Don't Get Caught in the Spam Trap

On our last Service In Action call, Return Path’s Amanda Bacher talked about delivery. One of the things that really caught my attention was her discussion of Spam Traps. According to Wikipedia, Spamtraps are usually an email addresses that are created not for communication, but rather to lure spam.



Sometimes, these addresses could be added to your list maliciously, or from an append list you may have purchased. How can you get rid of them from your list? The are two things that you can do to both clean out Spam Traps, and also trim some of the fat from your email list.

• Exclude Non-Openers: People who have been on your email list and haven't opened in three months should receive reduced frequency of emails. Spam Trap emails will never open, so they will fall into this category.


• Re-permission Non-Openers: If people haven't opened your mail in six months or more, send them a friendly note asking them to open and click on your mail, or else they'll be removed from your list.

One client trimmed the fat of their non-openers from their list, and found their open rates doubled. Also, because they were mailing to less people, their ROI increased as well.

So take a look at a strategy to remove non-openers from your email campaigns. Not only will you avoid Spam traps, but you'll also boost your open rates and improve ROI.