What is the impact of accidentally sending duplicate emails or sending to unsubscribed users?

Summary

Accidentally sending duplicate emails or emailing unsubscribed users poses significant threats to email deliverability and sender reputation. Duplicate sends can annoy subscribers, increase unsubscribe and complaint rates, and degrade brand perception, potentially leading to emails being marked as spam. Mailing unsubscribed contacts violates anti-spam laws like CAN-SPAM and GDPR, incurring legal penalties, damaging brand trust, and risking blacklisting by ISPs. Both actions can trigger spam filters, negatively affect open rates and engagement metrics, and ultimately reduce ROI. Proper list management, rigorous quality control, and strict adherence to unsubscribe requests are crucial for maintaining a healthy email marketing program and avoiding these costly mistakes.

Key findings

  • Legal Ramifications: Sending to unsubscribed contacts violates anti-spam laws like CAN-SPAM and GDPR, potentially leading to fines and legal repercussions.
  • Reputation Damage: Both duplicate sends and mailing unsubscribed contacts significantly damage sender reputation and brand perception.
  • Deliverability Issues: These practices can trigger spam filters, cause emails to be blocked or land in the spam folder, and even result in blacklisting.
  • Increased Unsubscribes & Complaints: Duplicate emails and sending to unsubscribed users often lead to higher unsubscribe and complaint rates.
  • Decreased Engagement & ROI: These errors can negatively affect open rates, engagement metrics, and overall ROI for email campaigns.

Key considerations

  • List Segmentation & Management: Implement proper list segmentation and management to avoid sending duplicate emails and ensure only subscribed users receive messages.
  • Quality Control & Testing: Establish rigorous quality control and testing procedures to prevent accidental duplicate sends and identify errors before deployment.
  • Unsubscribe Management: Prioritize honoring unsubscribe requests promptly and maintaining an accurate suppression list to comply with regulations and protect sender reputation.
  • Compliance with Regulations: Ensure compliance with anti-spam laws like CAN-SPAM and GDPR regarding unsubscribe requests, data privacy, and consent.
  • Monitor Performance Metrics: Regularly monitor key performance metrics like complaint rates, open rates, and engagement to identify and address deliverability issues promptly.

What email marketers say
12Marketer opinions

Accidentally sending duplicate emails or sending to unsubscribed users has significant negative impacts on email marketing performance. These actions can lead to subscriber annoyance, increased unsubscribe rates, higher spam complaints, and damage to sender reputation. ISPs may start blocking emails, resulting in deliverability issues like emails landing in the spam folder or even blacklisting. These practices reflect poorly on brand perception, decrease engagement, and reduce overall ROI. Proper list management, segmentation, quality control, and adherence to regulations like CAN-SPAM and GDPR are crucial to avoid these pitfalls.

Key opinions

  • Subscriber Annoyance: Duplicate emails and sending to unsubscribed users annoy recipients.
  • Increased Unsubscribes/Complaints: These actions lead to higher unsubscribe rates and spam complaints.
  • Damaged Sender Reputation: Sender reputation is negatively impacted, potentially leading to blacklisting by ISPs.
  • Deliverability Issues: Emails are more likely to land in the spam folder or be blocked altogether.
  • Decreased Engagement: Open rates and engagement metrics are negatively affected, decreasing ROI.
  • Brand Perception: It reflects poorly on brand perception and can lead to distrust.

Key considerations

  • List Management: Implement proper list management and segmentation to avoid sending duplicate emails.
  • Quality Control: Implement strict quality control measures to prevent sending duplicate emails or emailing unsubscribed users.
  • Compliance: Adhere to regulations like CAN-SPAM and GDPR regarding unsubscribe requests.
  • Regular List Cleaning: Regularly clean email lists to remove unsubscribed users and maintain list hygiene.
  • Testing and Proofing: Thoroughly test and proof email campaigns to ensure accuracy before sending.
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email on Acid explains that sending duplicate emails not only annoys subscribers but can also negatively affect open rates and engagement metrics, leading to decreased ROI for email campaigns. They recommend implementing strict quality control measures to prevent such mistakes.

