How can I ensure deliverability when many signups are from qq.com addresses and what steps can I take to prevent spam signups?

Summary

To ensure email deliverability, especially when dealing with qq.com addresses, focus on a multi-faceted approach. First, assess the legitimacy of qq.com addresses by determining if your target audience includes Chinese recipients. Recognize that qq.com presents unique deliverability challenges, requiring extra effort even when targeting that market. Implement robust spam prevention measures like CAPTCHA and confirmed opt-in at signup. Maintain a clean and engaged email list by removing inactive subscribers, segmenting based on engagement, and monitoring bounce rates. Secure your sending practices with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication and build a good sender reputation. Also, make sure that email addresses are correct by doing list validation. It is important to start with a small volume for new IPs and then slowly increase it. Adhere to email standards and avoid spam trigger words, providing easy unsubscribe options. Encourage developers to implement form audit trails capturing IP and browser metadata for better spam prevention.

Key findings

  • qq.com Challenges: Sending to qq.com addresses presents unique deliverability challenges and stringent requirements.
  • Audience Relevance: Assess if qq.com addresses align with your target audience; primarily relevant for Chinese recipients.
  • Spam Prevention Measures: Employ CAPTCHA, confirmed opt-in, and form audit trails (IP, browser data) to minimize spam signups.
  • List Hygiene and Engagement: Regular list cleaning by removing inactive subscribers and segmenting lists improve deliverability.
  • Email Authentication Protocols: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are crucial for authenticating emails and preventing spoofing.
  • Sender Reputation Management: Managing the sender reputation is important, with the starting IP rate being very low, and checking bounce rates often.
  • Compliant List Building: Confirmed opt-in and easy opt-out are essential for compliant list building.

Key considerations

  • QQ.com Specific Requirements: Understand and meet the specific requirements of qq.com for deliverability, even if it's your target market.
  • Technical Implementation Details: Ensure proper implementation of SPF, DKIM, DMARC records, and form audit trails by collaborating with developers.
  • Proactive Monitoring and Maintenance: Actively monitor sender reputation metrics, bounce rates, and engagement to address issues promptly.
  • Content and Formatting: Avoid spam trigger words, test email rendering across clients, and adhere to email standards.

What email marketers say
12Marketer opinions

To ensure email deliverability, especially with qq.com addresses, focus on audience relevance: legitimize sending only if your target includes Chinese recipients. Implement preventative measures like CAPTCHA and confirmed opt-in to reduce spam signups. Maintain list hygiene by removing unengaged subscribers and segmenting lists for relevant content. Use double opt-in, monitor bounce rates, avoid spam trigger words, and provide easy unsubscribe options. Also important: test emails for proper rendering and authenticate your emails using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. New IP addresses need to be ramped up slowly to build sender reputation.

Key opinions

  • Audience Relevance: Assess if qq.com addresses align with your target audience, primarily relevant for Chinese recipients.
  • Spam Prevention: Implement CAPTCHA and confirmed opt-in to minimize spam signups.
  • List Hygiene: Regularly clean your email list by removing inactive subscribers.
  • Engagement-Based Segmentation: Segment your lists based on subscriber engagement to send more relevant content.
  • Authentication Protocols: Use SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for email authentication.
  • Sender Reputation: Rate limit new IPs to establish a good sender reputation
  • Bounce Rates: Checking Bounce rates are a warning you may have deliverability issues and these should be checked.

Key considerations

  • Double Opt-in: Implement double opt-in to ensure subscribers actively consent to receive emails.
  • Bounce Rate Monitoring: Monitor bounce rates to identify and address deliverability issues promptly.
  • Content Optimization: Avoid spam trigger words and phrases in your email content.
  • Email Testing: Test emails across various clients and devices to ensure proper rendering.
  • Unsubscribe Options: Provide an easy and accessible unsubscribe option in every email.
Marketer view

Email marketer from Sendinblue Blog responds that segmenting your email lists based on subscriber engagement and demographics allows you to send more targeted and relevant emails. This increases engagement and reduces the likelihood of subscribers marking your emails as spam, which positively impacts deliverability.

January 2025 - Sendinblue Blog
Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit explains that with qq.com emails, it is important to know your audience, a lot of Chinese nationals use qq.com as their primary email address. Before discarding them, check your target audience as it might be your target market.

April 2022 - Reddit
Marketer view

Email marketer from SomeEmailForum explains the importance of checking bounce rates. A high bounce rate is a warning you have something wrong with your deliverability, this should be checked and rectified.

January 2022 - someemailforum.com
Marketer view

Email marketer from HubSpot Blog shares that avoiding spam trigger words and phrases in your email subject lines and body can help prevent your emails from being flagged as spam. They recommend using a natural and conversational tone.

January 2025 - HubSpot Blog
Marketer view

Email marketer from EmailOctopus Blog explains that focusing on engaged subscribers and regularly cleaning your email list helps maintain a good sender reputation, which is crucial for deliverability. They recommend removing inactive subscribers and those who haven't engaged with your emails in a while.

February 2024 - EmailOctopus Blog
Marketer view

Email marketer from MailerLite Blog shares that using double opt-in ensures that subscribers genuinely want to receive your emails. This reduces the chances of spam complaints and improves the overall quality of your email list, leading to better deliverability.

