Scrub Your Bulkmail List NOW!
In How to Not Suck at Email Campaigns I completely left out a HUGE part of not sucking; scrubbing your email list.
Sanitize email list
Scrubbing an email list before sending it out is something that rarely gets done but is actually pretty crucial.
See, email providers, the organizations that provide email like yahoo, gmail and hotmail, and some spam filters, actually look at the email addresses you send to and flag those they deem to be either role accounts or spam traps and they use that to determine part of your spam score. If your spam score is too high; you’re a spammer.
This assumes you have an honest list to begin with. If you’re buying lists of email addresses from people and sending emails to them you’re a spammer and nothing here is going to help you. Oh yeah, everyone else knows you’re a spammer too.
Fuck you.
Anyway, I first learned of the importance of scrubbing a list while preparing one of my clients email databases for a blast (they hired StreetWise to send email on their behalf). During the import process into the mailing solution we were using our account was put in lock down which essentially stopped the entire project dead in it’s tracks. After contacting the mailing solution I got the below response:
I do want to be clear that the list both contains spamtraps, role accounts (such as admin@) and other addresses with aspects that indicate that some part of the list may not be completely opt-in. Spamtrap addresses are those addresses that have generally been retired or are known by the domains postmaster to be inactive and as a result unlikely to be signing up for new mailing lists. These addresses may also be ones planted on a website specifically for email harvesting purposes. Sending to them indicates a lack of an opt-in process, the ideal option being a double opt-in confirmation method where members must both submit their email address and respond to a follow-up email before receiving regular mailings from the list.
Mail sent to spam traps, as with non opt-in mail in general, may result in a loss of deliverability for a sender. This may include domain blocks (refusal of the senders mail by a domain) or blacklisting by spam prevention agenies and further hurts the reputation of the sender.
Combined with negative feedback from the recipients (sent either to the sender, its ESP, or the users postmaster), not honoring opt-out requests, sending to a large amount of non-existent members, spamtrap addresses call into question the entire lists credibility.
So just what do you need to scrub for? Well, duplicates, MX records for the domain and syntax issues obviously but, more importantly, specific keywords in emails.
To start you want to get rid of any email address containing the keywords below (* is wildcard):
junk* admin@* root@* postmaster@* blackhole* confirm@* fuck* donotreply* help@* nobody@* *@poop.com support@* sysadmin@* *spam* dev@* devnull@*
That’s not a complete list of course; just the ones I’ve personally discovered to date. I plan on compiling a database of them once I get more and so should anyone who’s serious about not sucking at bulk email blasts.
There’s also spam trap email addresses. These are email addresses people sign up for that allow them to sign up for accounts and other services without actually giving their real email address.
They are insanely popular (and pretty annoying too).
So far I’ve only had to deal with a few though. You want to remove any email address from the below domain:
*@spamgourmet.com *@sneakemail.com *@mailinator.com *@trashymail.com *@mailexpire.com *@temporaryinbox.com *@spambox.us *@spamhole.com *@pookmail.com *@spamfree24.* *@kasmail.com
This is especially important on lists you’re sending on behalf of your clients. I have yet to have a client freely admit to having email addresses that haven’t been opted into properly; they always swear that their list is clean. I’ve seen HUGE corporations, we’re talking hundreds of millions of dollar companies, hand over lists that decreased over 20% once it’s scrubbed.
Cool thing is, though, that the client usually has no idea. Usually, someone told them they have a list of email addresses somewhere and, odd as this may sound, they’re actually thrilled to be told their list isn’t “good”. Makes you look like you know your shit 
Email
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But why would you scrub the temporary addresses like mailinator?
Owen,
One example would be that if you use an email service that sends email on your behalf, Net Atlantic for example, they will flag, and actually terminate, your account if you upload lists with temporary domains on it.
Another, and more likely, would be spam profiling. The way it’s been explained to me is that some of the temporary email providers moonlight as spam traps whereby emailers that send to them get “flagged” as spammers. This sucks because when you send the email to Yahoo, for example, your email gets thrown in the Spam folder because your list has no integrity to it (as far as Yahoo is concerned).
