If you collect emails to communicate with your audience (and I hope you aren’t ignoring this strategy like I did for so long), you need to pay attention to this…
The good news: My email open rates aren’t as low as I originally thought.
The bad news: A handful of my confirmed subscribers in the last several months are fake and costing me money.
The same could be happening to you, and I’m going to show you how to check this.
Here’s The Scoop
You do know that the bigger your email list becomes, the more you pay, right? Theoretically this shouldn’t bother you because as your list grows, the income grows too.
But if you start attracting fake subscribers, suddenly a growing list takes on a whole new meaning. You end up paying for dead emails.
And I recently discovered how bad the fake email problem is with my list when I examined my new, confirmed subscribers.
But let me back up a bit…
In this podcast where I talked about selling online courses, you might remember me discussing how I’m working to improve my email open rates. When I wasn’t sending emails regularly it was under 10% when I eventually sent something out.
That’s horrible, I know. But when you check the industry averages, you’ll see that open rates for almost any industry are in the 20s.
Then I started sending emails more regularly to announce blog posts and podcasts. Then my open rate increased to the 25-30% range, and even higher when I sent out emails ONLY to those who subscribed AFTER I started sending regularly.
Well, that’s all fine and good, but let me tell you why the above stats don’t mean diddly, and my average open rate percentages are better than I originally thought.
Something’s Fishy Here
I recently noticed that my email subscription rate was on the rise. I thought that was pretty cool, especially since there was no big increase in traffic. Some days it gets up to 50-60 new sign-ups when my daily average had been around 30 or so.
Whoo hoooo!
Then I took a closer look and noticed something suspicious about the sign-ups.
About 35% of my new email subscribers were from India and Pakistan, but those countries make up a very small percentage of my overall site visits.
Hmmm…
Unless certain countries perfer email over others, you would expect your country demographics for your email list to look similar to your site demographics.
I suspected spambots were the culprit. So I called AWeber Support and they concluded they many were bots based on the pattern, timing, etc.
And these spammers are very methodical about the whole process. They’ve done their AWeber homework! Let me explain…
I learned that AWeber has a back-end system in place where if an attempt is made from the same IP address within 3 minutes, they will block the subscriber. But many of the registrations were coming in at 4 minutes apart. So they’ve figured out AWeber’s time limit and are able to “beat” the system and subscribe.
The other problem is that taking actions on spammers based on IP addresses is very ineffective because because they use proxies. That means they use different IP addresses, and some don’t even match their actual location.
That’s why WordPress plugins like Limited Login Attempts that block spammers based on IP logins, are not as helpful as some people think. Once an IP is blocked, the spammer will just use another.
The truth is, spammers are always three steps ahead of us. By the time CAPTCHAs, spam plugins and other anti-spam products and services come out, they’ve already found a way to get around them and are working on the next exploit.
So we’re constantly in reactive mode and it’s very frustrating! 🙁
But Wait! You Don’t Pay For Emails That Don’t Confirm
My list has a two-step opt in process. That means in order to receive my emails, you have to confirm the email address. That subscriber is not counted by AWeber until the address is confirmed.
If I didn’t have this in place, the fake subscriber problem would be ten times worse!
Most email services don’t charge you if the subscriber doesn’t confirm. And in the past, spambots never completed the 2nd step so the address was deleted in 30 days.
Well times are-a-changin’ and now it appears the bots are indeed completing the email confirmation step some kind of way (I have this issue on my forum too.) That means I am paying for fake subscribers.
GRRRRRRR!!!!!
How to Combat This Problem
If you have a newer AWeber account (you signed up within the last few years), the simple solution is to prune email addresses that haven’t opened your email in X amount of mailings.
That will get rid of these addresses since spambots are not going to open any of your emails.
Here’s a tutorial on AWeber’s site.
But if you have a grandfathered account with an awesome price like me, that feature is not available. I can still delete manually using filters, but that takes forever.
However, since it appears I’m getting quite a few fake sign-ups, it may be worth upgrading and then pruning my list.
No matter what service you use, there is probably some kind of pruning option.
You can start by checking for patterns. If you use AWeber, login to your account and click the Subscribers tab.
For example, if your site has mostly U.S. visits and customers, but you see a disproportionate amount of subscribers from other countries, that could be a red flag.
