spam from the website’s confirmation page. Internal Spam Complaint is when your subscriber opens your email, unsubscribes from you, then reports you as spam in your own confirmation page. But between the two email spam complaints, the external spam complaint has way bigger consequence than the internal spam complaint. But that doesn’t mean getting an internal spam complaint is fine. You should avoid getting these complaints as much as possible.

Can It Affect Your Email Deliverability?

Your recipient’s interaction with your email affects your placement in an ESP, positive interactions helps increase your sender reputation, while negative interaction, such as the recipient moving your email from the inbox to the spam folder, can lower down your reputation. When your sender reputation decreases, emails you send will not be as effective as before. Some of your emails will be bounced back to you.  Some get blocked by the Internet Service Provider (ISP), and some send you immediately to the spam folder.

How to Prevent Spam Complaints?

• Don’t be Rude—Ask for Your Customer’s Permission
  Your communication with your customer is essential—this is why you send them emails occasionally. To keep interacting with them, however, if you plan to give them emails for promotional purposes, I recommend that you get their permission first. You don’t want your customer to transfer your email from the inbox to the spam folder. Or report you as spam for sending them emails they did not even ask for.

• Don’t Buy Lists
  Everyone started out small—and that includes you. Purchasing a mailing list will not give you the ‘boost’ that you want. It will only land you into more troubles. Not only will you be marked as spam, but there’s also a considerable chance that you will be caught in the spam trap. Spam traps are not real emails, it looks like one, but it’s not. This is a trap that’s set by ESPs to catch spammers. You can’t send emails to those who have not opted in, and the only way you’re getting these email addresses is obtaining it illegally.

• Make Your ‘Unsubscribe’ Button Visible
  Subscribers who want to opt-out but do not see your unsubscribe button will most likely report you as spam. It’s better for you to place an unsubscribe button or a link in every email you send to avoid getting reported as spam. In addition to that, make it easy to spot so your subscriber will not have a difficult time looking for it and will choose to report you instead.

• Look Professional
  Even if your subscriber cannot see you personally, make sure you look good in your email. And when I say look good, I mean to say you should sound professional. You want to earn your customer’s trust, and starting your emails with spammy subject lines, such as:
  • Cash Bonus
  • Cheap
  • Earn $
  • Earn Extra Cash

Read more of the Spammy Words here.

You want to look professional in your email to get your subscriber’s trust. So be honest with your intentions, you want to send promotional emails? Ask for their permission, avoid using clickbait-y subject lines, and deliver your promise.

But if you’re still getting reported here are 3 steps you should take to avoid getting spam complaints:

1. Keep an Eye on Spam Reports
   Monitoring your spam reports is essential when it comes to email marketing. This way, you can quickly point out the root of each problem each time they arise.

2. Investigate
   Find out what caused the spam report. Why do you think your subscriber or the recipient did that. If you are under investigation because of the spam reports and complaints, show the investigator your mailing list. This is to prove that there was an error.

3. Keep Your Mailing List Clean
   There’s no other advice greater than this one when the topic email marketing and email deliverability comes up. A good mailing list is cleaned up every 6 months.

Final Thoughts

One root cause for losing effectiveness in spam deliverability is the spam complaint. If you do not address this problem as soon as possible, your whole email campaign will get affected. Be truthful in your campaign and avoid getting reported. Save your time and grow your sales opportunities easily with CRM Singapore.