Why is a reputable sender getting informational listings or active listings at Spamhaus?
Summary
What email marketers say8Marketer opinions
Email marketer from EmailDrips shares a cause may be a sudden influx of new subscribers who haven't fully opted in or confirmed their subscription, leading to increased spam complaints.
Email marketer from Reddit suggests that even with good segmentation, senders can hit old or invalid email addresses, leading to spam trap hits. Spamhaus uses these hits as a factor in their listings.
Email marketer from EmailToolTester explains that even reputable senders can be listed due to issues like sudden increases in email volume, sending to old or unengaged email addresses, or a spike in spam complaints, even if unintentional.
Email marketer from SendGrid explains that neglecting to regularly clean email lists and remove inactive or invalid addresses will increase the risk of hitting spam traps and being listed by Spamhaus.
Email marketer from Litmus shares one reason for being listed is that the email content may trigger spam filters. Using certain keywords or phrases commonly associated with spam can lead to a listing.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that high complaint rates can cause a reputable sender to get listed. If a significant portion of recipients mark emails as spam, Spamhaus might flag the sender, regardless of their usual reputation.
Email marketer from MailerCheck shares a potential reason is not properly managing unsubscribe requests. If recipients continue to receive emails after unsubscribing, they are more likely to mark emails as spam.
Email marketer from StackOverflow responds that issues like inconsistent sending volume can trigger Spamhaus filters. Sudden increases can be interpreted as spamming behavior.
What the experts say6Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks shares that them being caught as snowshoers makes even less sense than they have a bad segment or a few traps.
Expert from SpamResource explains that a reputable sender might get listed if they are the target of a list bombing attack, where spammers sign up numerous email addresses (including spam traps) to the sender's mailing list, resulting in a sudden spike in spam complaints and trap hits.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that changing sending IP addresses or domains suddenly, or having significant variations in daily/weekly sending volumes, can make a sender appear suspicious and lead to blacklisting.
Expert from Email Geeks explains the Spamhaus listings are legitimate and if you got the June listings, your customers ARE hitting Spamhaus spam traps. They will reappear, just not necessarily in the same way.
Expert from SpamResource explains that hitting spam traps, even unintentionally, can lead to listings. Spam traps are email addresses that are not used for communication but are monitored by blacklists to identify senders with poor list hygiene.
Expert from Email Geeks explains the informational listings are likely unrelated and your customer is very, very likely to be actually spamming.
What the documentation says6Technical articles
Documentation from cPanel explains that a possible cause is poor email authentication practices, such as not implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, which can make emails appear suspicious to Spamhaus.
Documentation from Microsoft explains failing to adhere to best practices for managing bounce rates can cause issues. High bounce rates indicate poor list hygiene and can lead to blacklisting.
Documentation from Spamhaus explains a reputable sender might get listed if their sending practices inadvertently match those of spammers, such as using compromised infrastructure, exhibiting snowshoe spamming techniques, or sending unsolicited bulk email.
Documentation from Digital Ocean explains that one reason for being listed is due to a compromised account or server being used to send spam without the sender's knowledge. Even reputable senders are vulnerable if their systems are breached.
Documentation from SpamResource explains failing to maintain proper DNS records and reverse DNS lookups for sending IPs will result in issues. Incomplete or incorrect records make the sender appear less trustworthy.
Documentation from RFC-Ignorant explains sometimes IP addresses get blacklisted because they fall within a range that Spamhaus has flagged due to the behavior of other users on the same network.