Huh? Why Would Spambots Join an Email List?
Spambots target online forms, period. Submitting to them is an automated process that is done quickly and easily by a script.
Perhaps they are harvesting the “from” address of the list owner in the welcome email so they can sell it or spam them later. Who knows? But it’s definitely happening more and more.
Is Email Marketing Even Worth It?
I hear a lot of people say that email marketing is just not worth the hassle due to issues like this, filters, open rates declining, etc.
Well, I disagree. Despite any challenges I’ve had with email marketing, my list is profitable. I earn more from my list than what I’m paying AWeber every month.
So for me, it’s just a matter of making it even MORE profitable by correcting issues like this and working to improve conversions, etc. Not to mention, my list plays a big role in bringing traffic to my blog posts.
I also want to emphasize the benefit of having a niche site. 2 Create a Website is NOT a niche website. I cover everything from starting a website to AdSense, YouTube, WordPress tips etc. People subscribe for different types of content and may not tune in to every article.
On the other hand, my email open rates for my hair site are always 80% or higher. Yes, 80% is almost unheard of for email open rates these days.
Because it’s more of a hobby site, I don’t send out emails that often. In fact, I didn’t start collecting emails right away. But take a look at the stats from an email I sent in December.
Even though my mailing schedule is sporadic, I still get great results.
When you have a very specific audience, it’s much easier to target content to them because you know more about their needs and interests. Trust me. Your conversions will be much higher with email, affiliate marketing, etc.
Email is FAR from dead! It’s just about getting better with engagement.
Wrappin’ It Up
Even though I’m a bit bummed about the fact my list is not growing as fast as I thought; at least I know why my open rates appear worse than they really are.
And I want to say, I’m not picking on everyone in the countries I mentioned because I’ve got some loyal readers and customers from those locations. However, when your stats and demographics don’t add up, it’s time to investigate.
In any event, I hope you don’t have the same problem! Check on it because it could be costing you more money. Prune your list regularly to get rid of inactive subscribers and keep those costs down.
AWeber’s support team is working with my account to help me get my list cleaned up. [sigh] 🙁
Hi Lisa,
I read each line of your post as I’ve been doing a lot of work to improve my open rate. I use GetResponse and AWeber and both allow me to prune those subscribers who have never opened an email. I removed a lot of inactive subscribers recently and I noticed an increase in open rates and a significant decrease in bounces as well. I hope AWeber helps you get your list cleaned and keeps your current price.
Thanks for info!
Hi Lisa,
Can CAPTCHA stops spammer or any other method to used to stop fake email subscribers.
Thanks for this, Lisa. Sorry to hear your email list has been “botted” by spam. Sometimes, I feel like botting them back, don’t you?
Fake email subscribers is something I hadn’t thought to expect. But it seems from your experience and this post that our lists are not safe from this “fake” onslaught. They’re just the latest in a growing list that we bloggers have to watch out for. Not good.
I really wish Google would do something to help curb these spambots and those other irritating sites that clog up Google Analytics. I think they could. What’s your view on this?
Excellent news about your 80% open rates on your hair site. Great stuff!
Hi Lisa — I am a “lurker”, but that doesn’t mean I’m not a real person! I’m a newbie to Internet business and have been researching the best teacher for me before I pay to take your course and join your paid subscription site (I have a limited income). I SAVE all your e-mails and open them when I have time — I opened the one that brought me to this blog, even though I don’t understand a good portion of this subject it is still educational (and lack of knowledge is the price I must pay for “free riding” right now) . I’ll go back and “open” all of them, even the ones I haven’t read yet so I don’t get accidentally caught by whatever “cleaner” systems you wind up using.
I found you through YouTube and I must tell you that your videos, e-mails and Blog are very educational. You really seem to know your stuff!
Is there a way to subscribe to all of your “subject” blogs, or do I have to sign on for each one? I kind of hate to waste your time (and money) by subscribing to each one separately .
One note FYI … my IP address shows me as using a Mexican computer. I live in Mexico but am close to the border so I regularly take a laptop with me and use a wi-fi link. So… you could wind up with several IP addresses for me.
Thank you so very much.
Blessings,
Jerry
Hi Jerry
The list you subscribed to will send all my new blog posts to your email. I’m not sure what you mean by “subject blogs”? What have you not been receiving that you would like to receive?
