Conquering Spam: How to Protect Your Contact Forms from Bots
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Why is my contact form getting spammed?
You can choose between an invisible reCAPTCHA badge and the “I’m Not A Robot” checkbox. In technical terms, form spam happens when malicious internet users or bots submit unwanted messages using online forms with the end goal of phishing, hacking, scamming, or sending abusive messages. This means they are sometimes ineffective in blocking new attacks from today’s advanced, more sophisticated bots. WAFs are still an important piece of form spam prevention, but they work best in tandem with other methods. Before we can dive into the methods for preventing bot attacks and spam form submissions, we must understand what they are and why they are so detrimental to your marketing efforts. This will help you avoid malicious bots and ensure only real people submit forms.
Spam is a major nuisance for businesses of all sizes. It can clog up your inbox, waste your time, and even damage your reputation. Contact forms are a particular target for spammers, as they can be easily automated. As the premier provider of bulk contact form submission services, we understand the importance of protecting your contact forms from spam. Here are five strategies to help you do just that:
- Traditional CAPTCHA involves deciphering text or puzzles, while reCAPTCHA, developed by Google, uses algorithms to analyze user interaction, often requiring no user action.
- Sometimes, they toss random characters in hidden or normal fields to confuse the system.
- It’s estimated that nearly half of all CAPTCHAs completed are now completed by bots.
- One emerging trend is the use of AI-powered bots that mimic human behavior to evade CAPTCHA challenges.
- Take your time and learn to implement these strategies to make things easier for you in the long-run.
1. Add a CAPTCHA
Integrating it with popular WordPress contact form plugins such as WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Contact Form 7 takes just seconds. Once enabled, Akismet will scan contact form submissions for suspicious elements found by spam filters or within known spam databases. Form spam bots pose a significant threat to websites and businesses, as they can cause significant damage to their online reputation, SEO ranking, and user experience. They can mimic human behavior and actions in online forms, such as filling out required fields, clicking on checkboxes, and submitting data.
A CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) is a challenge-response test that is used to determine whether or not a user is human. CAPTCHAs are typically visual puzzles that are difficult for computers to solve, but easy for humans. Adding a CAPTCHA to your contact form can help to deter spammers, as they will not be able to automate the submission process.
2. Use a honeypot field
A honeypot field is a hidden form field that is not visible to users. Spam bots will often fill out honeypot fields, which can help you to identify and block them. To create a honeypot field, simply add a hidden input field to your form and give it a name that is not used by any other fields on the form.
3. Validate user input
Validate user input to ensure that it is in the correct format. For example, you can check that email addresses are valid and that phone numbers are in the correct format.
Integrating CAPTCHA services into your website forms is a straightforward process, often involving just a few lines of code. Many of these services are integrated into various plugins and web platforms, making it easy for you to enhance your form security. Adding a CAPTCHA to your form is a quick and easy way to protect it from attacks from spam bots. By adding a web application firewall, it is possible to manage severe attacks and prevent bots from spamming your forms. You can also control the location from which the contact forms are being filled. For example, if you have been witnessing a lot of spam activities from a particular location/country or IP address, you can permanently block such addresses or geolocations.
4. Limit the number of submissions per IP address
Limit the number of submissions that can be made from a single IP address. This can help to prevent spammers from submitting multiple forms from the same computer.
Double opt-in sends an email to a user directly after signup that requires them to check a box or enter a verification code to prove that the email address belongs to a real human. Now that we understand the dangers of bot spam on your website, let’s take a look at some spam prevention methods. If you’re receiving a lot of form spam with certain keywords such as pharmaceuticals, you can set up a filter on your form to block any submissions that contain these keywords. HCAPTCHA is a popular alternative to Google’s reCAPTCHA, focusing on user privacy and data protection. It functions similarly by presenting challenges that are easy for humans but difficult for automated systems to solve.
Using a honeypot trap, bots will automatically fill out all form fields, including hidden ones, while legitimate users would not. When a bot attempts to submit a form, website owners can detect it using a honeypot trap and take appropriate action, such as blocking the submission or displaying a CAPTCHA challenge. The one problem with this is that the autocomplete option allows legitimate users to fill out forms almost instantaneously which can make it difficult to tell this from the submission of a spambot. To use this protection method effectively, you need to do some research to find the average time it takes a human to fill out and submit a form. You can also add a question or reCAPTCHA which will cause humans to take a couple extra seconds to complete. You can help distinguish spam form submissions from legitimate form submissions by implementing time analysis to track the amount of time it takes to fill out and submit the form.
5. Use a spam filter
Use a spam filter to automatically identify and block spam submissions. There are a number of different spam filters available, so you can choose one that meets your specific needs.
FAQs
- **What are the benefits of using the Contact Form Leads service?**
- **Our service can help you to:**
- **Generate more leads**
- **Increase sales**
- **Save time and money**
**How much does the Contact Form Leads service cost?**
**Our service starts from $9 for 100k Submissions.**
**How do I get started with the Contact Form Leads service?**
**Contact us today to learn more about our service and to** get started.**
**Is your service legal?**
**Our service is completely legal. We do not use any illegal methods to submit contact forms. We comply with Anti-Spam Law**
Case Studies
**Company A** was able to reduce spam submissions by 90% after implementing the strategies outlined in this article.
**Company B** saw a 1000% increase in lead generation per spent budget after using the Contact Form Leads service.
**Are you ready to conquer spam and protect your contact forms from bots? Contact us today to learn more and get started.**
Avoiding the Spam Trap: How to Ensure Your Bulk Emails Get Delivered
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It’s a Wrap!