June 2021 - MailerLite Blog
Marketer view

Email marketer from ActiveCampaign shares that making it easy for subscribers to unsubscribe from your emails can reduce spam complaints and improve deliverability. They recommend including a clear and accessible unsubscribe link in every email.

July 2021 - ActiveCampaign
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks shares that if you are sending to Chinese recipients, chances are those QQ addresses are perfectly legit; but if your business is not related to China, there's no good reason to have many qq.com addresses in your list.

November 2024 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Litmus explains the importance of testing your emails before sending them to ensure they render correctly across different email clients and devices. This helps improve the user experience and reduces the likelihood of subscribers marking your emails as spam due to formatting issues.

May 2021 - Litmus
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks shares that a client recently had a form without CAPTCHA and it got slammed with spam, damaging deliverability.

January 2024 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks advises that if it's an online gift shop, make sure you have a Captcha and confirmed opt-in.

August 2024 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit explains you should rate limit new IPs. Start with a low message volume and slowly increase to build up your IP reputation

July 2021 - Reddit

What the experts say
5Expert opinions

Ensuring deliverability with qq.com addresses involves navigating deliverability challenges and meeting specific requirements. Compliant list building with confirmed opt-in and easy opt-out is crucial. Maintaining a good sender reputation through avoiding spam traps, low complaint rates, email authentication, and a dedicated IP are also key. Adding an audit trail to sign-up forms, capturing IP and browser metadata, can help prevent spam sign-ups.

Key opinions

  • QQ.com Challenges: qq.com presents significant deliverability challenges and stringent requirements.
  • Compliant List Building: Confirmed opt-in and easy opt-out are essential for compliant list building.
  • Sender Reputation: Maintaining a good sender reputation is vital by avoiding spam traps and low complaint rates.
  • Email Authentication: Email authentication and a dedicated IP are necessary for sender reputation.
  • Form Audit Trail: Capturing IP and browser metadata on sign-up forms helps prevent spam.

Key considerations

  • Target Market Validation: Even if qq.com users are your target market, significant effort is required for deliverability.
  • Technical Implementation: Persuade developers to implement an audit trail on sign-up forms.
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks adds that even if qq.com recipients *are* a target market, you need to jump through a lot of hoops to get into qq.com.

December 2024 - Email Geeks
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks suggests persuading your developers to add some level of audit trail to the form - so it captures IP address and some browser metadata along with the email address to help prevent spam signups.

November 2021 - Email Geeks
Expert view

Expert from Spamresource answers that the best thing you can do to improve your deliverability and maintain a good reputation is to ensure your list building is compliant. This includes confirmed opt-in, and easily accessible opt-out, to ensure you only send to those people who want your mail.

August 2024 - Spamresource
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise explains the importance of maintaining a good sender reputation by avoiding spam traps, and maintaining low complaint rates. Ensure you have good email authentication and a dedicated IP.

September 2023 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks explains that qq.com has some extensive requirements and is a major deliverability challenge.

June 2022 - Email Geeks

What the documentation says
4Technical articles

Ensuring email deliverability involves authenticating emails using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to verify authorized senders and prevent spoofing. Monitoring sender reputation, including IP and domain reputation, is crucial for identifying deliverability issues and using tools like Google Postmaster Tools. Maintaining accurate and valid email addresses in distribution lists is essential, as invalid addresses can damage reputation. Adhering to established email standards, including proper encoding and avoiding excessive HTML formatting, ensures compatibility and enhances deliverability.

Key findings

  • Email Authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC significantly improve deliverability by authenticating emails and preventing spoofing.
  • Sender Reputation Monitoring: Regularly monitor sender reputation (IP and domain) to identify and address issues.
  • Accurate Email Lists: Maintain accurate and valid email addresses to avoid harming sender reputation.
  • Standards Compliance: Adhering to email standards ensures compatibility and improves deliverability.

Key considerations

  • Implementation of Authentication: Properly set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records according to best practices.
  • Proactive Monitoring: Use tools like Google Postmaster Tools to actively monitor sender reputation metrics.
  • List Validation: Implement processes to validate email addresses and remove invalid ones.
  • Formatting and Encoding: Follow best practices for email formatting and encoding to ensure compatibility.
Technical article

Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains that setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records can significantly improve email deliverability by authenticating your emails and preventing spoofing. It verifies that the emails are sent from authorized servers, which helps mailbox providers trust your messages.

July 2022 - Google Workspace Admin Help
Technical article

Documentation from SparkPost explains that monitoring your sender reputation, including IP address reputation and domain reputation, is crucial for identifying and addressing deliverability issues. Tools like Google Postmaster Tools can help track these metrics.

November 2022 - SparkPost
Technical article

Documentation from RFC explains the importance of adhering to established email standards and best practices, such as using valid email addresses, avoiding excessive HTML formatting, and properly encoding your messages, to ensure compatibility and improve deliverability.

August 2024 - RFC
Technical article

Documentation from Microsoft explains that you should ensure all email addresses used in the distribution of an email campaign are accurate and valid. Using invalid email addresses can hurt your reputation

March 2022 - Microsoft