We talked about words that trigger filters to mark your emails as spam. Spam filters don’t just stop there.
We know that some words instantly get spam filters backs up, but did you know that even sending an email out with the subject line in capitals is enough to stop your mail getting through? And you thought that you were making your point!
It is worth bearing in mind that there are several factors that go into making your email appear as though it is spam. Some of these will no doubt be a surprise and others will be obvious.
We are not about to tell you that there is a way to get around spam filters, so that your recent promotion for Viagra gets to your mailing list. What we do want to do is impart some information on how to produce an email campaign that works – and doesn’t get stuck in someone’s spam folder.
Don’t trigger the spam filter
- Carefully consider your content and make sure it is relevant to your subject matter and not pushy or ‘spammy’. Making a blatant pitch for something like mortgage products or mentioning ‘money’ repeatedly in your content really riles spam filters. The filters know the email is unsolicited and that the content is unlikely to be of any help to the recipient. Straight to the spam box, do not pass GO, do not collect £200.
- Avoid calls to actions like ‘click here’ and ‘buy now’.
- Don’t use all capital letters, especially in the subject line. You are shouting and no one likes a big mouth.
- Avoid using bright red or green fonts in the email.
- Do not use the HTML that you find in Word to create your email (yes, some people think that they can). It is not compatible. Always validate your email code – there are guidelines for a reason.
- If the ratio of images to text is not equal or worse the email content is one big image, your email is likely to head away from the inbox of your potential customers.
- Don’t go crazy with the exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (See what I mean, it is annoying).
Once your perfectly coded email, with considered copy and design, is ready to test then there are some things that you should remember too.
If you send a test email to several recipients within the same company at once, a spam filter will often think that this is an attack. Therefore perform individual tests periodically. In addition, using the word ‘test’ in the subject line is also a way to send your email directly to the spam box.
The score with spam
Spam Score – the number assigned by the spam-scanning rules. If you set a spam threshold of 6, any message scoring 6 or higher is flagged as spam, depending on your settings. So generally speaking anything below 5.0 points is not considered as spam
Points to consider
- Shouting in your email, or using capital letters will give you a score of 0.21 points.
- Keep your HTML tags down to a minimum. You could score anything between 0.31 to 1.78 points based on the frequency of your HTML tagging.
- Ensure that you use the http:// prefix in hyperlinks, or this will cost you 1.28 points. Substitute a URL for an IP number and you will tot up 3.1 points.
- Getting fancy with your ‘unsubscribe’ link could cost you up to 2.70 points – just tell it how it is. Everyone knows how one works.
- There are triggers that lower your spam score if, for example, sending newsletter and saying it is a newsletter in the subject PLUS including a date could reduce the spam score by -1.60 points!
- Finally, if your message is between 20k – 40k in size then you will find that you reduce your spam score again. Get too big or too small and it will have the opposite effect.
Every time we send out our emails, they are tested to ensure that they are not deemed as spam. If you are not getting into the inboxes of your customers and want to know why, then give us a ring today on 0845 838 7435 email me directly on jen@juretic.com
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When you send out your beautiful email, you want to make sure that it gets to the recipient. If you are about to carry out an email marketing campaign then it is important to consider, not only your design and message, but also if your email is going to trigger any spam filters that could stop it from getting to the inbox of your potential customers.
How much spam mail do you get on a daily basis? Thankfully since our move over to Google Apps we no longer get any emails for Viagra. This does however indicate our desire to protect ourselves against spam and to put powerful safeguards in place against unsolicited emails.
The last thing that anyone who is embarking on an email marketing campaign wants is to have their carefully crafted email considered as spam, however this can happen regardless of whether individuals on your mailing list are part of an opt-in list.
ISP’s use routers to detect where an email has come from and can block it. This is usually because the particular domain has been blacklisted and it can also block emails that use ‘Spam Trigger Words’.
Whenever we send out an email, we run a test using our email software to analyse the email’s spam score. Anything under 5.0 is generally not considered spam therefore it is worth knowing which words can increase your spam score and stop you getting through to the people that matter to your business.
We have compiled a list of known spam trigger words to help ensure that your email marketing campaign reaches your target audience.
