Let’s be honest: spam traps can quietly wreck your B2B email marketing. You get stuck in spam folders, sender reputation tanks, and suddenly your “hot leads” are ice cold. If you send cold or newsletter emails to a big list, this guide is for you. We’ll walk through how to use Zerobounce to spot and remove spam traps—without wasting time or falling for silver-bullet promises.
Why You Should Care About Spam Traps
Spam traps are sneaky. They look like real email addresses, but they’re actually set up by inbox providers or blocklists to catch senders who aren’t careful with their lists. Hit too many, and you’re flagged as a spammer—even if your intentions are good.
What happens if you ignore them? - Your emails land in spam (or get blocked outright) - Your domain reputation takes a dive - You waste money emailing addresses that’ll never convert
If you bought a list, scraped for leads, or just haven’t cleaned house in a while, chances are you have spam traps lurking.
What Zerobounce Actually Does (and Doesn’t)
Zerobounce is a popular email validation service. It promises to identify “toxic” emails, including some types of spam traps, so you can clean your list. Here’s a quick reality check:
What it does well: - Catches obvious invalid or disposable emails - Flags some known spam traps (pristine and recycled) - Spots abuse, role-based, and catch-all addresses
What it can’t do: - It won’t magically find every spam trap—no service can - Can’t predict new or hidden spam traps that aren’t on public blocklists - Doesn’t guarantee 100% deliverability (nobody does, no matter what the sales site claims)
If you’re looking for a one-click fix, this isn’t it. But if you want to reduce risk and keep your sender reputation clean, it’s a solid tool.
Step 1: Prep Your B2B Database
Before you upload anything, get your list in order. This is boring but important.
- Export your email list as a CSV or TXT file. Zerobounce eats those formats for breakfast.
- Remove obvious junk (empty fields, weird formatting, duplicates).
- If you have first names, last names, or company data, keep them in separate columns—Zerobounce lets you keep extra fields for matching cleaned results later.
Pro Tip: Don’t mix opt-in lists with scraped or purchased data. The dirtier your list, the more likely you’ll get false positives or miss real traps.
Step 2: Sign Up and Upload to Zerobounce
Head to Zerobounce. If you haven’t signed up, do that—there’s usually a free tier (with limits). Once you’re in:
- Go to the “Email Validation” section.
- Click “Upload File” and select your cleaned CSV/TXT.
- Map your columns (email address is required; other columns optional).
- Start the validation. Depending on list size, this can take minutes to hours.
What’s happening?
Zerobounce is cross-checking your emails against its database of bad actors, known spam traps, and risky domains. It also runs checks for syntax, catch-all domains, and more.
Step 3: Download and Analyze the Results
Once it’s done, download the results file. You’ll see new columns showing Zerobounce’s verdict for each address:
- Valid: Looks safe, passes checks.
- Invalid: Doesn’t exist, bounces, or has bad syntax.
- Spamtrap: Flagged as a known spam trap.
- Abuse: Linked to people who mark emails as spam.
- Do Not Mail: Catch-all, toxic, or role-based (like sales@ or info@).
What to actually pay attention to: - Spamtrap and Do Not Mail: Remove these from your list immediately. They’re high risk. - Invalid: Delete these—no point in keeping obvious bounces. - Abuse: If you’re risk-averse, drop these too.
What can be ignored (for now): - “Catch-all” addresses can be tricky. Some are real people at companies; some are honey pots. If you have lots, consider segmenting and sending only to your best, most recent catch-alls.
Step 4: Remove Spam Traps and Toxic Addresses
Now comes the actual cleaning:
- Filter your file for anything marked Spamtrap, Do Not Mail, Invalid, or Abuse.
- Delete these rows from your master list.
- Save your cleaned list as a new file—don’t overwrite the original. You’ll want a backup in case you need to check what was removed.
Pro Tip: If you’re using a CRM, import only the cleaned list. Don’t just “unsubscribe”—fully delete the bad addresses so you don’t accidentally re-mail them later.
Step 5: Monitor and Repeat
No matter how good your cleaning, spam traps can sneak back in over time—especially if you keep adding leads or using aggressive list-building.
- Set a reminder to run your database through Zerobounce (or a similar tool) every few months.
- Watch your bounce and complaint rates after sends. If things spike, something’s up.
- If you can, use double opt-in for new signups—cuts down on future headaches.
What not to do:
Don’t trust any tool (including Zerobounce) to “future-proof” your list. No service has a magic list of every spam trap, and new ones pop up all the time.
What to Skip (and What Actually Matters)
There are a lot of overhyped claims about list cleaning. Here’s what you can safely ignore:
- “Guaranteed 100% deliverability” promises: Nobody can offer this. Anyone who says otherwise is selling snake oil.
- Expensive “real-time” add-ons: For B2B lists, periodic cleaning is usually enough. Real-time validation is overkill unless you’re collecting signups from forms.
- Cleaning every week: Unless you’re adding thousands of new emails, quarterly is fine.
Focus on: - Removing known bad actors and spam traps - Keeping your sender reputation healthy - Regular, not obsessive, list hygiene
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple
Spam traps are a pain, but the fix isn’t rocket science. Clean your list, trust but verify what the tool tells you, and don’t get overly obsessed with “perfect” deliverability. Most of the gains come from just getting rid of the obvious junk and traps. Iterate as you go—you’ll save your reputation, your budget, and your sanity.
Now, go clean that list. Then go do something more fun.