How do I identify who reported my emails as spam in Gmail and how to reduce complaints?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Reddit explains that regularly pruning inactive subscribers is crucial. Those who haven't engaged in six months or more are likely to mark your emails as spam. Keeping a clean list improves your sender reputation.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares you can't know who complained with Gmail. Complaints happen, all you have to do is keep them low. One way of doing so is to highlight the unsub link, at the top of your email, so people would unsub instead of complain.
Email marketer from HubSpot emphasizes the importance of engaging content that provides value to your subscribers. By providing relevant and useful content, you can keep your audience interested and less likely to mark your emails as spam.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor advises maintaining a positive sender reputation by consistently following best practices, such as using a dedicated IP address and warming up your IP before sending large volumes of email. A good sender reputation reduces the likelihood of emails being marked as spam.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains Google does not have an official FBL so there is no way to determine who marked your message as spam.
Email marketer from Reddit mentions that ensuring proper email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) is essential. If your emails aren't authenticated correctly, they're more likely to end up in the spam folder, and recipients are more likely to mark them as spam.
Email marketer from StackExchange advises avoiding spam trigger words and phrases in your email content and subject lines. Using overly promotional or suspicious language can increase the likelihood of your emails being marked as spam.
Email marketer from Neil Patel Blog shares that one of the primary reasons for spam complaints is irrelevant content. He suggests segmenting your email list and tailoring content to match subscriber interests, which helps reduce the likelihood of recipients marking emails as spam.
Email marketer from Mailchimp advises regularly cleaning your email list to remove inactive or unengaged subscribers. By removing these contacts, you reduce the chances of sending emails to recipients who might mark your messages as spam due to lack of interest or forgotten subscriptions.
Email marketer from Sendinblue highlights the importance of using double opt-in to ensure subscribers genuinely want to receive emails, improving the quality of your email list and reducing spam complaints. This method confirms the subscriber's consent, helping to filter out uninterested or bot sign-ups.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Spam Resource details that Feedback Loops (FBLs) are mechanisms used by ISPs to forward complaints from their users about specific emails. Unfortunately, not all ISPs offer FBLs and even when they do, you generally can't get user-specific information due to privacy concerns. Using an FBL allows you to remove users who are marking your messages as spam. Gmail does not offer a traditional FBL.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that there are tools to check if your domains or IPs have been subject to a list bomb, and suggests that senders regularly review their signup process to ensure that you're getting valid users.
Expert from Spam Resource shares that complaint rates significantly impact deliverability. High complaint rates signal to mailbox providers that recipients are not interested in or did not consent to receiving your emails. They recommend actively monitoring complaint rates and taking steps to address the underlying causes, such as list quality and content relevance. Aiming for complaint rates under 0.1% is ideal.
What the documentation says3Technical articles
Documentation from Google explains that Google Postmaster Tools provides aggregate data on your domain's spam rate, but it does not offer details about individual user complaints. It allows senders to monitor the overall health and reputation of their email sending practices regarding spam, authentication, and encryption.
Documentation from RFC Editor describes the Abuse Reporting Format (ARF) which defines a standard format for email feedback reports, including spam complaints. However, Gmail does not fully support sending individual complaint reports directly to senders. Some mailbox providers may provide aggregate feedback, but not individual user data.
Documentation from Microsoft describes the Smart Network Data Services (SNDS), which provides data about your IP's reputation with Outlook.com and allows you to see complaint rates and other metrics, though not individual user data. It helps identify potential issues with your email sending practices.