1. Secure Your Forms With CAPTCHA and Honeypots

Spam often starts at the form level. The easiest way to stop it? Block bots before they submit.

• reCAPTCHA (v2 or v3): These tools from Google help prevent automated scripts from submitting your forms. reCAPTCHA v3 works silently in the background, scoring user behavior without annoying legitimate visitors.
• Honeypot Fields: This is a hidden form field that real users won’t see—but bots will. If the field gets filled, the form can be flagged and discarded as spam.

These two layers of protection can stop the majority of low-effort spam before it even reaches your inbox.

2. Use Conditional Logic to Filter Submissions

Many form builders like HubSpot, Typeform, Gravity Forms, and Jotform support conditional logic or validation rules.

Here’s what you can do:

• Block suspicious email domains (e.g., @mail.ru , @tempmail.com )
• Reject entries with gibberish or numeric-only names
• Validate phone numbers to match the formats of your target countries

This creates an automatic first line of defense and helps ensure that only legitimate-looking submissions get through.

3. Refine Your Audience Targeting

If you're driving leads through paid traffic, low-quality submissions can often be traced back to poor audience targeting.

Whether you're using Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or programmatic platforms, you should:

• Use custom audiences built from real user behavior (like visits to pricing, signup, or demo pages)
• Exclude low-quality traffic sources or segments that historically bring spam
• Rely on retargeting and lookalike audiences built from your actual customer base

Better targeting = better traffic = fewer fake leads.

4. Monitor Your Ad Placements and Creatives

If you're advertising across networks with wide reach (like the Display Network or social media), poor placements or misleading creatives can attract the wrong crowd.

To keep your traffic clean:

• Review asset performance regularly to see if specific ads are drawing low-quality traffic
• Use brand safety and placement exclusions to block questionable sites or apps
• Keep your messaging clear to set proper expectations and deter bots or irrelevant users

5. Focus on Higher-Intent Conversions

Not all conversions are created equal. Soft goals like newsletter signups or content downloads are much easier for spammers to exploit.

Instead:

• Optimize for deeper funnel actions like quote requests, demo bookings, or sales inquiries
• Use CRM integration or offline conversion tracking to evaluate lead quality and feed that data back into your ad platforms

High-intent actions tend to filter out casual or spammy clicks naturally.

6. Consider Manual Campaign Structures for Greater Control

If you're running automated or broad-reaching campaigns, sometimes the best way to stop spam is to take back control.

Consider:

• Breaking campaigns into smaller, channel-specific ad sets (e.g., separating Search, Display, and Social)
• Manually excluding low-performing placements or audiences
• Testing different bidding strategies that prioritize quality over quantity

While manual setup takes more effort, it gives you the levers you need to keep your leads clean and actionable.

Final Thoughts: Treat Your Forms Like Digital Bouncers

Spam leads don’t just waste money—they drain your team’s time and make it harder to track what’s working.

By combining smarter form design, refined targeting, and better traffic filtering, you can dramatically reduce spam and focus on the leads that actually grow your business. The goal isn’t just more leads—it’s better ones.