What do ESPs do when a subscriber marks an email as spam?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Reddit shares their experience when hitting the 'report spam' button. The email client will mark the sender as spam, unsubscribe the email (if possible) and train the mail client to filter similar emails as spam.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that when a user marks an email as spam, ESPs and ISPs automatically block future emails from the sender to that user, preventing further delivery. It also negatively impacts sender's reputation.
Email marketer from StackExchange answers that ESP's use spam reporting as a way to block unwanted emails. If the user marks an email as spam, the ESP will attempt to stop any future emails, impacting sender reputation and improving overall email quality.
Email marketer from Gmass explains that maintaining a good sender reputation is very important. When an email is marked spam it impacts sender score and deliverability. To stop that an ESP should automatically unsubscribe users.
Email marketer from EmailOnAcid says that one of the things that ESP's do is automatically adds addresses that report spam to your suppression list. Also provides a good idea to send a re-engagement campaign before deleting them completely.
Email marketer from NeilPatel.com shares that one way to improve email deliverability is to actively manage spam complaints. By monitoring feedback loops and immediately removing recipients who mark emails as spam, senders can maintain a good reputation with ISPs and improve overall deliverability rates.
Email marketer from HubSpot shares that when a subscriber marks an email as spam, ESPs record this as a complaint. High complaint rates negatively impact sender reputation. To mitigate this, ESPs automatically unsubscribe these recipients and some provide tools for senders to monitor complaint rates.
Email marketer from EmailToolTester explains that ESPs monitor spam complaints through feedback loops. When a subscriber marks an email as spam, the ESP receives a notification and typically unsubscribes the recipient from future mailings, or adds them to a suppression list, to protect the sender's reputation.
Email marketer from Litmus explains that ESPs handle spam complaints by using feedback loops to identify recipients who mark emails as spam. These recipients are automatically unsubscribed or added to a suppression list to protect the sender's reputation and improve deliverability metrics.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign shares the importance of managing complaints. They emphasize the use of feedback loops (FBLs) to automatically remove recipients who mark emails as spam, ensuring compliance with ISP requirements and preserving a healthy sender reputation.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains how Gmail prompts the user to report spam and provides an unsubscribe when clicking the report spam button. Recommends that instead of FBL's, unsubs were used, and that would make it easier to identify why a recipient isn’t receiving a message on the MBP side.
Email marketer from Email Geeks states that ESPs are often trying to do what they think is best to balance what MBPs require, what they want in the detail, and what individual means when they do something meaning the opposite of what they're doing. Notes that some ESPs are broken and just don't know how their system work, which is problematic for the MBP.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise emphasizes the importance of list hygiene in managing spam complaints. When a subscriber marks an email as spam, responsible ESPs automatically suppress the user and ensure they do not receive future emails. This action helps maintain sender reputation and improves deliverability. List hygiene is essential for managing this.
Experts from Email Geeks discuss the importance of suppression lists for recipients hitting the 'this-is-spam' button to prevent future emails unless they actively re-subscribe. They highlight the issues that arise when brands fail to manage data from their ESPs and ESPs are jumpy with FBLs (Feedback Loops).
Expert from SpamResource explains that ESPs and mailbox providers use feedback loops (FBLs) to process spam complaints. When a user marks an email as spam, a report is sent back to the ESP, which then unsubscribes the user and suppresses future emails to that address to maintain a good sender reputation and reduce deliverability issues.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that legitimate ESPs stop mailing users who mark emails as spam. The specific method varies (special flag, unsubscribe, suppression list), but doing nothing is not an option.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that the standard practice is to add the user to a suppression list to prevent future emails, and to document this action in the customer's permanent record.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Amazon Web Services (SES) explains that when a recipient marks an email as spam, SES receives a complaint notification. SES automatically adds the recipient to a suppression list, preventing the sender from sending future emails to that address, to protect sender reputation.
Documentation from Mailchimp explains that they handle abuse complaints through their feedback loops with ISPs. When a subscriber marks an email as spam, Mailchimp receives a notification and automatically unsubscribes the recipient from future mailings. This helps maintain sender reputation and ensures compliance.
Documentation from SendGrid explains that they use Feedback Loops (FBLs) to process spam complaints. When a recipient marks an email as spam, the ISP sends a notification back to SendGrid, and SendGrid automatically adds the recipient to the suppression list, preventing future emails to that address.
Documentation from SparkPost shares that complaint feedback loops (FBLs) are a mechanism where ISPs forward complaints received from their users back to the senders. This allows senders to quickly identify and remove users who are no longer interested in receiving emails, improving their sending reputation.