Related terms

• Internet Service Provider (ISP)
• Blacklist
• Email verification protocol

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Spam trap

A spam trap is a trap that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) set to catch spammers. It involves creating email addresses that are not publicly disclosed. If a sender's message reaches these addresses, it is considered to have been obtained illegally, and the sender is likely to be blocked and added to the ISP's blacklist.

What can I do to avoid having spam traps in my contact lists?

One of the primary ways to avoid spam traps is to refrain from buying email databases. Such databases may contain addresses that were once active but have now become "trap" accounts.

Another thing to consider is inactive contacts, i.e., those who never open your campaigns, as there might be a spam trap among them. Therefore, it's a good practice to conduct reactivation campaigns periodically and deactivate contacts who do not respond to them and continue to show no interaction with your communications.

To prevent spam traps in your databases, it's highly advisable to periodically verify them or before making your initial email send-out. With this service, available through Acrelia, you can identify valid addresses, detecting those that no longer exist, temporary emails, or spam traps.

Lastly, it's recommended that you use double opt-in subscription forms to ensure that your new subscribers genuinely exist.

What can happen if I have a spam trap among my contact list?

Having a spam trap in your contact list can be very detrimental to your email marketing efforts. It can negatively impact your sender reputation, potentially leading to your email address being blacklisted. All of this significantly affects the deliverability of your campaigns because email service providers may classify your emails as spam, causing them not to reach your subscribers' inboxes.