Granted, the above doesn’t apply to every situation so I always fall back on recipient intent with the question; “do they want to hear from you?”.
By their very nature temporary email addresses are useful because the owner doesn’t want to hear from you. They’re throw away accounts; hell, it’s in the term “temporary email addresses”. But add in the threat of raising your spam score and it’s too risky to keep them in the list.
That’s very interesting, thanks.
I’ve never used a temporary email address myself, but I’ve always imagined I might use it for initial sign-up of a service when they require an email address (and I don’t want to give them mine). I guess in the those circumstances I would be happy not to receive followup emails from them.
And I certainly can’t argue with the “too risky to keep them in” part. Thanks again.
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
good entry, but I have to ask about your anti-spam sentiment, not because it isn’t common but more because I fundamentally don’t get it and would be interested in your view.
Clearly the F-U says you are anti spam, but I suppose destroying trees and filling up landfills with direct mail is OK? Or perhaps you prefer a cold call campaign that that fills your voicemail full of useless messages and interrupts your day with sales people calling?
You are GOING to be marketed to as a business decision maker, email is both more convenient to seller AND buyer, is far better for the environment, and less interrupting than sales calls… yet everyone is so offended by email as a cold marketing tool? Why exactly is this? Is it because I didn’t pay for a 44 cent stamp? Why is it I don’t need “opt in” for direct mail and tele-prospecting, but do with email (and as we all know opt-in could mean anything)?
You are of course in the majority with your view, but why do you have that view? It simply doesn’t make sense. I’d be interested in your reply.
Hi Paul,
I think the critical difference is in the idea that people will be marketed to and they should just accept it. I find this idea just plain wrong. I find marketing to be an invasion of my world which, most of the time, distracts me from reality and the moment. Now this could be due to the quality (or lack of) but for the most part I find it an annoying part of my world.
Yes, there are certain social contracts where people accept that marketing will take place (for example television, magazines, websites) and we accept it because, and this is crucial I think, we get something we want out of it. The company who publishes the magazine I read or the television show I want to watch gets money which they use to keep making the product I want. Key point being That I Want.
But I don’t want viagra (not yet anyway
. Oh, and just what the hell is this acai berry I keep hearing about? When I get unsolicited email, meaning email sent from people or companies I’ve never heard of or done business with, I don’t get upset or anything but I do promptly delete it and add the sender to the spam blockers I use. Always.
Why? So I don’t get sent email from that sender again. Plus, it has the added benefit of helping to block that sender for other users of the spam protection service. And I’m not alone in how I handle spam either. Most of the spam providers crowd source their flagging and in my experience it works. Good.
Which, to me, really begs the question of why companies think it’s a good idea. I understand why spammers would but it’s such a narrow time that an email provider will accept email from a spammer that it’s almost not worth it. Hell, on bad lists I’ve tried to send, I’ve been blocked completely after as little as 5,000 bad emails. That to me makes no sense. Why bother?
That being said, I don’t think it’s any more acceptable to send bulkmail or cold call people than it is to send spam. For direct mail I’m completely stymied in how to block it but the cold calls have pretty much ceased completely (for me anyway) since the Do Not Call list was put in effect (yes, I’m on it).
Your point about email being more convenient than cold calls is true but completely false when compared to direct mail. Hell, the two shouldn’t even be compared because most mail comes once per day and is usually only checked once while email is nearly instant.
So, no, having an issue with abusive marketing isn’t because of cost of stamps or anything like that. It’s the invasion. The intrusive and unsolicited nature that’s irritating.
Of course none of this has to do with the above article; except for the relation to being a good email marketer contrasted with my personal feelings.
I’d be interested in your thoughts on this, Paul. I’ve never had the opportunity to pick the brain of a pro spam email marketer before. Kudos on being upfront on that by the way.
Eric