 Spam
Trigger Words, Phrases and Actions
18 June 2007
Normally, email filters examine the words in the email "subject
line". This is the header that you see when an email shows up in
your email box. A good subject line can encourage people to actually
click on and open an email (more on this in lesson seven), but you need
to exercise care when creating your subject headings to prevent filtering.
Frequently, more sophisticated anti-spam methods used by
ISPs use a "point
system" that identifies trigger phrases commonly used by Spam. If
an email goes over the "points" it is filtered out, and is
never delivered to a customer.
Some of the more commonly used phrases that ISPs and mail clients filter
out include:
Free!
50% off!
Click Here
Call now!
Subscribe
Earn £
Discount!
Eliminate Debt
Double your income
You're a Winner!
Reverses Aging
"Hidden"
Information you requested
"Stop" or "Stops"
Lose Weight |
Multi level Marketing
Million Pounds
Opportunity
Compare
Removes
Collect
Amazing
Cash Bonus
Promise You
Credit
Loans
Satisfaction Guaranteed
Serious Cash
Search Engine Listings |
There are other problematic phrases that can trigger some Spam filters,
or start adding "Spam points" to emails sent out, and should
be avoided. These include:
Act Now!
All New
All Natural
Avoid Bankruptcy
As Seen On…
Buy Direct
Casino
Cash
Consolidate Your Debt
Special Promotion
Easy Terms
Get Paid
Guarantee, Guaranteed
Great offer
Give it away, Giving it away
Join millions
Meet Singles
MLM
No cost, No fees |
Offer
One time
Online pharmacy
Online marketing
Order Now
Please Read
Don't Delete
Save up to
Time limited
Unsecured debt or credit
Vacation
Viagra
Visit our web site
While Supplies last
Why pay more?
Winner
Work at home
You've been selected |
Using quotation marks, pound signs and exclamation
points in subject
lines will frequently trigger mail filters, as well as using all capital
letters (shouting). You should also never put a 0800 number in
the subject line, since that will also cause your email to be filtered
out by many Spam filters. And never use a font size larger than 2+,
or you could trigger some Spam filters.
Please be aware that the above lists aren't meant to be comprehensive,
and only identify some of the more common words and phrases that trigger
Spam filters. One way to check? Send an email to yourself and some select
friends with Spam filters
first, before sending it out to your customers, and see if it makes it
through. Or, go out and buy one of the better software programs that
will highlight words that could be identified as Spam. If you depend
on email marketing to bring traffic to your web site, it is well worth
the investment.
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