Spam Complaints 101: What Are They and How To Avoid Them?

Spam Complaints 101: What Are They and How To Avoid Them?
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28 Dec 2020

Spam Complaints 101: What Are They and How To Avoid Them?

What a subscriber can complain about?

There are not so many reasons for complaints, and in most cases they are justified. The subscriber makes a claim when:

- Newsletter comes too often

If you overwhelm customers with promotions and offers several times a day, be prepared for unsubscriptions and complaints. Try not to go beyond two or three marketing emails a week and be sure to warn the user about the frequency of mailings - let him know in advance what he is signing up for.

- The newsletter does not meet expectations

You promised useful articles, but in fact you are offering to sign up for some kind of webinar. Or you talked about 50% discounts, but in reality you are sending coupons with a “pathetic” 10%. Promises have not been fulfilled and this is a good reason to unsubscribe. Respect your followers by avoiding the enticement strategy - it only works in the beginning. As a result, as always, - unsubscribe, complaints, "Add to Spam".

- Newsletter comes with errors

Subscribers are unlikely to like emails with personalization errors, broken links, and broken images. It's even worse when the newsletter is not mobile-friendly. And the most unpleasant thing is when, instead of one letter, the subscriber receives ten copies at once due to a failure in the mailing service. So choose a reliable service and always check the newsletter before release.

- Useless, low-quality content in the mailing list

The problem most often occurs in text-oriented mailings. The subscriber is waiting for serious long reads: with analytics and case studies, but in fact he gets vague articles, which are 90% water and advertising. It is clear that he is disappointed and his claims are quite appropriate here.

- The user was subscribed to the advertising mailing without his knowledge

The most dangerous moment. If the user did not give permission for the mailing, he has every reason to file a complaint. If the complaint is satisfied, then it will be referred to the court. So forget about the addresses from the purchased base and other scams with a subscription - this threatens with court, serious fines and loss of reputation.

Most of the claims are justified. Monitor the quality of the content, the regularity and correctness of the mailing Don't make unfulfilled promises and don't subscribe a customer to a newsletter without their consent.

What are the threats of subscribers' complaints

The consequences depend on the number and format of complaints. A harmless option includes rare unsubscriptions and spam complaints. Sad - massive claims with a downgrade of the sender's rating. And the worst is when the subscriber goes to the court.

Let's consider each case:

- Single complaints without consequences

You can't please everyone, so unsubscribes are inevitable. If the number of unsubscribed users is kept at a consistently low level, there is no reason for panic. Clean up the base of unsubscribed and continue in the same spirit.

- Regular complaints that threaten the rating of the sender and the mailing service

As the sender, you have a reputation that depends on the results of the mailing. Delivery errors, unopened emails and spam complaints all contribute to lower the rating. Even if the mailings are checked internally by the mailing service, the postal services may still regard you as an “unreliable sender” and then the delivery rates will drop even more. The worst-case scenario is when you, as the sender, are sanctioned by the postal services.

If you feel that there are much more unsubscriptions and complaints than usual - revise your mailing strategy, improve content, set up detailed personalization. Remember that you can always find out what the reason for the complaints is - conduct a survey among subscribers, ask them what they think about the content, what they are missing, etc.

- Regular complaints with social media reviews

An option when the sender's reputation declines along with the brand's reputation. It's one thing when a user just unsubscribed, another when he told about it on social networks. This happens when you seriously angered the client, for example, with unjustified expectations.

- Attention from the FAS and legal proceedings

So far, a rare case. The user declares that he was subscribed to the newsletter without consent. If it comes to court, then you face a fine. There have not yet been cases when the court sided with the sender, so you will only fight for the amount of the fine, trying to somehow reduce it.

Regular but infrequent complaints are not a big deal. It is worse when the number of complaints grows and when they become individual and are accompanied by comments on social networks and statements to the court.

How to avoid subscriber complaints

Getting rid of claims once and for all will not work - this is a utopia. But you can reduce them to a minimum, for this follow our recommendations:

- Choose subscription format double opt-in

In this case, the user subscribes through the feedback form and receives an email with a button or link to confirm the subscription. This is a safe method that will save you from "random" subscribers and erroneous addresses in the database.

- Discard the preset checkboxes

And attach the user agreement to the subscription form. Let the subscriber mark the item on their own that they agree with the proposed terms and conditions and that in principle they agree to the newsletter. Ideally, he should read the terms and conditions and know how often letters arrive and what will be in them - without surprises and breaking promises.

- Offer quality content

The advice is obvious, but at the same time key. If you are guided by the principle of "and so it will do", then complaints and unsubscriptions are logical and predictable. The subscriber wants the letter to be clear, beautiful, informative. To do this, work on strong text, select suitable, non-trivial illustrations and layout the letter so that it is displayed on desktops and mobile devices. It's great when a team of email marketers, copywriters, designers and layout designers are working on a newsletter. If you do everything yourself - don't panic, you have all the necessary tools. The content should be top notch, there are no excuses here.

- Make relevant offers

If you do not know your target audience and send emails without strategy and personalization, then you are hitting sparrows with a gun. The subscriber is waiting for offers for new smartphones, and receives mailings about the sale of refrigerators - of course, he is not interested. Work on personalization: find out the preferences of specific users and offer related products, track and remind of regular purchases.

The situation is the same in a content mailing list - divide your subscribers into segments. Those who are interested in market news - send news. Anyone who is waiting for serious, analytical articles - let them receive them. You can find out about the preferences of subscribers using a survey and based on their behavior on the site. We recommend using both methods at once.

- Discard any hints of Spam

"Selling", manipulative headers, promises of unrealistic discounts, large files in an attachment to an email - all this looks like classic spam techniques and raises doubts among both subscribers and email clients. And let us remind you that there is no need to hide the "Unsubscribe" link. A subscriber who cannot unsubscribe from a boring mailing list can seriously damage your reputation by posting his anger on social networks or filing a complaint.

If you see that complaints have become more frequent, correct the situation, do not postpone the problem until later. The faster you react, the fewer followers you will lose, and generally avoid more serious problems. If you are wrong, apologize and promise not to allow such situations. It is better to "go to the world" than to pretend that nothing happened and everything will resolve by itself.

What to do when the number of unsubscriptions and complaints increases?

First, don't panic. Look for the reason and start from it.

Check out the typical email weaknesses:

- Traffic sources and legality of the base

Check where the traffic is coming from - perhaps this audience is not the target audience, such users are not interested in your offers and they expect something different. Evaluate the landing page and the subscription form - is everything clear, did you talk about the format and frequency of mailings and, in general, whether the content matches the description.

- Relevance of the base

Any database becomes obsolete over time - mailboxes "empty", subscribers lose interest. Clean up and then reanimate the database with special offers, deeper personalization and, if all else fails, a warning that you are going to unsubscribe from "sleeping" users.

- Offer relevance

Find out how relevant your offers are, if you are wrong in your guesses about subscriber preferences. Returning to the problem of the relevance of the database, we recall that the preferences of the "old" subscriber change over time and it is important to track these changes. A year ago he was a student and was interested in smartphones, now he is the father of a family and has other requests - do not lose sight of such "subtleties".

- Content quality

A moment that is obvious to subscribers and, as a rule, is not obvious to you. As the author of the newsletter, it seems to you that there are no problems with the design at the level and with the texts. But in fact, emails are not opened, links are not clicked on, and they are constantly added to Spam. Show your mailings to those who can evaluate them with an open mind. And in general, make it a rule to constantly improve the content - it simply cannot be “excellent” all the time.