October 2022 - Email on Acid
Marketer view

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum user 'MailGuru' shares their experience that sending emails to unsubscribed users can lead to immediate blacklisting, preventing any further emails from reaching recipients. They suggest regularly cleaning email lists to prevent accidentally emailing unsubscribed contacts.

January 2023 - Email Marketing Forum
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks shares an experience where a client mistakenly sent 40MM emails including to unsubscribes, resulting in a difficult cleanup process.

May 2022 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from Reddit user u/EmailExpert shares that sending duplicate emails annoys recipients, leading to increased unsubscribes and spam complaints. The user emphasizes the importance of proper segmentation and list management to avoid such errors.

September 2024 - Reddit
Marketer view

Email marketer from Neil Patel's Blog explains that sending duplicate emails can lead to subscriber annoyance, increased unsubscribe rates, and a negative impact on sender reputation, potentially leading to emails being marked as spam.

October 2024 - Neil Patel's Blog
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks shares their experience that an accidental double send spiked the complaint rate for a few days.

May 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

Email marketer from HubSpot explains that emailing unsubscribed contacts will seriously damage your sender reputation, resulting in ISPs blocking your emails and landing your messages in the spam folder. They note the significance of respecting unsubscribe requests to maintain a healthy email marketing program.

March 2022 - HubSpot
Marketer view

Email marketer from Sendinblue warns that sending emails to unsubscribed contacts increases the risk of being marked as spam, damaging sender reputation, and potentially leading to blacklisting by ISPs. They highlight the importance of respecting unsubscribe requests.

January 2024 - Sendinblue
Marketer view

Email marketer from Litmus discusses how duplicate emails can frustrate subscribers and lead to higher opt-out rates. Litmus also highlights how it reflects negatively on the brand, suggesting inattention to detail and poor customer experience.

October 2023 - Litmus
Marketer view

Email marketer from ActiveCampaign discusses that sending emails to unsubscribed contacts can significantly damage deliverability rates because ISPs view such actions negatively, resulting in your emails being flagged as spam. They emphasize that list hygiene is critical for maintaining a positive sender reputation.

February 2023 - ActiveCampaign
Marketer view

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor states that sending duplicate emails can damage brand perception and decrease engagement. They propose a system for proofing and testing email campaigns to ensure subscribers only receive each message once.

January 2022 - Campaign Monitor
Marketer view

Email marketer from Mailjet says that sending duplicate emails degrades sender reputation because it signals a lack of attention to detail and may lead ISPs to view the sender as less trustworthy. This ultimately affects inbox placement.

December 2024 - Mailjet

What the experts say
4Expert opinions

Accidental double sends can have varying impacts, sometimes leading to higher complaints, other times not, with the ultimate effect determined over time. However, consistently sending duplicate emails or emailing unsubscribed users carries significant legal and reputational risks. Regulations like CAN-SPAM necessitate honoring unsubscribe requests promptly to avoid penalties and maintain deliverability. Sending multiple, similar emails in short periods can trigger spam filters, harming sender reputation. Proper suppression of unsubscribed addresses is crucial, as failure to do so not only leads to legal issues but also damages reputation with ISPs and anti-spam organizations, eventually causing emails to land in the junk folder.

Key opinions

  • Variable Impact of Double Sends: Impact of accidental double sends on complaints can vary; time reveals the true effect.
  • Legal and Reputational Risks: Sending to unsubscribed users poses considerable legal and reputational risks.
  • CAN-SPAM Compliance: Honoring unsubscribe requests promptly is mandated by regulations like CAN-SPAM.
  • Spam Filter Triggers: Sending multiple, similar emails can trigger spam filters, harming sender reputation and deliverability.
  • Reputation Damage with ISPs/Anti-Spam Orgs: Failure to suppress unsubscribed addresses damages your reputation with ISPs and anti-spam organizations.