Sorry.. I though for some reason you had several; blogs for different subject matter
Apparently some list providers will automatically delete subscribers if a “hard bounce” occurs after you send to your list. A hard bounce is when the list software encounters a delivery failure notification, as opposed to the email being delivered but not opened – a “soft bounce”.
I had the issue with fake subscribers through a MailChimp form and every day I was getting 20 – 30 fake signups. I ended up making a video explaining the problem and demoing how I’d integrated my code in the WordPress widgets.
I set this video as unlisted and sent it to MailChimp support. They gave me some suggestions including adding a radio button or check box that the subscriber must click to indicate they are real.
This didn’t help THAT much but there was a noticeable difference. In the end, adding WordFence together with iThemes Security killed the problem. I blacklisted all the I.P. Addresses automatically in WordFence.
Unfortunately, and as you pointed out, proxies present a problem that blacklisting will not always solve. I guess I got lucky. And it’s a small, relatively obscure site too.
Hey Lisa,
Before reading your post this morning I went on my email list and decided that I was going to do a bit of cleaning up.
I use Aweber and what I did was to set a date range for those who were unopened and to my surprise for the past 2 years I realized that there were like over 200 subscribers that haven’t opened a single email.
You are smart if you know what I did. Yep I cleaned up my subscribers list.
Thanks for this post again, Lisa.
Yeah I wish I had access to this feature as a grandfathered customer. I will probably upgrade but it’s hard to leave this great monthly price I have. Then again, if I have a bunch of dead subscribers, there’s no point and the upgrade will be worth it.
Are you saying that this option/feature isn’t on your Aweber account?
Really?
That’s a bit strange.
No, I have to upgrade. I’ve already called them. I signed up long before they had those features and after they added them they raised the prices A LOT! So in order to get them I have to upgrade.
I totally agree with you Lisa that blocking spammers based on IP addresses is a bad idea. I for one at times could not send out an email to subscribers because feedblitz says my network(or IP address) has been used to spam publishers. Well, I am one of their publishers, and I am being blocked. Anyway, I simply have to reset my router to get a new IP that is not in their blacklist, so it really is easy to get around it, although it is very annoying. Based on tests, even would-be subscribers are being blocked when they want to subscribe.
Anyway, I wish you’ll be able to sort and clean your list with all those fake subscribers. In my case, I can’t find an easy way to see which country a subscriber came from as feedblitz has no report like that, at least for those like me who got grandfathered with their lifetime free service for publishers who signed up in 2009. Yes, it’s free (I now have close to 23K subscribers and it’s totally free so I really can’t complain).
On another note, I used your link to get the AgentPress Pro theme from Studiopress, thought I’d let you know. It’s the least I could do because I really love the Genesis framework and I’m so thankful for your tutorial on the Lifestyle theme which made me decide to dump Thesis 2 and go for Genesis.
Lisa, this is such valuable information. I do a lot of reading online and off, yet no one has ever mentioned this problem. Thank you so much for sharing this information.
‘Perhaps they are harvesting the “from” address of the list owner in the welcome email so they can sell it or spam them later. ‘
==
That is the only logical explanation I think of too 🙁
The worse one for me is when you buy an item using your specially designated Paypal email address to later start receiving spam. As it’s not an email address used for any other purpose, I know it’s being sold or the product on sale was just a bait then switch.
Worse is when there’s no unsubscribe link.
Grrrrr….
Yeah the selling of emails and no opt-out is the WORST! It’s actually illegal but people get away with it.
Hi Lisa,
Another wonderful post and thanks for the heads-up!
As with my blog subscriptions, I am getting lots of subscribers during a period of time that bells “suspicion” because of my lack of activities over there. Upon checking those email addresses, I realized most of them do not have a logical email name, e.g. sejhdsu@something
What I did was to randomly send a note of thanks for their subscriptions to about 10 subscribers and at least 80% of them bounced. So, most of them are Spammers Registration!
I appended additional plugins like Captcha as well as a better Spam Registration software and the amount of subscriptions almost diminished. All the better 😉
Looks like I will have to check my mailing list subscribers for now, As I am not using Aweber autoresponder, I can’t tell who opens or did not open my email message. ;-(
Dear Lisa,
Very nice article. I am also come from India. But i am a real person. Your articles are very valuable. I read and studying your notes.
