Summary
Sending emails to inactive users poses a significant threat to email deliverability and sender reputation. Sending to inactives greatly increases the likelihood of hitting spam traps, incurring recipient complaints, and lowering engagement metrics like open and click-through rates. These actions signal to ISPs that the mail is unwanted, damaging sender reputation and leading to filtering or placement in the junk folder. Further, inactive addresses can become spam traps and sending to them can look like 'list bombing', triggering aggressive ISP filtering. The practice is a waste of resources and can lead to blacklisting, and breaches of CAN-SPAM. It is essential to maintain proper list hygiene and implement strategies for re-engaging inactive users.
Key findings
- Reputation Damage: Sending to inactive users damages sender reputation, causing ISPs to view emails as spam and potentially blocking them.
- Spam Traps: Inactive addresses can turn into spam traps, immediately harming sender reputation.
- Low Engagement: Decreased engagement rates signal to mailbox providers that the mail is unwanted, leading to filtering and placement in the junk folder.
- Increased Bounces/Complaints: Sending to inactives leads to increased bounce rates and spam complaints, negatively impacting IP reputation.
- Blacklisting: High bounce rates and spam trap hits can result in being blacklisted by ISPs.
- Waste of Resources: Sending to inactive users is a waste of resources with little to no return.
Key considerations
- List Hygiene: Maintain proper list hygiene by regularly removing inactive subscribers.
- Re-engagement Campaigns: Implement re-engagement strategies to try and reactivate inactive subscribers before removal.
- Monitor Metrics: Track ROI data and engagement metrics to assess the impact of sending to inactive users.
- CAN-SPAM Compliance: Ensure adherence to CAN-SPAM regulations when sending to older lists.
- Sender Behavior: Recognize that sending to inactive users negatively impacts sender behavior scores and overall reputation.
What email marketers say
13 marketer opinions
Sending emails to inactive users poses significant risks to email deliverability and sender reputation. These risks include damaging sender reputation, triggering spam filters, increasing the likelihood of hitting spam traps, lowering engagement metrics (open rates, click-through rates), and wasting resources. It can also lead to blacklisting, CAN-SPAM compliance issues, and aggressive filtering by ISPs.
Key opinions
- Reputation Damage: Sending to inactives can severely harm your sender reputation, causing ISPs to view your emails as spam.
- Reduced Engagement: Inactive users lower engagement metrics, impacting how ISPs assess the quality of your emails.
- Spam Traps: Inactive addresses can become spam traps, immediately damaging your sender reputation.
- List Bombing: Sending to large inactive lists resembles list bombing, triggering aggressive ISP filtering.
- Wasted Resources: Sending to inactive users wastes resources and provides no return.
Key considerations
- List Hygiene: Maintaining proper list hygiene is crucial; only email active and engaged users.
- Re-engagement Strategy: Consider a strategic approach to re-engage inactive subscribers, rather than sending a mass campaign.
- CAN-SPAM Compliance: Ensure all email practices, especially when dealing with older lists, adhere to CAN-SPAM regulations.
- Monitor ROI: Track ROI data from email campaigns to demonstrate the impact of sending to inactive users.
- Engagement Metrics: Closely monitor engagement metrics (opens, clicks) as indicators of list health.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Litmus explains that email client filtering is becoming more sophisticated with engagement being a key factor.
26 Jul 2023 - Litmus
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that if they send to their inactives they will likely burn their sending reputation to the ground.
24 Feb 2024 - Email Geeks
What the experts say
3 expert opinions
Sending email to inactive users poses a significant threat to email deliverability, primarily due to the increased risk of hitting spam traps and generating recipient complaints. These factors directly damage sender reputation, leading to email filtering and placement in the junk folder. The lack of engagement from inactive users signals to mailbox providers that the mail is unwanted, further harming deliverability.
Key opinions
- Increased Spam Traps: Sending to inactive users greatly increases the chance of hitting spam traps.
- Higher Complaint Rates: Inactive users are more likely to mark messages as spam, leading to higher complaint rates.
- Damaged Reputation: Spam traps and complaints damage sender reputation, reducing deliverability.
- Decreased Engagement: Low engagement signals to mailbox providers that the mail is unwanted.
- Email Filtering: Mailbox providers are more likely to filter emails from senders with low engagement.
Key considerations
- List Hygiene: Regularly clean email lists to remove inactive users.
- Re-engagement Campaigns: Implement re-engagement campaigns to try and re-activate inactive users.
- Monitor Reputation: Continuously monitor sender reputation for any negative impacts.
- Segment Lists: Segment email lists based on engagement levels.
Expert view
Expert from SpamResource shares that decreased engagement rates, such as opens and clicks, caused by sending to inactives signal to mailbox providers that your mail is unwanted, leading to filtering and placement in the junk folder.
21 Jan 2024 - SpamResource
Expert view
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that sending to inactive addresses can cause significant negative impact on deliverability because those addresses can be recycled into spam traps, or are simply disengaged users who will mark your messages as spam.
8 Jan 2022 - Word to the Wise
What the documentation says
5 technical articles
Sending emails to inactive users carries significant risks, as highlighted by various documentation sources. High spam rates from unengaged addresses negatively impact inbox placement in Gmail. Increased bounce rates and spam complaints due to sending to inactive users degrade IP reputation and deliverability with Microsoft services like Outlook.com and Hotmail. High bounce rates can lead to blacklisting, while sending to old lists increases the likelihood of hitting spam traps, resulting in IP address blocklisting. Furthermore, sending to inactive users is considered poor sender behavior, impacting sender reputation, as noted by AWS SES.
Key findings
- Gmail Spam Impact: High spam rates from inactive users negatively impact delivery to Gmail inboxes.
- Microsoft Reputation: Sending to inactive users harms IP reputation and deliverability with Microsoft email services.
- Blacklisting Risk: High bounce rates from inactive addresses can lead to server blacklisting.
- Spam Trap Vulnerability: Old lists increase the risk of hitting spam traps, resulting in IP address blocklisting.
- Poor Sender Behavior: Sending to inactive users is considered poor sender behavior, damaging sender reputation.
Key considerations
- Monitor Spam Rates: Regularly monitor spam rates to identify and address issues related to unengaged addresses.
- Maintain List Hygiene: Implement a process for identifying and removing inactive users from your email lists.
- Verify Email Addresses: Utilize email verification services to minimize bounce rates and ensure valid addresses.
- Re-Engage Users: Implement re-engagement campaigns to try and reactivate inactive users before removing them.
- Adhere to Best Practices: Follow email sending best practices to maintain a positive sender reputation.
Technical article
Documentation from Spamhaus answers that sending to old lists will include spam traps which will causes IP address to get listed on blocklists.
30 Jul 2022 - Spamhaus
Technical article
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools details that high spam rates, often caused by sending to old or unengaged addresses, can negatively impact your ability to reach Gmail users' inboxes. Google actively monitors spam complaints.
31 Oct 2021 - Google Postmaster Tools
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