How can spam complaints and bad content choices impact email deliverability?
Summary
What email marketers say13Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Litmus shares that ensure your HTML code is clean and properly formatted, as poorly coded emails are more likely to be flagged as spam.
Email marketer from Neil Patel's Blog shares that irrelevant or low-quality content can lead to lower engagement rates (opens, clicks), which signals to mailbox providers that your emails are not valuable, thus hurting deliverability.
Email marketer from G2 Learn explains that deceptive subject lines trigger spam filters and decrease deliverability. Subject lines that accurately describe the email content are essential.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that receiving too many 'this is spam' clicks will quickly tank your sender reputation. ISPs pay attention to user feedback.
Email marketer from EmailToolTester explains that regularly use email deliverability testing tools to check your email's spam score and identify potential issues before sending to your entire list.
Marketer from Email Geeks questions the sincerity of honoring unsubscribe requests, quoting, "If you don't want to hear from us again, just reply to the sender and we'll honor your request."
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests that the sender lacks 'critical thinking'.
Marketer from Email Geeks states that they don’t see how this sort of thing wins the sender any business whatsoever.
Email marketer from Mailchimp explains that sending emails to recipients who haven't explicitly given you permission (opt-in) is a major cause of spam complaints, which directly harms your sender reputation and deliverability.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that high bounce rates signal poor list hygiene, which increases the likelihood of being flagged as a spammer and hurting your deliverability.
Email marketer from SendGrid explains that avoid using excessive exclamation points, all caps, and known 'spammy' keywords in your email content, as these can trigger spam filters.
Marketer from Email Geeks considers the 'Notice to Recipient' as 'bat shit stupid'.
Email marketer from HubSpot shares that inconsistent sending volumes can raise red flags with mailbox providers, making them more likely to filter your emails as spam. Sudden spikes in sending volume are particularly problematic.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that spam complaints and other forms of negative engagement (e.g., deleting without reading) negatively impact your sender reputation, which in turn affects deliverability to all recipients, not just those who complained.
Expert from Email Geeks indicates the sender is 'having deliverability issues because of spam complaints and bad content choices'.
Expert from Email Geeks says that 'This is not the best way to show off your competence at email campaigns.'
Expert from Spamresource.com explains that participating in feedback loops is crucial for identifying and addressing the root causes of spam complaints, allowing senders to improve their practices and maintain deliverability.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from AWS explains that if you are using a new IP Address, then you must gradually increase your email sending volume to maintain high deliverability.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools explains that high spam complaint rates can severely impact your sender reputation, leading to emails being filtered into spam folders or blocked entirely.
Documentation from RFC-Editor details that ensuring your sending servers are properly configured with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records is critical for authenticating your emails and preventing them from being marked as spam.
Documentation from Microsoft Deliverability Documentation shares that using misleading or deceptive content, including subject lines and from addresses, can negatively impact your deliverability and sender reputation.
Documentation from Spamhaus explains how landing in spam traps (email addresses used to identify spammers) due to poor list hygiene and sending practices drastically hurts your sender reputation and deliverability.