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How to identify and remove bot-generated spam email addresses from contact lists and prevent future bot sign-ups?

Summary

Bot-generated spam email addresses are a significant challenge for email marketers, leading to inflated lists, inaccurate analytics, and potential deliverability issues. These bots often sign up for email lists using real or randomly generated email addresses, making them hard to distinguish from legitimate subscribers. Addressing this requires a dual approach: identifying and removing existing bot sign-ups and implementing robust preventative measures to stop future attacks. Effective list hygiene is crucial for maintaining a healthy sender reputation and ensuring your messages reach engaged recipients. Preventing fake email registrations and list bombing is key to email marketing success.

What email marketers say

Email marketers frequently encounter challenges with bot-generated sign-ups, particularly during unusual spikes in subscription rates. Their primary concerns revolve around the difficulty of distinguishing genuine subscribers from bots when the latter use seemingly normal email addresses. The consensus is that while various tools exist for list cleaning, their effectiveness against sophisticated spam traps or bot attacks is limited. Many marketers emphasize the importance of proactive preventative measures on signup forms and the cautious approach to cleaning existing lists, especially when dealing with a high volume of suspicious contacts.

Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks mentioned concerns about a sudden spike in sign-ups, fearing a bot attack. They expressed worry about potential complaints if they were to send re-engagement emails to these suspicious contacts. Their immediate plan was to implement 'Not a robot' verification for new sign-ups, acknowledging it wouldn't help with existing bot-generated contacts.

26 Nov 2019 - Email Geeks

Marketer view

Marketer from OOPSpam Blog advises protecting your email list from spam bots. They recommend implementing double opt-in and two-factor authentication as essential tactics. Additionally, they suggest utilizing CAPTCHA for signup forms to prevent automated submissions.

15 Jan 2025 - OOPSpam Blog

What the experts say

Email deliverability experts highlight that tools for checking spam email addresses might not always effectively detect sophisticated spam traps or bot-generated addresses that appear legitimate. They emphasize the importance of proactive preventative measures rather than solely relying on post-facto cleanup tools. For existing issues, experts suggest leveraging rich data captured during signup and a strategic approach to list segmentation and removal. Understanding the different types of bot attacks, such as subscription bombing versus SEO spam, helps in tailoring the response effectively.

Expert view

Expert from Email Geeks suggested that removing bad signups is best achieved by utilizing supplementary data collected alongside the email address, such as the referer, IP address, or browser identifier. They posited that email addresses themselves are likely to be legitimate, making other data points more crucial for identification.

26 Nov 2019 - Email Geeks

Expert view

Expert from Word to the Wise emphasizes that effective email deliverability depends on a clean list. They stress that sending to invalid or bot-generated addresses can lead to increased bounce rates and spam complaints, signaling poor list management to ISPs and harming sender reputation.

10 Mar 2024 - Word to the Wise

What the documentation says

Official documentation and industry guides frequently recommend a combination of technical measures to combat bot-generated email addresses. These typically include implementing client-side challenges like CAPTCHAs, server-side validation, and integrating 'honeypot' fields into forms. The core principle is to create obstacles that human users can easily bypass but automated bots will fall into, allowing for identification and prevention. Emphasized is the continuous need for list hygiene and understanding various attack vectors, such as list bombing, to protect email deliverability.

Technical article

Documentation from CHEQ recommends using an email validation service to identify and remove fake email addresses. These services utilize various methods to detect invalid or bot-generated entries, helping businesses maintain a clean and effective email list, thereby fighting spam sign-ups and improving deliverability.

20 Sep 2023 - CHEQ

Technical article

Documentation from Klaviyo Help Center suggests adding a 'honeypot' field to a website's form as a straightforward method to identify if a list bombing attack is occurring. If this hidden field is populated, it indicates bot activity, allowing for easy identification and prevention of fake profiles.

10 Aug 2023 - Klaviyo Help Center

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