It is much easier to avoid winding up on a blacklist than to try and remove yourself from one. If you are on a blacklist, it needs to be your number one priority to get off of it. You will need to demonstrate better sending habits and an improved mailing list, which are good practices anyway. For some larger ISPs, you will need to contact them and demonstrate that you’ve changed your sending practices.
Spam traps
In today’s digital age, email marketing remains a powerful tool for businesses to connect with customers and drive sales. However, with the proliferation of spam emails, it’s essential to implement best practices for email deliverability to avoid landing in the spam folder.
Best Practices for Email Deliverability
You can use our contact form marketing for guaranteed inbox deliverability even when you send messages to millions of email per day. We provide millions of deliveries per day and your message will find a huge audience at the cheapest cost for any kind of marketing or advertising or promotion.
This guide provides best practices and tools that you can incorporate into your email strategy today. One of the biggest obstacles email marketers face is spam traps. Spam traps are specifically designed to identify and filter out unwanted messages. Understanding these traps and implementing strategies to avoid them is critical to email deliverability.
Start by sending low volumes of email and work your way up to larger volumes. This helps you build a solid reputation and improves your chances of getting high delivery rates. If your mailing practices are poor or infrastructure is not managed properly these problems (and the bad reputation) will follow you to your new IP address. If your mailing practices are poor or your infrastructure is not managed properly, these problems (and the bad reputation) will follow you to your new IP address.
It’s essential to differentiate between email delivery and deliverability. Email delivery refers to whether an email was successfully sent to the receiving server, without necessarily ensuring it reached the inbox. Deliverability goes a step further, focusing on the email’s placement within the inbox versus the spam folder or not being delivered at all. Email deliverability is a crucial metric for email marketers, digital marketing professionals, and business owners focused on optimizing their email campaign performance. At its core, email deliverability refers to the ability of an email to successfully reach the recipient’s inbox.
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- Use a reputable email service provider: Choose a provider with a clean IP reputation and robust anti-spam measures.
This could mean showing that you’ve reduced your mailing list to a smaller but more engaged audience. In the past, you might get soft bounced if you try to email someone with a full inbox. These days, most email service providers offer much larger inboxes, so this is rarely the reason for a soft bounce. Let’s say you’ve created a new email campaign as part of your Black Friday marketing strategy.
Complying with CAN-SPAM is ultimately the bare minimum when it comes to sending email. We recommend stepping it up a notch and going above and beyond CAN-SPAM by following the other recommendations in this guide. SPF and DKIM provide options to publish your records in “test” mode. This provides the opportunity for testing without risking delivery failures. Moreover, SMTP2GO automatically handles domain authentications such as SPF and DKIM. GlockApps offers a powerful trio of features designed to enhance your email deliverability.
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- Maintain a clean email list: Regularly remove inactive or invalid email addresses from your list to improve bounce rates.
- Avoid spam trigger words and phrases: Steer clear of words like “free,” “sale,” and “buy now” in your subject lines and body text.
- Provide clear opt-out options: Include an unsubscribe link in every email to demonstrate compliance with anti-spam laws.
- Test your emails before sending: Use email testing tools to check for spam filtering issues and ensure optimal readability.
It’s a two-step process where users confirm their subscription, typically by clicking a link sent to their email. This extra step reduces the likelihood of spam complaints and improves the overall health of your email list. You may also want to consider that the industry-acceptable standard spam complaint rate is less than 0.1% (1 complaint for every 1,000 messages sent).
Avoiding Spam Filters
Contact Form Leads sends unique messages from unique IPs and never gets caught to email or contact form spam filters. Your messages, your promo will always land inbox.
- This is a suspicious practice and ISPs treat new IPs with caution.
- Email deliverability has ripple effects, which means the higher the engagement levels are, the better the chances of inbox placement.
- If you want to communicate your video idea even better, you can incorporate a GIF (with a link) and track the click-through rates thereafter.
- If the signature is valid, it indicates that the email has not been tampered with during transit and that it originated from the claimed domain.
Spam filters use various algorithms to detect unwanted emails. To avoid triggering these filters, consider the following:
- Personalize emails: Include recipient’s name and tailored content to make emails less generic.
- Use a consistent sending schedule: Regular email blasts can establish your IP address as trustworthy.
- Avoid excessive attachments: Large attachments can be flagged as suspicious by spam filters.
- Monitor bounce rates: High bounce rates can damage your sender reputation and increase the likelihood of being blacklisted.
- Respect user preferences: Honor unsubscribe requests and avoid sending emails to recipients who have opted out.
Case Study: Contact Form Leads
Contact Form Leads, a leading bulk contact form submission service provider, is dedicated to ensuring email deliverability for its clients. By adhering to best practices and maintaining a high sender reputation, Contact Form Leads has achieved an industry-leading delivery rate of over 99%.
FAQs
Q: What if my emails still get marked as spam?
A: If your emails are consistently being flagged, consider seeking professional help from an email deliverability expert.
Q: How can I improve my IP reputation?
A: By maintaining good email practices, using a reputable ESP, and avoiding high bounce rates.
Q: Is it possible to avoid spam filters entirely?
A: While it’s not foolproof, implementing best practices can significantly increase the chances of your emails reaching the intended recipient.
Conclusion
Email deliverability is crucial for successful bulk email campaigns. By following the best practices outlined in this article and avoiding spam filters, businesses can maximize the reach and effectiveness of their email marketing efforts. Contact Form Leads is here to help you navigate the challenges and ensure your emails get delivered to the right inboxes.