How to Prevent Newsletter Signup Spam in WordPress (3 Methods)

The Growing Threat of Email Newsletter Spam

Invalid signups are the bane of email marketers. In fact, industry experts estimate that up to 25% of newsletter subscribers could be fake or spam. This problem is only getting worse as bots become more sophisticated.

Spambots are automated programs that find and fill out online forms. They don‘t care about your content. Any email signup is a target.

This creates two major headaches:

More Costly Subscribers

Most email services charge based on the number of subscribers. More spam signups means you pay for bots, wasting money.

For example, if you have a list of 10,000 and 25% are spam, you‘re wasting up to $250 per month (at $10 per 1000 subscribers).

Damaged Sender Reputation

Sending emails to fake or inactive addresses hurts your sender score. This makes your emails more likely to get blocked or land in the spam folder.

In fact, return bounces from spam signups can blacklist your sending IP address. Very damaging for deliverability.

Plus, spam subscribers clutter your list and make segmentation and targeting more difficult.

Clearly, keeping your list clean should be priority one.

Fortunately, there are a few highly effective ways to prevent spam signups and remove bogus emails.

In this guide, we‘ll explore 3 proven methods to stop bots and maintain pristine email lists:

• Double opt-in confirmation
• reCAPTCHA protection
• List hygiene and scrubbing

Method #1: Double Opt-in for Email Confirmation

Double opt-in is the standard technique for preventing spam bots.

• It stops fake signups by requiring confirmation.
• Improves deliverability by ensuring list quality.
• Increases engagement from committed subscribers.

Here‘s how double opt-in works…

When users first sign up for your email list, they receive a confirmation email. To complete the signup, they must click a verification link inside that message.

This adds an extra step between sign up and subscription. Spam bots rarely complete the confirmation process.

According to Mailchimp, double opt-in can block over 90% of spam signups.

Double opt-in has three major benefits:

1. Removes Fake and Misspelled Emails

Spambots can‘t confirm as they don‘t check emails. Plus, any typos at signup won‘t subscribe bad addresses.

2. Improves Your Email Deliverability

Many major ISPs require confirmation before adding new senders. This ensures list quality and improves inbox placement.

3. Increases Subscriber Engagement

People who double opt-in made an effort to subscribe and want your emails. Expect higher open and click rates from confirmed users.

Double opt-in is easy to enable in all major email providers:

For example, to enable in Constant Contact:

1. Go to My Account > Advanced Settings > Manage Contact Emails

2. Scroll down and click Activate under Confirm Opt-in

3. Edit confirmation email and click Activate again

Now all new subscribers must confirm via email before joining your list.

Double opt-in keeps your lists clean and improves deliverability. But sneaky bots can still click confirmation links. For complete protection, also add reCAPTCHA to your forms.

Method #2: Add reCAPTCHA to Block Bots

reCAPTCHA is a free service that verifies users are human. It provides excellent protection against spam bots.

When enabled, people must pass a reCAPTCHA test before submitting your signup form. This stops bots in their tracks.

There are two steps to enable reCAPTCHA:

1. Get reCAPTCHA Keys

First, you need to register your site and get site and secret keys from Google reCAPTCHA.

Sign up here: Google reCAPTCHA

2. Add Keys to Forms

Next, add the keys to your form plugin or email provider. Here‘s how for two popular platforms:

OptinMonster:

1. Go to My Account > Sites and select your site

2. Scroll down and enter keys in reCAPTCHA settings

3. New optins will now show reCAPTCHA field

WPForms:

1. Go to WPForms > Settings > reCAPTCHA

2. Enter your reCAPTCHA site and secret keys

3. Edit signup form and add the reCAPTCHA field

That‘s it! reCAPTCHA is now active on your newsletter signup forms.

Nearly all bots will be unable to pass the CAPTCHA challenges. But for full protection, also periodically scrub your list.

Method #3: Regular List Hygiene and Scrubbing

Even with double opt-in and CAPTCHA, some spam emails can sneak through. Schedule regular checks to remove suspicious addresses.

Watch for these red flags:

• Oddly formatted or completely random emails
• 100% open rate but never any clicks
• Joined long ago but hasn‘t opened a single email

If you spot shady looking emails:

• Flag and tag them for further review
• Send a confirmation re-subscribe message
• Remove any that don‘t respond

This keeps your list clean of lurking spam bots and improves sender reputation.

For automated spam scanning and removal, use a service like Emailable.

It verifies and scores the quality of your list, filtering out high risk and invalid emails.

Keep Your Inbox Delivery Rate High

Getting newsletter signups only to have them be spam is beyond frustrating. Not to mention it damages your sender reputation and costs more.

Guard against invalid signups with these 3 proven techniques:

• Double opt-in email confirmation
• reCAPTCHA form protection
• Manual list hygiene and scrubbing

Taking these steps will help you build a quality subscriber list, increase engagement, and achieve inbox placement.

What other methods do you use to keep newsletter spam off your lists? Let us know in the comments!