How to Prevent Marketing Emails From Being Caught by Spam Filters

List Of Spam Email Features

There are lots of reasons why your email might not make it through the spam filter or be marked as spam by the recipient. Don’t make the mistake of believing that just because you are a reputable company and all your subscribers have opted in, you are immune from having your emails marked as spam. If your messages are annoying, frequent, or irrelevant enough to your subscribers, then you can be assured that you are going to end up in some spam boxes. Some features that spam filters might flag up in your emails before sending them straight to the spam box include:

• Unrecognizable sender name
• Clickbait subject line
• Sending emails too frequently
• Spam trigger words
• Low sender reputation
• High bounce rate
• Caps lock or multiple exclamation points

What are Spam Trigger Words?

To avoid getting immediately flagged by spam filters and ending up in spam boxes, it’s important to pay close attention to how your subject line and email message are worded. Certain words and phrases are closely associated with spam mail and have been blacklisted as a result. The annoying thing about this is that they might be words that you are using legitimately such as ‘free’, however, they can increase the risk of your message being mistaken for spam.

How Spam Words Impact Open Rate

Most of us have received some spam email in the past. In fact, most people have had to deal with lots of it. And let’s face it, when you see an email subject line that includes words like ‘free prize’, ‘no obligation’, ‘best price’, etc, then your own human spam radar might immediately start to go off, even before you have noticed who the sender is.

Bear in mind that the subject line is going to be the first thing that your recipients read when they get a new email in their inbox. And even if you have managed to get past the spam filter while using spam trigger words in your subject line, there is a higher risk of people mistaking it for spam and immediately deleting or ignoring it.

Spam Words List to Be Aware Of – Trigger Words to Avoid

How can you tell if you are using a spammy word or phrase in your email subject line and main body? Aside from using one of the many spam testing tools that you can run your emails through online to find out if you’re going to end up in the spam box or not, it’s worth asking yourself if the subject line is:

• Trashy or cheap
• Anxiety inducing
• Too good to be true
• Malicious or illegal
• Too urgent

Some common words and phrases that you might want to steer clear of when writing an email subject line include:

• 100% satisfied
• Call now
• Cancel at any time
• Access for free
• Act immediately
• Act now
• Action required
• Apply online
• At no cost
• Believe me
• Bargain
• Big bucks
• Billing
• Best offer
• Billionaire
• Bulk email
• Cash bonus
• Cash-out
• Congratulations
• Click here
• Double your income
• Don’t delete
• Discount
• Direct email
• Get it now
• Fantastic deal
• Huge discount
• Hidden costs
• Hidden charges
• Increase sales
• Legal notice
• Make money
• New customers only
• Never before
• No credit check
• No deposit required
• Now only
• Monthly payment
• Lowest price
• Limited amount
• Limited time offer
• Lifetime deal
• Offer
• Order now
• Please read
• Pre-approved
• Prize
• Purchase now
• Sale
• Sample
• Save money
• Refund
• Request now
• Risk-free

And those are just some of them! It should also go without saying that you should probably avoid talking about spam, scams, or junk in your subject line. Don’t put things like:

• This isn’t a scam
• This isn’t spam
• This isn’t junk
• We hate spam
• Not spam

Let’s face it, if you saw that in your email inbox, the first thing you’re going to assume is that it’s spam. So, leave it out.

How Email Spam Trigger Words Harm Your Campaign

Email spam words are one of the main things that email provider spam filters are set to look out for. While some might slip through the cracks depending on certain factors such as the overall wording of your subject line and whether or not the recipient has you added as a contact, using these words in your subject lines is a sure way to make sure that at least some of your emails end up in spam boxes, either through the spam filter or by being manually marked as spam. And the more that your emails are marked as spam, the more that this can damage your campaign and sender reputation. The truth is that most people never look at their spam boxes, and messages are usually deleted after a certain time, which means that your email might never be seen, let alone opened. And over time, the detrimental effect on your sender reputation could lead to more messages being marked as spam, even if you clean up your game with what you write in your subject lines.

How to Avoid Subject Line Spam

The annoying thing about trigger words is that you might have a legitimate reason to include something like ‘offer’ or ‘price’. However, on the upside, most spam trigger words are the most generic and boring words that have been overused time and time again. Even if you manage to get past the spam filter when using them in your subject line, chances are that you’re going to end up in a sea of messages from other brands that all look pretty much the same – and that’s never good for standing out.

Because of this, subject line spam is easier to avoid than you might realize. Focus on creating a subject line that is short, to the point, and lets the recipient know more about what is included in the email. Your subject should be an invitation for the recipient to open up the email and find out more – save the calls to action for the actual email body, once you have gotten them interested in what you have to offer. You may even want to consider using your subject line as a way to get to know and engage with your customer further, such as using a question such as ‘how’s your day been?’ before letting them know in the email that you are thinking about them and thought they might want to learn more about a certain offer or a new product you are introducing that’s relevant to something that they have purchased from your brand in the past.

How Spam Email Subject Lines Damage Your Sender Reputation

Your sender reputation or sender score is determined by several factors including the number of complaints filed about you, how many emails you send are opened and accepted, your bounce rate, and spam traps. Using spammy subject lines is one of the biggest ways to damage your sender reputation. Trigger words in your subject lines can easily mean that your messages are mistaken for spam even when they are not; they can often look like fake ads that are just going to fool the reader. When sending marketing emails, your main goal is to get people to click through and read the email – something that they won’t do if they don’t trust your subject line. Since emails left unopened and emails marked as spam can both cause serious damage to your sender score, it’s best to avoid any potential spam trigger words completely.

Other Ways You Can Damage Your Reputation Aside From Spam Trigger Words

Not using spam trigger words in your subject lines or the body of your email is a great start. But sadly, it is not always enough to completely prevent your marketing emails from being caught by spam filters or listed as spam by the recipient. It’s important to consider how often you are sending emails since receiving emails too regularly is one of the main reasons for even opted-in subscribers to report a sender as spam. Just because your recipients have subscribed and given you permission to email them, doesn’t mean that they want five emails a day from you. Relevancy is another key consideration to make – people are more likely to report emails that they are just not interested in as spam. This is one of the biggest reasons to always segment your email lists so that you’re only sending relevant information that your subscribers are going to be interested in learning more about.

Avoiding being marked as spam is one of the biggest considerations for any business using email marketing to make.