There exist several inherent difficulties involved with measurements of low‐energy electrons emitted in ion‐atom collisions, such as stray magnetic fields and detector efficiencies. However, there exists one experimental problem that tends to be ignored in the literature: secondary‐electron emission and reflection due to electrons impacting the back plate of an analyzer. A straightforward analysis reveals that even small amounts of electron plate‐impact contamination can lead to significant spectral distortions in measurements of low energy electrons. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.