Is adding a clause to terms and conditions asking users not to report spam a good idea?

Email marketer from ActiveCampaign explains that people mark emails as spam for a number of reasons, and you shouldn't take it personally. They suggest that people often mark as spam because it's easier to find than the unsubscribe button or they simply do not remember signing up.

Email marketer from WebmasterWorld responds that people don't read terms and conditions, they just agree to them to get to the next step. Adding a no-spam clause will not change their behavior.

Email marketer from Reddit shares that adding a no-spam clause to your terms and conditions is likely ineffective. They suggest that recipients who feel they are receiving unwanted emails will still mark them as spam, regardless of any contractual agreement. This could negatively impact your sender reputation and deliverability.

Email marketer from Reddit explains a lawyer would say a clause like this may be valid as part of a contract, however the other party has to actually be aware of it at the time of agreeing to it. So this means the user needs to actually have read the T&Cs at the time of agreeing to them, this is almost never the case. If the user genuinely believed the email to be spam, a T&C would not change their mind

Email marketer from Quora explains that adding a clause asking users not to report spam is not a good idea. Because if the user reports spam, the reputation will be damaged and ISPs will block the emails.

Email marketer from EmailVendorSelection responds that high spam complaint rates can damage your sender reputation, leading to your emails being filtered into spam folders or blocked altogether. ISPs use spam complaints as a key metric to assess sender trustworthiness.

Email marketer from Quora shares that the no-spam clause in your terms won't stop users from reporting spam. The company has the right to unsubscribe and if the users are not happy with the service they can report as spam.

Expert from Email Geeks shares that there are a bunch of marketers that hate her because they will add her to their list and she will forward it right back to their ESP. She also mentions that they even tell other people that she actively signs up for lists and then reports them, and that she is known for that.

Expert from Email Geeks shares his opinion that including a clause in terms and conditions stating that users who requested the email and no longer want it should not report it as spam is not a good idea, but it's really just putting in writing the social contract of "If you asked for the email, don't want it any more and haven't asked to unsubscribe, don't report it as spam."

Expert from Spamresource explains that adding a clause to your terms and conditions asking users not to report spam is unlikely to be effective. Users who perceive your email as spam will likely still report it, regardless of any prior agreement. Such a clause provides no legal protection and won't prevent complaints.

Expert from Email Geeks shares that he doesn't ever use his work address to report spam and a lot of ESPs know that if he tells them "I did not sign up for this list; there is no permission." that they don't need to double-guess whether I actually might have signed up and forgotten, and that it's a good signal.

Documentation from Microsoft responds that the users can mark the email as spam if they don't want to receive emails from the sender. When the user marks the email as spam, the email will be moved to the junk folder. This process helps Microsoft to learn about phishing and spam emails.

Documentation from Spamhaus explains that Spamhaus uses spam complaints as one of the major factors to determine the reputation of the senders. The number of spam complaints impacts sender reputation and increases the chances of getting blacklisted.

Documentation from Google explains that high spam rates impact the deliverability. Google recommends keeping the spam rate below 0.10% and avoid ever reaching a spam rate of 0.30% or higher.