Everything you need to know about complaints

The majority of complaints come from the feedback loops we have setup with many of the large email providers - so if someone reports a message they will send us a notification - this will be logged against your account and we will send you an email with details of the message.

I am not sending spam so why might I get complaints?

The term 'spam' has a very broad meaning and can include any of the following:

  • Junk email containing no meaningful information or random phrases
  • Junk email that is advertising any common spam related activities such as drugs, dating or online gambling
  • Fraudulent or phishing emails with the intention of deceiving the recipient
  • Virus or malware laden emails

...but it also covers unsolicited email that is advertising genuine services or products, this is why it is very important that you only send emails to people who have opted-in or specifically given you permission to contact them.

If you purchase mailing lists, harvest email addresses from websites or use mailing lists that have been collected via separate websites or businesses you will see a very high complaint ratio.

Sometimes people just simply report messages by mistake or mis-use the function that allows them to report messages as spam.

We do expect most users to see some complaints but typically within a ratio of 1 complaint per 3000-5000 messages sent - this would be considered 'normal' and not to be an issue.

How are messages reported?

Complaints can be generated by the following actions (in order of likelihood):

  • If the recipient clicks a 'This is spam' type button on your message
  • If a message is manually moved to the junk / spam folder by the recipient
  • A message is manually reported as spam via our website
  • If a message is automatically filtered to the junk / spam folder (not all providers)

How and when will I receive the notifications?

Once you have sent a mailing we typically see 50% of complaints within 24 hours, 70% within 48 hours and 97% within 2 weeks.

When we receive complaint notifications they are processed automatically, logged against your account and an email will be sent to the complaints notification address on your account (default to the admin address) with information about the message and the recipient.

What should I do with complaints?

If you receive a complaint you should delete the recipients email address from your mailing list or database immediately without sending them any further messages.

If you feel it has been reported in error because you have some kind of personal or business relationship with them we would recommend that you contact them by other means and ask them to:

  • Ensure your email address is in their contact list
  • If possible whitelist your email address with their provider
  • Check their spam / junk folder for any messages from you, if there is any mark them as 'Not Spam' and move it back to their Inbox

For more information on how to avoid complaints please see How can I avoid getting complaints?