Spam Traps are a tool used to catch spammers from sending unwanted content. In this guide, learn about Spam Traps, how to avoid them, and what to if you get caught in one. 

In this article:

• What is a spam trap?
• Two types of spam traps
• What happens to email reputation when you hit a spam trap?
• How to avoid spam traps
• What Kajabi does when we see you're running into spam traps

What is a spam trap?

A Spam Trap is a type of fraud management tool that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Blacklist providers use to identify spammers.

A spam trap will look like a legitimate email address, but it doesn't belong to a real person. This means they cannot be used for any kind of communication and cannot opt-in to any mailing lists. Therefore, if you have run into a Spam Trap, you need to do a better job maintaining a healthy list or start following the rules of permission-based email marketing. 

Two types of spam traps

Recycled

Recycled spam traps are usually old email addresses that someone owned at some point and have now been recycled to work as a spam trap. If you have run into a recycled spam trap, chances are you have a few old and abandoned email addresses in your list. Even if you're following the rules of permission-based email marketing, it is possible to run into a recycled spam trap every once in a while, so try to keep your subscriber lists clean and updated. 

Pristine

Pristine spam traps are addresses that are created with the intent of catching spammers, so if you're exercising best practices, then you should never run across one. Pristine spam traps, as their name presumes, are original, untouched, and haven't been used for anything else. If you have been caught by a Pristine trap, it is most likely through purchasing contact lists online or scraping sites for emails.

What happens to email reputation when you hit a spam trap

The result of hitting a spam trap is dependant on the type of trap you run into, how many times you hit it, and how the spam trap operator reacts. 

• Hitting a pristine spam trap causes immediate and difficult-to-repair damage to your domain and IP reputation, while punitive measures for hitting recycled traps are less severe, and generally not enacted as quickly.
• If you hit a spam trap operated by a significant ISP, such as Yahoo or AOL, they could permanently blacklist your sending domain.
• If you run into a spam trap operated by an anti-spam organization, your deliverability rate to all ISPs will be affected.

How to avoid spam traps

The best advice we can offer is to follow our guides on Email List Hygiene and best practices with Email Marketing!

• Email List Hygiene
• Sender Reputation Guide

What Kajabi does when we see you're running into spam traps

• If we notice that you're running into a higher than average rate of spam traps, you will be contacted by support to ask you to clean up your list.
• If your spam trap hits begin to show up on pristine trap lists, you will immediately be moved to the quarantine sending domain.
• If you continuously ignore support's request and are continuing to hit spam traps at or above a specific rate will land you in the quarantine domain. The speed at which we do this depends on the severity and frequency of the hits.
• If you continue to ignore support and hit spam rates in the quarantine domain with no signs of improving, your mass mailing will be suspended.