Spam trap risk checker: how exposed is your email list?
A spam trap risk checker scores the habits that put traps on a list, because nobody outside the mailbox providers and blocklist operators can tell you which addresses are traps. Answer nine questions about where your list came from and how you maintain it, and get an exposure level and a fix for each risky habit.
9 questions left.
By SimpleVerifier Team · Last updated · Runs in your browser; nothing you paste is sent to us
How do I check my spam trap risk?
- Answer each of the nine questions about how the list was built and maintained.
- Press Score my exposure.
- Read the exposure level and the drivers: the answers that raised it, with why and what to do.
- Fix the heaviest drivers before the next large send, starting with any purchased or scraped addresses.
- Remove dead addresses before you send by checking the list. Sign in with Google for the free email checks.
What is a spam trap?
A spam trap is an address that exists to catch senders with poor list practices. Mailbox providers and blocklist operators use them in two main ways. A pristine trap was never used by a person, so the only way it got on a list is scraping or buying. A recycled trap belonged to a real person once; after the mailbox was abandoned for long enough it was turned into a trap, so mailing an old, unengaged list can hit one. Our guide on how spam traps get on your list walks through both.
Hitting a trap is a signal about how you collected and maintain the list. Providers and blocklist operators can act on it with filtering or listing, which is why the cure is changing the habit rather than finding the address.
Can a tool find the spam traps in my list?
No tool outside the mailbox providers and blocklist operators can name trap addresses, since their value depends on staying secret. Be wary of any service that promises to list the traps in your file. What can be done is to remove the conditions that lead to them: no purchased lists, confirmed opt-in, removing long-silent contacts, and removing hard bounces after each send.
Verification helps in a limited way. It can't identify a trap, but it removes addresses that can't receive mail, typo domains and disposable addresses, which are the other bad rows that tend to ride along with neglected lists.
How do I get rid of spam traps?
Stop sending to the part of the list most likely to contain them: anything bought or scraped, and contacts with no opens or clicks for a year or more. Send those people one permission or re-engagement email, and keep only the ones who respond. Then stay clean: confirm new signups, suppress hard bounces on every send and keep the suppression list when you change platforms (suppression lists).
Who uses this tool, and for what?
- Newsletter owners
- Decide whether an old list needs a re-engagement email before it is mailed again.
- Agencies
- Show a client which habits drive their risk, with the order to fix them in.
- Cold emailers
- Judge a list built from public sources before its first send.
- Marketers
- Check what an inherited or acquired list means for the first campaign.
What can’t this tool tell you?
- It scores habits, not addresses. It cannot find or confirm spam traps.
- The weights are a judgment of relative risk, not measured probabilities. Treat the level as a prompt, not a forecast.
- Nothing you answer is sent anywhere, and nothing is looked up about your list or domain.
- A low score does not mean no traps; it means fewer of the usual causes.
Common questions
- How do I know if I have spam traps on my list?
- You usually find out by effects: sudden delivery drops, blocklist listings or complaints from a provider. The practical approach is to remove the causes: purchased lists, long-unengaged contacts and unconfirmed signups.
- How do spam traps get on a list?
- Two ways. Pristine traps are addresses no person used, so they only appear through scraping or buying lists. Recycled traps are old, abandoned mailboxes that providers turned into traps, so they appear on lists that haven't been cleaned.
- Does email verification remove spam traps?
- Not reliably. A trap looks like a working mailbox from outside. Verification does remove invalid, typo and disposable addresses, which cuts bounces on the same list.
- What happens if I hit a spam trap?
- The provider or blocklist operator may treat it as evidence of poor list practice. The effect ranges from filtering to blocklist listing, depending on the operator and how often it happens.
- Is my information stored?
- No. Answers stay in your browser and nothing is sent to us.
Sources
Authentication and capacity are half of deliverability.
The other half is who you send to. Every hard bounce counts against the domain and inboxes you are sending from, and nothing in DNS can tell you which addresses on your list are dead.
- Bulk verification with real SMTP mailbox checks
- Hard bounces removed before a send, not discovered after
- Catch-all, disposable and role detection on every row
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