Are you tired of getting spam signups over and over again and filling up your newsletter with signup spam bots?
One important way to keep your WordPress website safe is to stop spam registrations.
This means stopping any fake signups by automated programs trying to access your site.
By doing this, you protect your website from harm and avoid the hassle of dealing with constant fake registrations.
Did you know that it was estimated that 319.6 billion emails would be sent and received per day in 2021? Furthermore, 45.37% of all emails in December 2021 were classified as spam.
From January 2021 to 2024, there were trillions of emails sent, and nearly 35% of those emails were spam.
That shows why you should protect yourself from spam activity. This article will show you simple ways to stop spam registrations on WordPress.
So, let’s start!
What is Newsletter Signup Spam?
Newsletter signup spam occurs when automated programs, known as bots, complete online forms to join an email list without human intervention.
These bots indiscriminately fill out forms across the web, aiming to deliver messages to the recipient.
While not as overt as other types of spam, such as comment or contact form spam, newsletter signup spam can still pose significant issues.
Many email marketing services are expensed based on the number of subscribers, meaning you may end up paying for bot-generated subscribers, resulting in wasted funds.
Moreover, sending emails to nonexistent bot email addresses can harm your sender reputation, impacting the deliverability of your messages.
How to Prevent Newsletter Signup Spam Using CAPTCHA?
Adding reCAPTCHA or hCaptcha to a registration form is the first line of defense against spam.
In case you are not aware of CAPTCHA, it is only a mechanism to determine if a user is a person or a computer program.
Since there are many kinds of CAPTCHAs, there are also variations in the techniques each one employs to distinguish between humans and bots.
Here’s how to integrate CAPTCHA into your form:
Install Free User Registration Plugin:
- Go to your WordPress dashboard.
- Navigate to Plugins > Add New.
- Search for the User Registration plugin and click Install.
- Activate the plugin.
After activation:
- Complete the setup process or go to the dashboard.
- If you’re new, it’s recommended that you complete the setup.
- Ensure the “Anyone Can Register” option is enabled in settings to allow users to register on your site via the front-end form.
If setup is skipped, go to Settings >> General and check the Membership option.
The next step is to create a new form with CAPTCHA to protect you NewsLetter, and to do that. Go to User Registration > Add New to access the form builder.
Now you can see we would like to create a Recaptcha Registration Form but it won’t allow us to use that unless we add a reCAPTCHA key.
And to do that, start by visiting the official Google reCAPTCHA page to obtain the Site Key and Secret Key for reCAPTCHA.
- Click on the “v3 Admin Console” on the page and sign-in to your Google account.
- Once you’ve logged in, you’ll be sent to the Create page, where you may register your website.
- Ensure the website you register is where you intend to use the CAPTCHAs.
- Provide a Label and choose between reCAPTCHA v2 or v3.
- Enter the Domains, agree to the terms and conditions, and then click Submit.
- Google reCAPTCHA will automatically generate the Site Key and Secret Key for you.
Copy these keys and return to User Registration > Settings > Captcha.
- Select the CAPTCHA Type for which you generated the keys.
- Then, paste the keys into the respective fields and save the changes. If you’re using reCaptcha v2, you’ll have the option to make it invisible.
For reCaptcha v3 same keys and, you get the option to set a custom Threshold Score.
And for hCaptcha, you required Site key and Secret Key. You can get the key from the official site of hCaptcha.
As usual, complete the Signup process and choose to Add hCaptcha to my website or app.
Once the registration procedure is complete, hCaptcha creates the Site Key and Secret Key automatically.
Once copied, paste the above key to their respective place and click on Save Changes.
Once all the keys are updated, go to Add New > select Recaptcha Registration Form, and give it a name.
Now, to complete the process, you must enable CAPTCHA protection for the registration form:
- Navigate to its Form Settings.
- In the General section, locate the Enable Captcha Support option.
- Check the checkbox to activate CAPTCHA support.
- Click on the Update form to save the changes.
Congratulations! Your registration form is now integrated with CAPTCHA, effectively safeguarding it from spam.
Bonus Tip: Use Two-factor authentication (2FA)
Using two-factor authentication (2FA) adds an extra layer of guard by requiring users to provide two types of identification when logging in or accessing a secure system, such as a password and an SMS code. This process is akin to having two locks on your front door, making it more challenging for unauthorized individuals to gain access.
Incorporating a secondary form of authentication, like a code sent via text message, is an effective measure to thwart bot attacks, especially for forms when users sign in or register for services.
Various 2FA libraries cater to different programming languages. For instance, there’s Google Authenticator for PHP and the Django Two-Factor Authentication library for Python. Select the library that aligns with your website’s requirements and the programming language you utilize for development.
Conclusion
Protecting your WordPress website against spammers posing as newsletter signups is essential to preserving data integrity and guaranteeing that you are communicating with your subscribers in an efficient manner.
Strong tactics like double opt-in verification, two-factor authentication, and CAPTCHA integration may help you drastically lower the likelihood of spam entering your newsletter registration forms.
Furthermore, strengthening your website’s security measures on a regular basis and remaining watchful can help protect it from ever-evolving spamming tactics. You can preserve the integrity of your email list, improve user experience, and safeguard your reputation by making security a top priority and taking preventative action.
FAQs on Newsletter Signup Spam
How can CAPTCHA integration prevent spam by preventing newsletter signups?
By including CAPTCHA challenges in your newsletter registration forms, you can integrate CAPTCHA and force users to authenticate as human before completing the form. Given that automated bots often have difficulty passing CAPTCHA difficulties, this helps stop them from flooding your signup forms with spam.
Why is it crucial to use double opt-in verification to stop spammers from signing up for newsletters?
By clicking on the confirmation link supplied to their email account, users who sign up for a newsletter are required to double-opt in and verify their email address.
This lessens the possibility that spam accounts will be generated by ensuring that only legitimate individuals with access to the supplied email address are added to your subscriber list.
How can spam aimed at newsletter signups be avoided with two-factor authentication (2FA)?
By asking customers to submit two kinds of identification—such as a password and an SMS code—when signing up for a newsletter, two-factor authentication (2FA) provides an extra layer of protection. Because automated bots usually aren’t able to receive and input authentication codes supplied to them by SMS or other methods, this makes it harder for them to create bogus accounts.