The major spam filter trigger word offenders:
$$$
100% free
Ad
Affordable
Amazing stuff
Apply now
Auto email removal
Billion
Cash bonus
Cheap
Collect child support
Compare rates
Compete for your business
Credit
Credit bureaus
Dig up dirt on friends
Double your income
Earn $
Earn extra cash
Eliminate debt
Email marketing
Explode your business
Extra income
F r e e
Fast cash
Financial freedom
Financially independent
Free
Free gift
Free grant money
Free info
Free installation
Free investment
Free leads
Free membership
Free offer
Free preview
Guarantee
‘Hidden’ assets
Home based
Homebased business
Income from home
Increase sales
Increase traffic
Increase your sales
Incredible deal
Info you requested
Information you requested
Internet market
Leave
Limited time offer
Make $
Mortgage Rates
Multi level marketing
No investment
Obligation
Online marketing
Opportunity
Order Now
Prices
Promise you
Refinance
Remove
Reverses aging
Save $
Search engine listings
Serious cash
Stock disclaimer statement
Stop snoring
Thousands
Unsubscribe
Web traffic
Weight loss
Other spam filter trigger words to be aware of:
4U
Accept credit cards
Acceptance
Accordingly
Act now! Don’t hesitate!
Additional income
Addresses on CD
All natural
Amazing
Apply Online
As seen on
Auto email removal
Avoid bankruptcy
Be amazed
Be your own boss
Being a member
Beneficiary
Beverage
Big bucks
Bill 1618
Billing address
Billion dollars
Brand new pager
Bulk email
Buy direct
Buying judgments
Cable converter
Call free
Call now
Calling creditors
Cancel at any time
Cannot be combined with any other offer
Can’t live without
Cash bonus
Cashcashcash
Casino
Cell phone cancer scam
Cents on the dollar
Certified
Check or money order
Click below
Click here link
Click to remove
Click to remove mailto
Compare rates
Compete for your business
Confidentially on all orders
Congratulations
Consolidate debt and credit
Copy accurately
Copy DVDs
Credit bureaus
Credit card offers
Cures baldness
Dainty
Dear email
Dear friend
Dear somebody
Diagnostics
Different reply to
Dig up dirt on friends
Direct email
Direct marketing
Discusses search engine listings
Do it today
Don’t delete
Dormant
Drastically reduced
Earn per week
Easy terms
Eliminate bad credit
Email harvest
Email marketing
Expect to earn
Fantastic deal
Fast Viagra delivery
Financial freedom
Find out anything
For free
For instant access
For just $ (some amt)
Free access
Free cell phone
Free consultation
Free DVD
Free grant money
Free hosting
Free installation
Free investment
Free leads
Free membership
Free money
Free offer
Free preview
Free priority mail
Free quote
Free sample
Free trial
Free website
Full refund
get it now
Get paid
Get started now
Gift certificate
Great offer
Guarantee
Have you been turned down?
Hidden assets
Home employment
Human growth hormone
If only it were that easy
In accordance with laws
Increase sales
Increase traffic
Insurance
Investment decision
It’s effective
Join millions of Americans
Laser printer
Limited time only
Long distance phone offer
Lose weight Spam
Lower interest rates
Lower monthly payment
Lowest price
Luxury car
Mail in order form
Maintained
Marketing solutions
Mass email
Medium
Meet singles
Member stuff
Message contains disclaimer
MLM
Money back
Money making
Month trial offer
More Internet traffic
Mortgage rates
Multi level marketing
Name brand
New customers only
New domain extensions
Nigerian
No age restrictions
No catch
No claim forms
No cost
No credit check
No disappointment
No experience
No fees
No gimmick
No inventory
No investment
No medical exams
No middleman
No obligation
No purchase necessary
No questions asked
No selling
No strings attached
Not intended
Off shore
Offer expires
Offers coupon
Offers extra cash
Offers free (often stolen) passwords
Once in lifetime
One hundred percent free
One hundred percent guaranteed
One time mailing
Online biz opportunity
Online pharmacy
Only $
Opportunity
Opt in
Order now
Order status
Orders shipped by priority mail
Organization
Outstanding values
Paste
Pennies a day
Percent
Perpetual
Please read
Potential earnings
Presently
Print form signature
Print out and fax
Produced and sent out
Profits
Promise you …!