Regards
Rajesh.R
India (Kerala, God’s own country)
How embarrassing! I just realized that I didn’t read the numbers right. That’s what I get for skimming the post. Hahaha.
Anyway, I would still remove all the people who aren’t engaging the content and keep the ones who are. 🙂
LOL! No prob, Chris. 🙂
Whether they are real or fake subscribers, if I were you, I would remove the 10,000 that don’t open your emails and keep the 1000 that do. There is no sense in paying to keep people on your list if they aren’t engaging your content. You could use that extra money elsewhere.
Hi Chris, yes that’s true. That’s why I will probably upgrade so I can prune my list manually like newer customers can. Such a headache.
1k opens I’m jealous. If 25 open its a good day for me.
I can certainly relate to what you’re saying Lisa, an email address of one of my sites was being bombarded with so much spam I had to shut the email account down. My web host contacted me about the problem so I took the aforementioned action.
I missed the part where it explain how you were able to attract these fake subscribers in the first place? Are you marketing and promoting inside of forums that’s how you were able to get these people on your list? Or are you paying for something I am a bit confused!!$ I understand you have fake emails but how did you attract this?? Like what did you do different this time around?
No, they are signing up from the forms on my site. Spambots send out automated scripts that can find online forms. So they don’t even need to technically visit your site to sign up.
Hi Lisa,
I must say, those spammers will choke the life from themselves, if it made them a dime.
Although I can relate to the grandfathered account – I am surprised that AWeber doesn’t make the pruning option available to all of its customers. What the heck? Do they want your extra dollars as a penalty for not manually deleting something that they could do with the flip of a switch? Tsk-tsk.
Anyway, would it be feasible for you to “request” your subscribers to participate in a mandatory activity – such as a poll? The key is to tie the activity to the subscriber’s email address.
After three requests, or whatever you think is sufficient, simply compare the email addresses from the poll with your list. Anyone not showing up could be pruned, followed up or whatever. 🙂
Cheers,
Mitch
Good idea Mitch. Yeah if AWeber can’t get this resolved for me then I will have to do something like that. Pruning manually is a chore no matter how you approach it but I may just have to do it. Thank you for the suggestion.
Good Day to You Lisa,
I’ve been quietly working on my own project.
As always, you make so much sense out of chaos.
I’m not email marking right now, but you make a great voice for it.
You are absolutly wonderful, pointing out that 2 Create a Website is not a “niche” site.
I have to remember to limit my own focus in that area.
You’re still the best teacher I know!
My Best to You
Arth
Thanks Lisa .. only subscribers I get are people who know me and email me seperate or catch me at the usual places. Great tip though I think. I think one of the recent actions by many are the businesses asking if you wish to be removed…. I thought that was a good way to cull the lists … It used to be with direct mail order … Not a lot has changed … just the mediums … Nevertheless, your tipp is great and thanks! Rick Carter
Over the last couple of years, I’ve periodically purged my list of everyone who hasn’t opened an email in 6 months, but I’ve been wondering if I should do it sooner. My topic is very seasonal, however, so I don’t do as much purging during the “off” season. Can’t say if I’ve noticed any fake subscribers, though. Guess I’ll need to take a closer look! I have two mailing lists – one with a 30% open rate, and the other around 60%. I’m really impressed with your 80%! Thanks for the heads-up about this issue.
No problem, Debra. Yeah determining how often can be tricky. I think if you send regularly then you can prune more often. For example if you send an email every week and someone hasn’t opened in 3 months then they are probably not engaged. But if you send monthly and it’s been 3 months it could be that they missed 2 of the emails. So I think it depends on how often you send.
Wow. Thank you very much for sharing this painful event. This is a little disturbing but it is good to see that Aweber is helping you to fix it. It is also very nice that you have such a very high open rate with your hair niche site. Beautiful. Well done. That is very nice to see. Thanks again for article. I am sorry that this happens but I have a great deal of confidence in you. I know that you can find a way to make this a positive and profitable thing for you. Please keep me posted.
What a great tip Lisa. I have a small list with Aweber right now and just recently I was telling a friend that my subscriber rate was up even though I hadn’t done anything different in fact I was doing less in terms of promotion etc. So I’m logging in to Aweber right now to check the stats. Thanks for the tip. ????