In this article, we will break down the most common reasons why a Drip account might get blocked or banned

In this article:

• High bounce rates
• High spam complaint rates
• Explicit permission not obtained
• Sending email to purchased lists
• Content not supported by Drip

High bounce rates

If any email you send via Drip acquires a hard bounce rate violating Drip’s acceptable threshold, it is likely that further sending of email will be blocked.

Here are a few common reasons why an email might get recorded as a hard bounce:

• invalid email address
• a subscriber has canceled their email address
• non-existent domain

High spam complaint rates

Drip automatically watches all accounts sending patterns, including spam complaint rates. When we see a high spam complaint rate we may automatically block sending for the account to prevent any further emails from causing more spam complaints. It’s important to remember, subscribers mostly lodge complaints because they didn’t receive the content they originally opted in for.

Spam complaints can be caused for many reasons, but here are a few of the more common reasons:

• non opt in list
  • **just because someone gave you an email address, doesn’t mean they also gave explicit permission for ongoing email communication
• opted in a long time ago
• have not received an email in some time
• subscribers are disengaged and are generating low open and click rates, without regular list pruning occurring in the account
• you switched to Drip from a different ESP, and the newly found better deliverability is causing people to receive emails after an extended period of time without communication

In the end, subscribers report spam because they aren’t getting what they want or had expected out of the email relationship.  They feel, regardless of the sender’s intent, that what they received was unwanted and they considered the email “spam.” In essence, spam is whatever the subscriber perceives it to be so it’s important to go through each step of the opt-in process to make sure there’s no room for a misunderstanding when someone is registering for email marketing and information.

Explicit permission not obtained

If you will be using Drip, we require that every subscriber has given explicit permission to receive what you will be sending to them. Not only that, but explicit permission is the first step and cornerstone to a long lasting email relationship. However, the number one reason why someone may unsubscribe, report spam or simply not engage with a sender’s marketing is because they didn’t give that expressed permission to receive emails.

Permission cannot be given by a third party. Permission can never be implied. Permission must always come directly from the individual subscriber, and they must clearly express that permission for exactly what they will be receiving.

Here are a few common mistakes made when building a list, but not gathering explicit permission

• customers are not subscribers by default.
• a list of tradeshow attendees
• addresses collected via a ‘Free Report’ lead capture model
• co-registration
• requiring an email address to get to the next page, view a video, etc.
• past customers or trial users

Just because someone gave your business an email address, does not mean they want or expect ongoing email marketing, information, updates, etc..  Subscribers must all give explicit and clear intent to receive emails sent via Drip.

Sending email to purchased lists

Another common reason an account can get blocked or banned is if you are sending email content to purchased lists, or lists of subscribers that have not directly opted in to receive email content from you. It is important to understand that Drip should only be used for inbound email marketing. This means that the subscribers receiving your email content must opt-in to you in some manner. This may be through a form on your website, or by them getting added to your list by a third party integration connected to Drip, like Leadpages.

Here is an excerpt from our TOS explaining this:

Restrictions. When using the Drip Services you agree not to:

‘Use the Drip Services to email subscribers who have not explicitly opted in to hear from you. This means you agree not to send emails to purchased subscribers, purchased lists, or subscribers attained through co-registration (where a subscriber is added to your list from filling out a form on a different website).’

If any of the above conditions are ever violated, accounts are subject to getting blocked or banned without notice.

Content not supported by Drip

As an Email Service Provider (ESP) responsible for sending large amounts of emails for our many customers, we must manage and enforce our Terms of Service (ToS). We do this to ensure our shared brand and email reputation is always excellent. Sometimes that means banning the hardcore spammers, but sometimes that also means turning away good senders in a high-risk industry or niche. It’s one of the tougher things we do around here, but also one of the most critical to protecting our customers’ email deliverability.

Which industries and niches do we choose to not host content for?  Really, anything related to or similar to the following…

• illegal goods
• pornography
• sexually explicit material
• sex advice
• drugs or pharmaceutical information or products
• adult related products, services or novelty items
• credit repair services or opportunities
• dating or escorts
• stock trading, day trading or stock market content
• betting or gambling products or services
• network or multi-level marketing
• loans
• mortgages
• nutritional or herbal supplements, or free product/free sample giveaway
• claim your money/benefit/assistance or similar
• excessive third-party promotions
• “get rich quick” or similar content

Keep in mind that these restrictions are not exclusive to Drip’s email sending standards. The email industry as a whole has labeled most of these industries as higher risk, and Drip cannot make exceptions due to the high-risk nature of those industries as a whole.

Have additional questions? Please feel free to contact us.