Complaint Feedback Loops and ARF
Feedback loops tell senders when subscribers mark email as spam. These reports usually come from an email delivery service or mailbox provider.
Overview
A complaint feedback loop is a reporting program where a mailbox provider tells a sender when a recipient marks a message as spam. These reports help the sender stop mailing that person and identify risky subscriber sources.
ARF stands for Abuse Reporting Format. ARF is a common format for spam complaint reports. An ARF report can include machine-readable complaint information and parts of the original message headers.
Feedback loops are not the same as normal unsubscribe links. An unsubscribe means the subscriber used your provided path to leave. A complaint means the subscriber told the inbox provider that the message was spam.
Some email delivery services enroll domains in feedback loops and process reports for you. Other services require setup inside the email delivery service, Yahoo Sender Hub, Microsoft SNDS/JMRP, or another mailbox-provider tool. Requirements vary by email delivery service and mailbox network.
Yahoo's complaint feedback loop is domain based and relies on DKIM-signed mail. That means the DKIM d= domain matters. If your email delivery service handles Yahoo complaints for you, confirm that complaint events still reach Mailrith through webhooks.
Mailrith usually receives complaints through email delivery service webhooks. When complaint events arrive, Mailrith can mark subscribers as Complained so future normal marketing sends do not keep mailing them.
What to Do
- Set up DKIM for your sending domain.
- Check whether your email delivery service automatically handles complaint feedback loops.
- If the email delivery service requires setup, follow that service's instructions for mailbox-provider feedback loops.
- Configure email delivery service webhooks in Email Delivery Connections so complaint events reach Mailrith.
- After a controlled send, confirm that test or real complaints appear in both your email delivery service dashboard and Mailrith.
- Do not keep mailing subscribers who complained. Let Suppression Lists and Subscriber Status protect them.
- Review complaint patterns by signup source, subscribers, campaign type, subject, and frequency.
What to Check
- Feedback loops report spam complaints back to senders.
- ARF is a common report format for complaints.
- Complaint reports often depend on email delivery service and mailbox-network support.
- The DKIM domain can matter for feedback-loop enrollment.
- Mailrith depends on email delivery service webhooks to receive many complaint events.
- A complaint should usually suppress the subscriber from future marketing sends.
Note
If your email delivery service shows complaints but Mailrith does not, fix the webhook connection before you trust Mailrith's complaint count.