How to Fix High Spam Complaint Rates?

When you are campaigning on top of a self-hosted email marketing service, there is nothing more destructive to your sender reputation than a high spam complaint rate. Once a sufficient number of individuals put your mailings in the Spam folder, e-mail companies such as Gmail and Outlook start categorizing your messages as spam-mail, even to the active subscribers.

A spam complaint rate is not only damaging deliverability, but it can also kill your inbox position, ruin your domain reputation and in the worst case, blacklist your sending IP. But the good news? You can absolutely fix it.

Reducing spamming issues cannot be done with simple adjustment of subject lines. It concerns matching technical setup, list management and content strategy to achieve a trusted, recipient-first experience.

Let us deconstruct the method of doing so successfully – more so when utilizing a self-hosted email marketing application such as Relayzo, at which point you have complete control of your infrastructure.

Technical Repairs (Self-Hosted Particulars)

Why technical fixes matter:

The first thing you should do is to make sure that mailbox providers can trust you with your technicalities before getting down to the content or list management. Good authentication and proper infrastructure configuration informs Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo that you are a real sender and not a spammer. Consider this as the basis of your sender reputation.

Apply Email Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

This will be necessary in order to authenticate yourself and to avoid spoofing.

• SPF defines the IPs that will be allowed to send on your behalf.
• DKIM is an addition of a digital signature to confirm that your email has not been changed during transit.
• DMARC instructs receiving servers regarding failure by an email to pass SPF or DKIM.

Hint: Google and Yahoo now demand bulk senders to adopt DMARC with a p=quarantine or p=reject policy, at least. Ensure that your DNS records are right.

Set Up Feedback Loops (FBLs)

Feedback loops also warn you that one has identified your email as spam. In the case of self-hosted senders, you will be required to manually register with the ISPs such as Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook. Once they receive a complaint, delete that person on your list so as to avoid getting the same complaint.

Watch Your Reputation as a Sender

Monitor the health of your domain and IP with the help of Google Postmaster Tools, Microsoft SNDS, and MXToolbox. In case your IP has been blacklisted, find out why (i.e. bad list, high bounces) and correct it, and ask to be delisted.

Warm Up New IPs Gradually

Mailbox providers do not immediately trust new IPs. You can use a few emails the first few weeks to the most active users and then ramp up the email volume. Spam filters are usually aroused by sudden traffic.

Proper Handling of Bounces

Install the platform to automatically process hard bounces (invalid addresses) and suppress soft bounces after several attempts. When the bounce rate is high, it is an indicator of low-quality lists – a bad sign to ISPs.

Make a Uniform From Name and Address

And have a familiar and stable sender identity. Do not use a free email address when marketing such as an address like @gmail.com but rather send with your domain (e.g., address like @yourbrand.com). It is more believable and creates new acquaintances with subscribers.

List Management and Consent

Why list management matters:

A bad email list cannot be corrected even by the best setup mail server. The spam complaints are caused by the fact that individuals did not want to receive your emails in the first place — or they did not remember that they registered. Good deliverability is based on a clean and consent-based list.

Implement Double Opt-In

In case a person subscribes, email back to confirm that they were able to send a confirmation email. This ensures:

• The address is valid.
• The individual really desires your emails.
• Your list is still of high quality and active.

Never Use Purchased Lists

One of the quickest methods of wrecking your domain name is to purchase/scrape lists. These contacts are usually cold, uninterested or worst still, spam traps.

Regularly Clean Your Lists

Unsubscribe the subscribers who are not opening or clicking your e-mails after every six to a year. The important part is participation, which is a small, active list every time compared to a large, active one.

Make Unsubscribing Easy

Make sure that you do not conceal your unsubscribe button or make the users leap through a hoop. One-click opt-out will ensure that you have a clean list and no one will channel his frustration, which is to place you in the spam list.

Provide a Preference Center

Allow users to tailor the nature and number of emails they get (e.g., weekly digest as opposed to product updates). This is a tiny step that will greatly decrease the number of complaints since the subscriber will be in control.

Content & Strategy

The reason content strategy is important: 

With flawless authentication and an impeccable list, inappropriate content decisions may cause complaints. Individuals report emails as spam when deceived, bored, or intimidated. Your focus is to deliver meaningful, individual, and clear information.

Deliver Relevant and Personal Content

Segment and personalize message using AI (such as the campaign assistant of Relayzo) based on user behavior, location, or purchase history. The most common complain is irrelevant emails.

Avoid Spam Keywords and Style

Too many promotional words, capital letters, and several exclamation marks appear spammy.
To avoid such expressions as Act Now!, Risk-Free!, or Congratulations, You Won!

Set Clear Expectations

Right after registration, inform the users what they are going to get and when. Then, stick with that promise, when they anticipate a monthly newsletter, receiving daily emails, complaints will increase within no time.

Check Your Emails Before You Send

Check your spam rating with the help of Mail-Tester or GlockApps and preview your email in various clients. Always ensure that the links, images and authentication headers are functioning well.

The Finishing Touch

The problem of high spam complaints cannot be fixed in a single operation, it is a long process of building and maintaining trust of subscribers. With a tightening of your technical configuration, keeping an email list that is healthy and deploying the content that people do want, the number of complaints will go down and the inbox position will go up.

You already have the benefit of having full control of your sending environment in case you are using a self-hosted platform such as Relayzo. Add that to a well-thought strategy and you will have the basis of hassle free email performance.