How can ESPs identify and block spammers before they damage IP reputation?
Summary
What email marketers say13Marketer opinions
Email Marketer from Email on Acid shares Implementing email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC can help verify email legitimacy, reducing the chance of successful phishing attacks and protecting domain reputation.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains how monitoring sender reputation via feedback loops and blocklist checks can help identify and address issues before they impact deliverability. Proactive reputation management is key to long-term success.
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests having staff review the first few emails a new customer sends. They can evaluate the email content, the list, and other factors to determine if the customer is likely to spam and stop problematic emails before they cause issues.
Email marketer from Neil Patel shares the importance of using double opt-in to confirm subscribers' intent, reducing the likelihood of spam complaints and ensuring a higher quality email list.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that the best way to prevent blacklisting is to improve the onboarding process to avoid onboarding spammers in the first place.
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests that the system was set up to make a sales rep focus on the money. If traits of customers that are similar to others, in the past, that have stayed a long time, then direct the incentives on getting and keeping that group. They play well together.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that looking the account over enabled humans to stop the worst senders before they started. Suggests combining automated checks for patterns indicating a potentially problematic list with a sketchy-looking email.
Email marketer from Kickbox explains that regular email list cleaning to remove inactive or invalid email addresses helps maintain a high sender reputation and avoids sending to spam traps.
Email marketer from SendGrid shares gradually increasing sending volume as part of IP warming helps build a positive reputation with ISPs, preventing sudden spikes that could flag you as a spammer.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests verifying that the sales team is selling for the company and not just for commission and being wary of affiliate programs for signups, as these can be weak points.
Email marketer from Stack Overflow discusses implementing rate limiting to prevent sending excessive emails in a short period, a common tactic used by spammers.
Marketer from Email Geeks responds that there isn't a way to directly control the blocking of sending domains. It's up to mailbox providers and filtering services. Suggests having spammers use unique domains and IPs.
Email marketer from Reddit suggests using honeypot traps (email addresses not meant for human subscription) to identify list harvesters and spammers.
What the experts say6Expert opinions
Expert from Spamresource explains that correctly implementing Sender Authentication practices like SPF, DKIM and DMARC is vital to verifying the source of your emails, and this protects your ESP from spammers using spoofed domains.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that solid authentication for all mail streams helps ISPs differentiate mail, even from the same IP. Signals are usually present before a hard IP block occurs.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests making the ESP's service less attractive to bad actors to deter them from signing up.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that maintaining a clean and engaged email list is crucial. Regularly remove inactive subscribers and those who haven't confirmed their subscription status to avoid spam traps and improve sender reputation.
Expert from Email Geeks points to a MAAWG document on vetting and suggests Know-Your-Customer practices are more effective than mechanical domain reputation checks. Recommends checking domain age, and putting more eyeballs on new sign-ups.
Expert from Spamresource shares that monitoring IP and domain reputation through tools and blocklists allows ESPs to detect any malicious activity early on and take actions to prevent further damage.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains that you can prevent spam sent from your organization by investigating compromised accounts and controlling outbound spam. Steps include reviewing suspicious login activity, suspending compromised users, and setting up alerts.
Documentation from DMARC.org shares Implementing DMARC policies and monitoring DMARC reports allow senders to control how their domain is used and detect unauthorized sending activity.
Documentation from Microsoft Learn explains Exchange Online Protection (EOP) includes many anti-spam features to help protect your organizations from unwanted email. EOP uses spam filtering that learns from both known threats and user feedback.
Documentation from Spamhaus explains that actively monitoring blocklists like Spamhaus can provide early warnings about IP reputation issues, allowing for quick remediation before significant damage occurs.
Documentation from RFC-Editor explains SPF allows verifying the sender IP for emails through DNS records, helping in identifying illegitimate senders. SPF prevents address forgery, protecting domain names from being used by spammers.