Why is a reputable sender getting informational listings or active listings at Spamhaus?

Key findings

• Increased listings: There has been a noticeable uptick in both informational and active Spamhaus listings for senders, including those with otherwise strong reputations.
• Threshold changes: Spamhaus has implemented stricter thresholds, making it easier for even seemingly benign sending patterns to trigger listings. This can be seen in their recent discussions on informational listings.
• Spam trap hits: Informational listings, even for reputable senders, are almost always legitimate indicators of spam trap hits, rather than false positives.
• Unrelated announcements: Announcements regarding snowshoe spam targeting VPS IPs are generally separate from informational listings affecting ESP clients.

Key considerations

• Data quality focus: Even with high engagement, review list acquisition and hygiene practices thoroughly to minimize spam trap exposure. Tools that offer blocklist monitoring can help identify issues quickly.
• Investigate immediately: Do not dismiss informational listings. They are a warning sign that requires prompt investigation into sending practices or list segments.
• Spamhaus responsiveness: Spamhaus is generally responsive in assisting with delisting details once issues are identified and addressed.
• Contextual understanding: Distinguish between listings caused by broad network issues (like snowshoe spam from VPS) and those reflecting specific sender behaviors.

Key opinions

• Coincidental timing: Many marketers note that new listings seem to coincide with public announcements or changes from Spamhaus, leading to initial speculation about related causes (e.g., snowshoe spam).
• Reputable sender disbelief: There's a strong belief among some marketers that their clients or operations are too 'clean' to warrant a Spamhaus listing, particularly if they have a history of high engagement and no prior spam trap issues.
• Swift delisting process: Despite the frustration of being listed, marketers generally report that Spamhaus is responsive and helpful when communicating delisting details and assisting with removals.
• Threshold tightening: Some confirm observing an actual increase in listings due to stricter thresholds implemented by Spamhaus, not necessarily due to a change in their own sending practices.

Key considerations

• Review list hygiene: Regardless of perceived cleanliness, always investigate list segments, especially inactive ones, for potential spam trap contamination. This is key to addressing why emails go to spam.
• Spam trap awareness: Educate clients (and yourself) about how spam traps work and their severe impact on deliverability, even with minimal hits, as discussed by SocketLabs on informational SBLs.
• Continuous monitoring: Implement continuous monitoring of sender reputation and blocklists to detect and address issues before they escalate from informational to active listings.
• Avoid assumptions: Do not assume listings are erroneous, even if sending from dedicated IPs via a major ESP. Investigate all possibilities, including subtle changes in recipient behavior or list decay.

Key opinions

• Legitimate listings: Experts assert that informational listings from Spamhaus are legitimate, indicating actual spam trap hits, even if the sender believes their practices are pristine. As highlighted in how to get delisted from Spamhaus blacklists, the causes are real.
• Spam trap causality: The primary cause of these listings is indeed spam trap engagement. If a sender received a June listing, it means their customers are hitting Spamhaus spam traps, and these listings are likely to reappear if the issue isn't resolved.
• Unrelated snowshoe spam: The snowshoe spam announcement and related listings primarily target virtual private servers (VPS) and specific hosting companies (like Linode, OVH), not typically IP ranges used by major ESPs.
• Uptick in ESP listings: While not officially announced for ESPs, Spamhaus has indeed increased informational listings for ESP senders who are hitting spam traps.

Key considerations

• Auditing sending practices: Even for 'clean' senders, consistent auditing of list acquisition, segmentation, and suppression is paramount. A few spam trap hits can trigger listings.
• Spam trap remediation: Proactively identify and remove spam traps from lists. These can appear over time even with good initial practices. You can learn more about this in articles such as Spam Resource's insights.
• Understanding listing types: Differentiate between broad-brush network listings and targeted sender-specific listings. Reputable ESP clients are more likely to be affected by the latter.
• Continuous education: Stay informed about Spamhaus's evolving detection methods and criteria. What worked yesterday might trigger a listing today due to tightened thresholds.

Key findings

• Purpose of listings: Spamhaus blocklists identify IP addresses known to send unsolicited bulk emails, as detailed by Brander Group on Spamhaus CSS.
• Informational as warning: Informational listings are designed as warnings for marketers whose email standards have slipped, offering a chance to improve before a more impactful listing occurs.
• Continuous detection improvement: Spamhaus's research team continuously improves detection methods, which can lead to increased SBL listings related to evolving spam patterns, such as snowshoe spam from VPS.
• Poor sending practices: Spamhaus confirms that poor sending practices are indeed triggering a tidal wave of informational listings.

Key considerations

• Adherence to best practices: Maintain strict adherence to email best practices, including regular list hygiene and managing bounces correctly, to prevent falling foul of Spamhaus's criteria.
• Understanding listing types: Familiarize yourself with the different types of Spamhaus blocklists (e.g., SBL, CSS, DBL, XBL) and what triggers each, to better understand any listing you might receive. This is crucial for navigating an in-depth guide to email blocklists.
• Proactive reputation management: Proactively monitor your IP and domain reputation. Spamhaus listings often reflect a decline in these metrics before becoming severe.
• Responding to warnings: Take informational listings seriously as they serve as an early warning. Swift action can prevent escalation to active blocklist entries, which have a more significant impact on deliverability. Knowing how email blacklists work helps.