Spam complaints 101: Causes, impacts, and solutions

Spam complaints are an important signal that gives insight into the health of your email program. When a subscriber marks your email as spam, it’s often their way of saying something isn’t working for them. Should you receive too many complaints, it can impact your sender's reputation and ability to deliver mail to the inbox in the future.

In this article, we’ll explore the various reasons behind spam complaints. We’ll break down how complaints are tracked through feedback loops (FBLs) and direct Abuse Desk reports, explain the different weights given to these types of complaints, and discuss how mailbox providers handle spam reporting. You'll also learn about expected spam complaint thresholds, how they impact deliverability, and what actions beehiiv may take if rates become problematic. Most importantly, we’ll show you where these complaints are visible in the product, and provide practical steps to address and reduce further complaints.

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Why do people mark emails as spam?

As we know, subscribers mark emails as spam for various reasons, not all of which are malicious or deliberate. Some of these reasons may include:

• Inbox Management: Some use the spam/junk button to clean up their inboxes.
• Distrust in unsubscribe links: Subscribers might feel safer using the spam button rather than trusting an unsubscribe link.
• Lack of affirmative consent: Legitimate complaints often arise when emails are sent to individuals who did not affirmatively opt-in to receive communications, including sending to shared, purchased, or scraped lists.
• Irrelevant Content: Emails that don’t align with subscribers’ expectations or interests can be perceived as spam, even if consent was initially provided.
• Excessive Frequency: Sending too many emails in a short period can overwhelm subscribers, prompting them to mark your emails as spam to reduce inbox clutter.
• Expired consent and disinterest: Subscribers who grow wary or lose interest, or haven’t interacted with your emails for a long time might forget they opted in and mark your emails as spam.

While beehiiv understands that spam complaints are not always as intended and that reasons vary, continuous reports or high spam complaint rates often signal serious issues that require immediate attention.

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What are feedback loops (FBLs)?

FBLs are mechanisms offered by some mailbox providers to notify senders of spam complaints. The process starts when a subscriber hits their spam/junk button within their email client. From there, the participating mailbox provider sends the complaint to beehiiv. Today, there are upwards of 30 mailbox providers that offer FBLs including:

• Yahoo
• AOL
• Comcast
• Hotmail / Outlook.com (limited implementation)
• Earthlink
• Cox

However, it’s important to note that Gmail, the largest freemium mailbox provider, does not provide a standard FBL. This means that if the majority of your list is composed of Gmail addresses, you may only see a fraction of the actual complaints your emails generate.

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FBL complaints vs. direct abuse desk complaints

Not all spam complaints are created equal. At beehiiv we differentiate between two types of complaints: feedback loop (FBL) complaints and those submitted directly to our abuse desk known as direct abuse desk complaints.

• FBL complaints: These are automated notifications sent by participating mailbox providers when a recipient marks an email as spam within their email client. They are valuable for monitoring complaints but represent only a small portion of your audience. Approximately 30% of an average beehiiv subscriber list can report spam via a FBL, meaning on average you won’t see complaints against 70% of your traffic.
  
  
• Direct abuse desk complaints: These occur when someone reports spam directly to [email protected]. These complaints are weighed more heavily as they require deliberate action, including writing to our abuse@ address and submitting a detailed form.

It’s also important to call out the distinction between spam reports and having your mail delivered to the ‘spam’ folder. They are 2 separate actions and are not the same. Spam reports take place when your subscriber hits their ‘this is spam’ button within their email client. Mail delivered to the spam folder is an action taken by the mailbox provider based on their interpretation of your mail. Should a mailbox provider place your mail in the spam/junk folder, subscribers can not report the mail as spam, and have it count towards your complaint rates, as the message was already marked as spam. 

As an example, if you send 10 emails, where 5 of them went to the spam folder, and the other 5 were delivered to the inbox, but 2 people marked them as spam, you would only see 2 emails in your spam complaint total.  

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Spam complaint rates

Spam complaint rates measure the percentage of delivered emails that your recipients mark as spam. This metric is crucial for understanding how well your emails are being received and how they affect your sender's reputation.

The formula for calculating your spam complaint rate is straightforward:

Spam Complaint Rate (%) = Number of Spam Complaints / Number of Emails Delivered to Feedback Loop Providers × 100

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Acceptable vs. problematic rates

At beehiiv, we consider the following thresholds for FBL spam complaint rates:

• Acceptable Rate: 0.10% or lower (1 complaint per 1,000 emails delivered).
• Problematic Rate: 0.30% or higher (3 complaints per 1,000 emails delivered).

As we know, mailbox providers look at hundreds of signals when determining what to do with your mail.  However, exceeding 0.30% is a certain red flag. High complaint rates can trigger deliverability issues such as deferrals, email blocking, or placement in the spam folder, which is why managing your complaints is critical.  

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Managing and reducing spam complaints

Effectively reducing spam complaints involves more than just maintaining compliance; it’s about fostering trust, relevance, and a positive experience for your subscribers. Below are strategies to help you maintain a healthy email program and minimize complaints:

• Ensure affirmative consent: Only send to subscribers who have explicitly opted in to receive your emails. Subscriber consent must be informed and unambiguous, where recipients must fully understand what they are consenting to and freely agree to receive communications. (e.g., blanket consents; consents provided on behalf of a third party; shared, purchased, rented, scraped, or borrowed lists that do not consent to receive communications from your business is strictly prohibited.)
  
  
• Monitor engagement and clean lists frequently: Inactive subscribers are more likely to mark your emails as spam simply because they don’t remember signing up or no longer find your content relevant. Regularly review your list(s) and segment by last open or click date to identify disengaged recipients. Create a re-engagement campaign to win them back or confirm their interest. If they remain unresponsive, remove them from your list to protect your email health.
  
  
• Set expectations from the start: Clearly communicate what subscribers can expect when they sign up for your newsletter. Include details about the type of content you’ll send and how frequently. Examples of past newsletters are always a great idea. As well, a welcome email is a great opportunity to reinforce this information and remind subscribers why they joined your list.
  
  
• Use double opt in / confirmed opt in: Implement a double opt-in process (link) to ensure subscribers are genuinely interested. This reduces accidental sign-ups, typos, fake email addresses, and potential complaints from people who don’t remember subscribing.
  
  
• Deliver on content and frequency expectations: Ongoing relevance is key to maintaining trust and interest. Send emails that align with the preferences and expectations subscribers indicated when signing up, including content and frequency. Don’t get tricky and try to deviate.
  
  
• Avoid misleading subject lines or bait-and-switch tactics, as these can frustrate subscribers and lead to complaints.
  
  
• Add a way for subscribers to share feedback directly in your emails, such as a ‘Was this email helpful?’ link or options to adjust their preferences. This gives recipients a constructive alternative to marking your email as spam.

By combining these proactive strategies, you can build stronger relationships with your subscribers, reduce spam complaints, and maintain a thriving email program. For more tips on avoiding spam filters, check out this helpful guide on email deliverability from our blog.

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Where to see if there were spam reports for your publications

Again, you will not see direct abuse desk complaints registered against you, but you can check to see if anyone has reported your emails as spam via an FBL after each of your posts has been published by going to the post dashboard.

1. From the left panel Dashboard, click on Posts.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Click on the name of one of your published posts to view its data analytics in a dashboard.
   
   
3. The post dashboard will open on the Performance tab with the Email & Web view selected. Across the top you’ll see your analytics at a glance.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. In the Unsubscribe Rate box, you’ll find a tally for Spam Reports, if any were submitted.