Mailchimp is perhaps the most popular email marketing tool available today. But if you are running a massive lists, you may encounter an error when you try to send an email. This error is known as the “Omnivore” error. The error message has already been described by Mailchimp and the solution is also listed. But if you are still facing this problem, here’s a guide that will help you fix Omnivore error in Mailchimp.
What is Mailchimp Omnivore?
Simply put, MailChimp omnivore is a means of protecting subscribers against abuse. Whenever you import your email database into MailChimp’s system, an algorithm is used to assess the risk of bounce rates or abuse rates. The Omnivore checks your audience to see if you haven’t contacted any of the email addresses through Mailchimp yet. Upon receiving an alert that your audience has a high bounce or abuse rate, you will be unable to send emails to them until the bad addresses are removed.
The exact MailChimp Omnivore warning message is:

From the compliance team, you’ll also receive the following message:

How Does it Work?
Every email list you import is assigned a level of risk by Omnivore’s algorithm. MailChimp won’t deliver to these addresses if the risk level is high enough. Moreover, it will not tell you which addresses it considers high-risk – so you must figure out which ones are the problem.
What triggers Omnivore Error in Mailchimp?
Based on the addresses in each send list, Mailchimp Omnivore uses an algorithm to predict audience behavior. Their system assigns a level of risk, and when the level reaches a certain level, they restrict your ability to send them emails.
Inactive or spammy email addresses usually trigger Omnivore warnings.
An Omnivore warning may be caused by the following:
1. Unfamiliar Addresses
Omnivore checks your list for addresses you haven’t contacted through MailChimp before when you import new addresses into the system.
Unfamiliar email addresses can come from a variety of sources. It could be new imports, people who signed up through a form or mobile application, or people who were segmented from an earlier email campaign.
You will receive an Omnivore warning if you exceed the threshold of unfamiliar email addresses.
2. Stale Email Addresses
A stale list is one where you haven’t sent emails to addresses in a while. Stale lists will have a higher percentage of undeliverable results than lists that are regularly targeted.
Stale email addresses tend to become inactive due to changes in roles, departures, or rejection by recipients. You can delete the email campaign or email address which are update in role based manner.
The decay rate of database contacts is approximately 23% a year due to changes in job titles and e-mail addresses. It takes a lot of effort to keep your data up-to-date. That’s the work MailChimp expects from you.
3. Spam traps
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or anti-spam organizations put up spam traps, which are email addresses that are inactive or invalid. They are intended to catch organizations that send bulk emails to dormant contacts or recipients who’ve not granted them permission to do so. It is common for new spam traps to be developed, and even those that are not intended to be “spam” to wind up on lists.
They never get opened, interacted with, or opted into anything since they are dormant or abandoned. They subsequently harm your sender reputation. If you aren’t using a dedicated IP for email sends, they may also have an impact on the sender reputation of your email service provider. For this reason, if Mailchimp thinks your list contains spam traps, they will prevent you from sending emails.
By regularly cleaning your data and keeping an eye on audience involvement, you can manage them.
How to Fix Omnivore Error in Mailchimp?
You must use caution if you’re trying to manually arrange your list to avoid Mailchimp Omnivore’s warnings.
It may require numerous runs, cleaning your list and re-importing it to determine whether you’ve found all, or enough, of your problem addresses.
If your most recent list version passes the test, keep in mind that the next time you add to it, there may be items left over that will contribute to your new score. Manually maintaining a clean list is a difficult task, especially for longer lists.
Here are some tips for cleaning an email list for Mailchimp and for dealing with an Omnivore alert.
- Get rid of the list that caused a warning in your latest import
- Ensure that any email addresses which might be okay with the removed segment are confirmed by a re-engagement campaign
- Reimport the email list
Mailchimp Omnivore Warning vs Mailchimp Account Suspension
MailChimp user accounts can also be suspended in addition to a warning. The following reasons can lead to suspensions:
- Issues with recent email campaigns.
- There is a lack of clarity regarding the collection of lists.
- You signed up with a free email account.
- The Terms of Service have been violated by recent email campaign activity
In the event you are suspended, MailChimp’s customer support will contact you and attempt to resolve the issue. If any MailChimp user is suspended three times in 6 months Omnivore algorithm will permanently shut down the account.
Conclusion
MailChimp is one of the most popular email marketing platforms today. However, sometimes while using it you might face some issues. I hope you got a clear understanding about Mailchimp omnivore warnings.
Thanks for Reading!