What Is Spam Bait and How It Works 

Email Marketers
Email Marketers

Spamming is a serious challenge for many Internet users. According to Statista, spam makes about 53% of the world’s total traffic. A spam bait is an email address used by ISPs and anti-spam organizations to identify fraudsters and combat malware. Due to the fact that it usually looks like a real address, it attracts spammers and helps to block the sender’s IP address. 

How Spam Bait Works 

Spam baits are used to protect subscribers of Google, Yahoо, Yandex, and others from unwanted emails. These addresses do not agree to receive emails, so they are added to the mailing list only if the marketer steals or buys a database of addresses. 

Spam baits are regularly monitored by ISPs. They are usually hidden and hardly detectable. They can be added to the lists of random addresses from the Internet and databases. Any mailings sent to these addresses are blocked, and the sender is added to the IP blacklist or any blacklists database available online. 

Spam baits are classified by how they were created. There are two main types: 

1-Original baits: these are addresses that were originally created to identify spammers and never belonged to real people. 

2-Converted baits: such addresses once belonged to real people and perhaps even were subscribed to mailing lists, but they are no longer used and are invalid. The provider can repurpose such email addresses. Any sender who continues to send emails to them is classified as a spammer. 

Why Are Spam Baits Dangerous for Email Marketers?

Since the purpose of the spam bait is to identify spammers, all incoming messages are classified as spam. Mailings to such addresses negatively affect the sender’s reputation. Consequently, the sender gets a high bounce rate and a lower deliverability rating. Here are some more negative consequences: 

1-ISPs can block an IP address if they find the sender’s email on a public blacklist; 

2-Email providers refuse to send letters to protect their customers and business; 

3-The recipient’s ISP has a right to not only block email but also blacklist the linked domain; 

Antispam organizations can send the sender’s domain to all Internet providers which they work with. Such actions lead to the blocking of any mailings from it.

Therefore, cleaning a mailing list is extremely important, as the address database may contain the email addresses of those customers who bought a product or service several years ago and are no longer interested in the brand. Sending letters to such customers is purposeless. To test the quality of your mailing list, send your passive subscribers a reactivation email. So, you will be dealing with an interested audience. 

So, it is worth to focus on your brand reputation and avoid purchasing databases to ensure that your corporate email will be protected from spam baits. Simply check your address book regularly and don’t send newsletters to those who are not interested in them.