The final metric we will discuss is abuse complaints. Though it is not a traditional measurement in the sense of opens or clicks, it does reveal some rather vital information you need to be aware of. Abuse complaints are essentially spam complaints that start at the recipient's inbox and then end up routed to Benchmark Email.
Let's say you send your
email newsletter to a subscriber who hasn't opened any of your messages in the last six months, and for whatever reason, they decide to mark that message as spam. Once this happens, that action is sent to the recipient’s ISP, who then sends us a message notifying us of the complaint. When you accumulate too many of these complaints, with the actual number being at the discretion of the ISP and varying by industry, you could find yourself on a blacklist that prevents your messages from getting through to anyone on that particular mail server.
So how does Benchmark react to this? Well, after you send us all the necessary information (IP-stamped subscriptions or paper signups) and our evaluation does indeed show that you are a legitimate marketer who was wrongly accused of sending spam or inadvertently triggered a filter, there is nothing to worry about. On the other hand, if you are constantly sending mail to people who have expressed that they no longer wish to be on your list, or you are blatantly spamming, these actions will result in the cancellation of your account.
Even some of the best email marketers receive spam abuse complaints, yet just like your unsubscribes, you want to make sure you keep this rate as low as possible. This is not only critical for being able to continue with your email marketing efforts, but also keeping your marketing costs to a minimum. When you focus solely on the subscribers who want to receive your messages, you will dramatically reduce those complaints and enjoy a higher return on your investment in the process.
