Out of the 59 spam emails we received in the last 30 days, exactly zero were of any value:
- Many were pitching SEO services
- Others wanted to be our web development partners
- Some offered “scrubbed” email lists
Most come through our contact form, which feeds directly into our Pipedrive CRM.
They’re easy enough to deal with in Gmail – but we don’t want them clogging up our CRM.
Using Pipedrive CRM to filter our spam
Of course, there are smarter AI-driven ways to block spam, and we could implement more advanced website filters. But this automation is worth keeping: no matter what, some spam always slips through.
Our CRM automation normally triages new enquiries – adding labels, assigning owners, creating activities, and so on. We’ve now added a new condition before any of this happens:
If the enquiry comes from an address ending in @gmail.com, @outlook.com, or @yahoo.com, it’s filtered out.
When that happens, we automatically send a polite rejection email:
Hi,
99% of @gmail, @outlook or @yahoo emails we receive are spam.
We’re open to hearing from other businesses and freelancers, but expect them to be using their business email addresses.
If you can’t afford register an email address, then we’re not a right fit for you – what ever you are offering or want.
If we made a mistake, please connect with us via our LinkedIn page:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/automatico/
Thanks.
What if we are filtering out legitimate enquiries?
It’s possible, but unlikely.
We don’t usually work with businesses still at the idea stage, and those are the ones most likely to be using personal email addresses.
And if someone truly wants to connect, they can always validate themselves by reaching out to us on LinkedIn.
Removing spam that makes it through
We also have an automation to help us clean up spam if it ever reaches Pipedrive.
It’s triggered by setting a Spam label on a Lead, and does the following:
- Deletes the Lead
- Deletes the Person
- Deletes the Organization
Unfortunately, we can’t set an action to delete the associated Activity.
Need help dealing with Pipedrive spam?
It doesn’t take much time to set this up, so feel free to get in touch for an initial chat.
Remember to use your business email address or you will be rejected 😉