Dealing with Spam Filters

Despite your meticulous attention to privacy compliance and other email marketing conventions, you still need to worry about spam filters. These filters are programs, sometimes installed on your prospects' computers, which block suspected spam. Despite your best efforts, your e-mail message might contain certain trigger words or graphics that may cause it to get caught in these filters. These triggers may include the wording of your subject line and the text in your e-mail.

Common Things to Avoid

There are several things you'll want to pay attention to as you put together your creative and message. Please note the following are only suggestions. It is possible for these triggers to change often, sometimes on a daily basis, depending on the latest gimmicks and tactics that spammers are using.

Trigger Words

Many spam filters have been set to reject e-mails containing the following words or phrases:

save
savings
free

offer
satisfaction guaranteed
see for yourself

cash
extra money
no purchase required

Other Triggers

You should also avoid the following:

Oversized graphics, or thick borders. (Instead, try to have an even ratio of text to images.)
The use of bright font colours
The use of large font sizes (2+ and above)
The use of "Click Here," or "Click Below." (Instead, try using "please visit.")
The use of a lot of CAPS
Indicating in the source code that the message body was saved as HTML. (Instead, do not include it; you don't need to, and if it is created in the right program, it shouldn't contain this phrasing. We recommend that you don't use Front Page or the "save as a web page" feature in Microsoft Office programs.)
Mentioning search engine listings or rankings


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