Key considerations

  • Honor Unsubscribe Requests: Prioritize honoring unsubscribe requests to comply with regulations and maintain sender reputation.
  • Suppress Unsubscribed Addresses: Ensure proper suppression of unsubscribed addresses to avoid legal issues and protect reputation.
  • Monitor Complaint Rates: Monitor complaint rates, especially after accidental double sends, to assess the impact.
  • Implement Quality Control: Implement quality control measures to prevent sending duplicate or similar emails in short periods.
  • Respect Recipients: Avoid sending emails to unsubscribed users because it demonstrates a lack of respect for recipients which can damage your brand.
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise, Laura Atkins, discusses the impact of sending multiple emails to the same person. She highlights that sending duplicate or nearly identical emails within a short timeframe can trigger spam filters, particularly if recipients mark these emails as spam. This can significantly harm sender reputation and deliverability.

October 2023 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

Expert from Spam Resource, Dennis Dayman, explains that sending to unsubscribed users poses considerable legal and reputational risks. He emphasizes that the CAN-SPAM Act necessitates honoring unsubscribe requests promptly. Failure to comply could result in severe penalties and damage to deliverability and brand trust.

December 2024 - Spam Resource
Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks explains that they have seen accidental double sends result in both higher complaints and no extra complaints, noting that only time will tell the impact.

December 2021 - Email Geeks
Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise staff discusses the importance of unsubscribed address suppression. They explain that failure to suppress unsubscribed addresses will lead to legal issues, but also shows a lack of respect to recipients. This damages your reputation with both ISPs and anti-spam organizations. Your mail will eventually wind up in the junk folder.

October 2022 - Word to the Wise

What the documentation says
4Technical articles

Sending emails to unsubscribed users violates anti-spam laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM, resulting in legal penalties, damage to brand reputation, and severely harming deliverability. Non-compliance can lead to fines per violation. A higher complaint rate due to duplicate sends negatively impacts deliverability to Gmail users, necessitating monitoring and prevention measures.

Key findings

  • Anti-Spam Violations: Sending to unsubscribed users violates anti-spam laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM.
  • Legal Penalties: Non-compliance with anti-spam laws can lead to legal penalties and fines.
  • Reputation Damage: Sending emails to unsubscribed users damages brand reputation.
  • Harmed Deliverability: Sending emails to unsubscribed users severely harms deliverability.
  • Impact on Gmail Deliverability: High complaint rates from duplicate sends negatively impact deliverability to Gmail users.

Key considerations

  • Comply with Anti-Spam Laws: Ensure compliance with anti-spam laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM when handling email subscriptions.
  • Monitor Complaint Rates: Monitor complaint rates, especially when sending to Gmail users, to prevent deliverability issues.
  • Prevent Duplicate Sends: Implement measures to prevent accidental duplicate sends to reduce complaint rates and maintain deliverability.
  • Respect Unsubscribe Requests: Properly process and honor unsubscribe requests to avoid legal penalties, protect brand reputation, and maintain deliverability.
Technical article

Documentation from CAN-SPAM Act explains that it is illegal to send emails to individuals who have unsubscribed from your mailing list and outlines the penalties for non-compliance, including fines per violation.

September 2021 - FTC.gov
Technical article

Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools indicates that a higher complaint rate resulting from duplicate sends can negatively impact deliverability to Gmail users. Google advises monitoring complaint rates closely and implementing measures to prevent accidental duplicates.

October 2022 - Google
Technical article

Documentation from GDPR highlights that sending emails to users who have unsubscribed violates the regulation's principles of consent and data protection. This can lead to significant fines and legal repercussions.

October 2022 - GDPR.eu
Technical article

Documentation from Mailchimp explains that sending emails to unsubscribed users violates anti-spam laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM, leading to legal penalties and damage to your brand's reputation. They also state that this practice can severely harm deliverability.

April 2024 - Mailchimp