Ever wondered what it takes to get permanently banned by your email service provider? Think again – it's surprisingly simple!

Whether you're a seasoned email marketer or just starting out, knowing the top pitfalls to avoid can save you from email oblivion.

No cap. I’m not trolling!

You DEFINITELY don't want to get kicked off your email-sending platform. Saying goodbye to your email list isn't as easy as waving goodbye; it takes strategy and finesse. Once mailbox providers detect you're constantly jumping around, they'll start to ban your emails too. You'll really be in deep trouble when THAT happens!

Want to instantly become the list manager pariah? Start by committing one of these three email sins that'll leave you persona non grata in the email world.

First up, I've got Data Harvesting to Oblivion —a fast track to digital disaster.

The next piece of the puzzle isn't up for discussion: spam complaints. They can be a massive red flag, marking the beginning of the end, and make you suffer the consequences of a tarnished reputation.

Finally, I'll explore why Excessive Bounces Will Get YOU Bounced right out of your email platform.

The email marketing "dos and don'ts" list just got a whole lot longer. I'm spilling the beans on the most notorious offenses that'll earn you a one-way ticket to the ban list, and how to clean up your act. Keep reading. You won't want to blink, or you'll miss it!

Whenever someone wants to hire you to manage their email list, the first question you should always ask is, “How did you acquire these email addresses?”

And if you’re starting out with your own email list, I’d like to ask you the same question, “How did YOU acquire these email addresses?”

If you’re in the United States or Canada, you legally allowed to “harvest” email addresses from the public domain. But, if you’re in the European Union, this practice is against the law with severe financial penalties.

So, what does it mean to “harvest” an email address? It means to grab email addresses off web sites, or to rent email lists from 3rd-party data aggregators.

Even though this practice exists, most reputable email service providers forbid sending to email addresses that have not given their explicit consent. Doing so is a violation of their Terms of Service and will get you de-platformed for sure.

Resist the temptation to harvest email addresses. It may seem like an attractive way to “jumpstart” your email list. But the probability your emails will make it to their inboxes is very low. So, you’re just wasting your time and your money, anyway.

Get this clear: mailbox providers don’t represent you. Mailbox providers represent your subscribers. Their role is to protect your subscribers from YOU.

Every email app makes it so easy for readers to flag an email as spam. Mailbox providers have a very, very, very low tolerance for spam complaints. All it takes is just one or two spam complaints before you’re permanently blocked.

Most email service providers have systems in place to receive spam complaint notifications back from Yahoo and Gmail. And yes – they watch spam complaints from your emails.

Email service providers have an equally low tolerance for complaints. At first, you’ll receive a warning. But if you ignore their warning and they continue receiving complaints about your emails, then quicker than a dad joke at a barbeque, they’ll kick you off.

The key to avoiding the dreaded spam complaint is, first of all, make sure that you’re sending your emails only to those who have explicitly given you permission to do so.

The second key, which many novice email list managers miss, is to send the first email (typically a Welcome email) as soon as possible after capturing the email address. You’d be surprised. We all forget so quickly. Waiting more than 48 hours after capturing an email address to send the first email is recipe for disaster. You’re begging for a spam complaint!

The third key is to make sure that the email content you send matches what they’re expecting to receive. Look. You don’t like it when someone pulls a bait-and-switch on you. So why do it to your readers?

A “bounce” is email parlance for when a mailbox provider refuses to accept an email that you sent to one of their users. Sometimes it’s a temporary refusal, like a busy signal on a telephone call that us OGs grew up hearing. Other times, it’s a permanent refusal.

Email service providers will be tolerant of a lot of temporary refusals because sometimes, it’s their fault. But permanent refusals are entirely your fault. The most common permanent refusal is when you send to an email address that no longer exists, or never existed in the first place.

Email service providers will not, however, be tolerant of permanent refusals. Permanent refusals indicate a very poor quality email list. It’s one of the sure-fire ways that providers check to see if you’re violating their Terms of Service by sending to a list that you bought from Happy Dragon Email Lists in Beijing.

If you send emails primarily to business email addresses, then you’re going to get a lot of permanent refusals. It’s the nature of your business. People change jobs all the time. So, email service providers will give you some grace – but not a lot.

If you send emails primarily to consumers’ personal email addresses, then permanent refusals can still come. If you’re legitimately capturing email addresses (like through direct opt-in), then the source of your permanent refusals will be due to an invalid email address.

Some times, people accidentally fat-finger their email address. You’ll see this a lot since most people surf the internet on their mobile phones, not on their tablets or computers.

Other times, people consciously enter bogus email addresses just to gain access to a freebie that you’re offering in exchange for their email address. Other times, they’ll do it just to mess with you.

If you’re offering a freebie in exchange for their email address, then, if possible, deliver the freebie to the email address they entered. If they really want your freebie, then they have to give you a legit email address that’s theirs.

If you’re getting a lot of email addresses that are clearly bogus just for the sake of messing with you, then consider changing your email opt-in form. Use its “double opt-in” setting, if it has one.

Double opt-in means that a confirmation email gets sent to the address that was entered in the form. If it’s bogus email address, then no harm no foul. That email address won’t get added to your contact database.

There is a downside to double opt-in, however. That why you want to break this glass only in case of an emergency. Just because someone enters their email address in your opt-in form doesn’t mean that they’ll respond to the email sent to their address asking for their confirmation. Hey. I’ve been at this for over 18 years. That’s just the way it is.