Pure profit
Real thing
Reciprocal
Refinance home
Removal instructions
Remove
Remove subject
Removes wrinkles
Reply remove subject
Requires initial investment
Reserves the right
Reverses aging
Risk free
Round the world
S 1618
Safeguard notice
Satisfaction guaranteed
Save $
Save big money
Save up to
Score with babes
Section 301
Sincerely
Somebody
Special promotion
Statements
Stop snoring
Urgent
Next: Avoiding the spam box
If you want to talk to us about your email marketing, then pick up the phone and dial 0845 838 7435 or email me directly on jen@juretic.com
The Velvet Store in Brighton keeps going from strength to strength, so when they approached Juretic Media to build a new e-commerce site to sell wedding gifts, decorations & favours we jumped at the chance to get involved.
The Velvet Store already has a great following and has been providing couples in Sussex with beautiful wedding accessories and decorations for 10 years. Seeing this window of opportunity, Velvet decided to dedicate one arm of the business to the Wedding market.
The brief was simple – emulate the design, look and feel of the current store to showcase their wonderful and unique range of wedding paraphernalia whether you are going for a romantic or vintage theme, a country style, exotic or sophisticated wedding or even a Union Jack themed wedding!
The Velvet sites look very similar in style so customers used to the navigating the Velvet Store won’t have any problems finding their way around the Velvet Wedding store. The menu categories are designed to help the user find products by wedding theme, by favours & cards, decorations, garden and outdoor accessories and much more.
The Velvet Wedding site was built using Magento, a feature-rich e-commerce platform that offers merchants complete flexibility and control over the presentation, content, and functionality of their online store as well as easily manage products, customers and sales.
www.velvetwedding.co.uk
Here’s what Velvet had to say:
Using Magento as an operating system for our new site has completely changed the way we use our website, it is extremely user friendly with a great dashboard section providing an instant overview of site activity. Front of house the site looks amazing and links easily to our other online store. Juretic were on hand throughout the whole process to answer our questions and provided in depth Magento training as part of our package, they are also providing an excellent level of aftercare.
Emma Jane, Wedding Internet and PR Manager
We have been working with Marketscan for a number of years. Having increased their SERPs greatly we were concerned that the site was not hitting targets and converting the people visiting their site.
In light of this, we worked with Marketscan to improve their information architecture and have completely reorganised the content. This ensures that there is a more natural flow to the content and the navigation actually aids people visiting the site to find what they are looking for.
We also created a blog for the Marketscan website using WordPress, which has given the company a voice. It has also provided a place to organise all of the valuable resource material helpful for anyone looking to marketing their business with targeted marketing lists.
Here are a few of the many terms that Marketscan rank in number 1 for in Google:
Data lists
Direct mail lists
Direct mailing lists
Take a look around the new website and let us know what you think.
www.marketscan.co.uk
Living by the coast, the team at Juretic love to splash around in the water whenever they get the chance. So when Neven was approached by his buddy and teacher Stav Thraves to develop, design and build a website for his Kitesurfing business, we jumped at the chance.
Stav was keen to ensure that his ethos of fun, professional and safe tuition was echoed throughout the site and that it made kitesurfing with BN1 Kitesurfing approachable for all abilities.
We built the site in WordPress and using the wide range of plugins, we were able to easily integrate Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr into the site. This enables BN1 Kitesurfing to update their website from all of these social media platforms in one hit. We also used PayPal to install a simple payment gateway for booking and paying a deposit for the courses and lessons online.
The result is an inviting and attractive website and a very happy client.
www.bn1kitesurfing.co.uk
Here’s what BN1 Kitesurfing had to say
When Juretic asked me to write a testimonial, my first thought was…’how do you portray so many great things in one sentence?’
Neven and his team have made building the BN1 Kitesurfing website an enjoyable and stress free project. I knew nothing about web design, but this is a pro-active company that build on your ideas as well as fulfil your every wish. It can only be a positive decision when you choose this great team! Thank you.
Leisure16 is the latest Magento website to come out of the Juretic stable and proves that you can have an ecommerce website, even on a budget.
As we have mentioned in previous posts, Magento is an open source ecommerce package that uses simple plug-in applications that you can use to expand Magento’s capabilities.
The website design is based on a Magento template costing $150. The software is easy to configure, allowing you to effortlessly create an ecommerce website on a budget, that still does everything that you need it to.
Our client wanted a site that showcased their boat maintenance products and ranges, allowed customers to compare items, sign up to their regular newsletter, search throughout the site for products as well as highlight products in a special offers area. The site does all of this and more, demonstrating what is possible when working to a budget.
Website: www.leisure16.co.uk
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