How List HygieneImpacts DeliverabilityChristina HoheiselDeliverability Analyst

Dan LevinsonSr. Technical Account Manager

1. What signals hurt/help your

deliverability (spam traps, hard

bounces, engagement)

2. How to avoid negative signals

and keep a clean list

Our Agenda

What are spam traps?

• Email addresses that have never been used by anyone

• The only way they can get on your list is without permission

• Harvested from sites —honeypots

• Shared with spammers or those who don’t understand the consequences of purchasing a list

Pristine/Pure

Don’t purchase or harvest lists

• Old email addresses no longer in use by original owner

• May have been an engaged recipient in the past

• Email providers repurpose old addresses to catch senders with poor list hygiene

• Dormant 6-12 months minimum

Recycled Addresses

● Regularly remove unengaged subscribers

• Accidental typos that occur when signing up

• When a person deliberately submits a fake address because they were forced to give an email in a form that required it => idontwantemail@gmail.com

• Risk of it being a spam trap by pure coincidence

Invalid/Fake Addresses

● Double opt in sign up forms

• Mistyped version of popular domains (gnail.com, yhaoo.com)

• Test of list cleanliness• Catches senders who are not

validating subscriber addresses

Domain Typos

● Sign-up forms with email validation● List verification services● SparkPost auto suppresses

● Impact varies depending on ● The type of trap you hit● How many times you hit it● How heavily the particular ISP weights it

● Damages your sender reputation = more spam foldering or blocking

● Your IP might be added to a blacklist (shared vs dedicated IPs)

Spam Trap Damage

• Negative signal to ISPs• 1%-2% is normal• Greater than 5% is serious

concern

Hard Bounces

● When switching ESPs, always bring over previous hard bounces

● Synchronize suppression lists across providers

• One of the greatest factors in determining inbox vs spam placement

• ISPs track a lot more than opens, clicks, and complaints

Engagement

• Regularly remove 6-12 month unengaged recipients

• Investigate lead sources causing high spam complaint rates

• Everything I’ve talked about so far can affect your reputation, specifically domain reputation

• Domain reputation carries more weight than IP reputation these days• Action or inaction regarding list hygiene will be tied to the reputation of

your brand, your company• This is more persistent than IP address where previously companies

could switch providers and IP addresses after making grave mistakes

Domain Reputation

• Double opt in/confirmation forms• Mitigates invalid addresses/hard bounces • Stops you from accidentally hitting a spam trap through sign-up form• Stops someone from signing-up another person that could result in spam complaints• GDPR — a good way to ensure compliance

• Secure sign-up flows• Thwart bot activity

• Email address reentry upon initial sign-up

Collection Best Practices

• Remove unengaged users from your list.

• Set up a double opt-in sign-up form.

Actionable Items You Can Do Today

• We want your feedback! Submit your session feedback via http://bit.ly/activate18survey

• All session recordings will be available at the end of April on activate.iterable.com.

• Continue the conversation on social using #Activate18

A Few Housekeeping Items…