How to handle spam traps and old addresses in a large B2C email program with single opt-in?

Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests filtering out all non-clickers if you don't think you are getting clicks from traps.

Email marketer from StackOverflow shares that they heavily rely on tracking email engagement metrics (opens, clicks, conversions). They set up custom alerts for unusual drops in engagement to quickly identify potential deliverability issues related to spam traps. URL: [https://stackoverflow.com/](https://stackoverflow.com/)

Email marketer from Mailjet shares that for old addresses, implement a re-engagement campaign targeting inactive subscribers. Offer incentives, such as discounts or exclusive content, to encourage them to opt back in. If they don't respond, remove them from your list to avoid sending to potential spam traps. URL: [https://www.mailjet.com/](https://www.mailjet.com/)

Email marketer from EmailonAcid explains that use real-time email validation during signup to prevent invalid addresses from entering your list. This includes checking for typos, invalid domains, and disposable email addresses. URL: [https://www.emailonacid.com/](https://www.emailonacid.com/)

Email marketer from ReturnPath shares that maintaining good email hygiene involves regularly cleaning your list, removing invalid addresses, and suppressing unengaged subscribers. Use email validation services to identify and remove potential spam traps before sending campaigns. URL: [https://returnpath.com/](https://returnpath.com/)

Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests splitting daily sends into different times, identify which send hits the traps. Repeating until smaller segment of data to quarantine.

Email marketer from HubSpot responds that although you have single opt-in currently, for new sign-ups, transition to double opt-in (DOI) to ensure valid email addresses. DOI requires users to confirm their subscription, reducing the risk of spam traps and improving list quality. URL: [https://www.hubspot.com/](https://www.hubspot.com/)

Email marketer from Litmus explains that segmenting your email list based on engagement levels helps isolate inactive subscribers. Create segments for highly engaged, moderately engaged, and inactive users. Tailor messaging to each segment, focusing on re-engagement for the inactive group. URL: [https://www.litmus.com/](https://www.litmus.com/)

Email marketer from Quora shares that monitoring your sender reputation is key. Use tools like Google Postmaster Tools to track your reputation and identify any issues that may arise from hitting spam traps. URL: [https://www.quora.com/](https://www.quora.com/)

Email marketer from MarketingProfs recommends that you perform regular email list cleaning, at least quarterly. Remove subscribers who haven't engaged in a significant period, as they may be potential spam traps or contribute to low engagement rates, harming your overall deliverability. URL: [https://www.marketingprofs.com/](https://www.marketingprofs.com/)

Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests using an email address validation service/API for the segment with no web traffic to get a 'second opinion' on address quality and identify questionable addresses for early sunsetting or reconfirmation.

Email marketer from NeilPatel.com shares that a sunset policy defines how long an email address remains on your list without engagement. After a certain period (e.g., 6-12 months), send a final re-engagement email. If there's no response, remove the address from the list to protect your sender reputation. URL: [https://neilpatel.com/](https://neilpatel.com/)

Email marketer from Reddit shares that they proactively prune their email list every 3 months by removing unengaged users and have seen delivery rates improve by 20%. They suggest running a re-engagement campaign and then removing unengaged users to improve deliverability. URL: [https://www.reddit.com/](https://www.reddit.com/)

Expert from Email Geeks suggests adding "hasn't been any website activity" in two years to the analysis, identifying addresses that aren't valuable and can be removed if they don't confirm.

Expert from Word to the Wise explains the importance of having a sunset policy. The sunset policy looks at the customers who don't engage, and at what point it is ok to stop mailing them.

Expert from Email Geeks clarifies that the two-year timeframe applies to recycled traps, while pristine traps could be newer. However, given the history, recycled traps are more likely due to the lack of bounce handling detection.

Expert from Email Geeks suggests contacting Abusix for assistance and considers that Abusix are very good at seasoning their spamtraps. They suggest using the two-year timeframe for recycled traps as a constraint on bad addresses. They also suggest combining this with removing obvious domains to narrow down the problem email addresses. Worst case reconfirming this smaller subset of addresses.

Expert from Spam Resource explains that hitting a spam trap is not a permanent deliverability problem, though it can be serious. The biggest issue is that you don't know which email address it was that triggered the trap. You need to address it quickly, as a number of traps in a short period can cause permanent problems. It goes on to suggest you should contact your ESP immediately.

Expert from Spam Resource explains that you should separate known-bad addresses from good addresses by removing hard bounces from the active list. This maintains the reputation with the mailbox providers.

Expert from Email Geeks suggests using segmentation based on purchase activity (e.g., purchasers in last 90 days, active/no purchase in last 90 days, inactive). By sending/holding out different times to each segment, you can observe behavior and identify the segment hiding the bad data, then target a smaller group for suppression, validation, or reconfirmation.

Expert from Word to the Wise (Laura Atkins) recommends focusing on engagement-based list management by looking at signals that a subscriber is interested and delivering more mail to those users and less to those who are not. This can be opens or clicks.

Documentation from RFC explains that proper bounce handling is critical. Set up your system to automatically process bounce messages and identify hard bounces (permanent failures). Remove these addresses from your list immediately. URL: [https://www.rfc-editor.org/](https://www.rfc-editor.org/)

Documentation from SendGrid explains that regular list cleaning is essential to remove old or inactive addresses. Use hard bounce data to identify invalid emails and implement a suppression list to prevent future sends to these addresses. This helps maintain a healthy sender reputation. URL: [https://sendgrid.com/](https://sendgrid.com/)

Documentation from SparkPost explains that monitoring for spam trap hits is crucial. Look for unexpected spikes in bounces or unsubscribes, which can indicate spam trap interactions. Segment lists and suppress addresses that trigger these traps immediately to protect sender reputation. URL: [https://www.sparkpost.com/](https://www.sparkpost.com/)

Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools explains that you can use Postmaster Tools to monitor your domain's reputation with Gmail users. This tool provides insights into spam rates, feedback loop data, and other metrics that can help identify and address deliverability issues. URL: [https://gmail.com/postmaster](https://gmail.com/postmaster)