Spam Traps: What Are They and How To Avoid Them
Spam Traps are email addresses used to identify senders who are not using list management best practices. In this guide, learn about Spam Traps, how to avoid them, and what to do 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 an email address used to identify unsolicited emails, also known as spam. Spam traps are typically set up by email providers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and anti-spam organizations.
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 email addresses that were once valid, but are no longer in use, and then reactivated by anti-spam organizations to catch senders who are sending to old or inactive email lists.
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 email addresses that have never been used for communication and are specifically set up to catch spammers who are harvesting email addresses from the internet.
What happens to email reputation when you hit a spam trap
Sending to spam traps can have a negative impact on your sending reputation and future email deliverability. When you hit a spam trap it is flagged as spam and the sending IP address and domain may be added to a block list.
If listed, future emails will not reach recipients' inboxes. This will lead to decreased open rates and click-through rates.
Additionally, sending to spam traps can damage your sending reputation, making it harder for your legitimate emails to reach the inbox even if you are not blocklisted.
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!
What Kajabi does when we see you're running into spam traps
- When the Email Deliverability & Compliance (EDC) team is alerted to someone sending to recycled spam traps they will reach out to discuss list management best practices.
- When EDC is alerted to someone sending to a pristine spam trap they will reach out to provide guidance on required actions to prevent email suspension.
- Excessive or repeated spam trap hits can lead to email suspension for a sender.
Still have questions? Let us know your question below to have it added to the list or reach out to Support if you need additional assistance. Thanks for being the best part of Kajabi!