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Marketing with email? Watch out for spam filters!
by Ivan Levison
A friend of mine was fed up with all the spam he was getting. So he decided to do something about it.
He activated the junk email filter (default setting) on Outlook and set up a folder to which all the spam would automatically be sent. Two weeks later he checked out the messages that had accumulated.
Sure enough, there was all the usual garbage . . . money-making plots from Nigerians, news about valuable prizes waiting to be claimed, etc.
What was troubling, however, was that among all the junk were two messages from clients—messages that he wanted to receive and never got!
How did these messages wind up in the junk folder? Simple. My friend’s clients had inadvertently used “trigger words” in their emails that the junk filter spotted. The software then automatically shunted the emails containing the trigger words to his junk folder.
This was bad news for my friend and bad news for you. You see, if you’re sending e-mail to large numbers of people, and they have their junk filters turned on, your emails may be getting deleted automatically.
What can you do to avoid junk filters?
Don’t use the trigger words that get you trashed.
For example, if you use the Outlook Express spam filter in default mode, you’ll be trashed if. . .
From is blank
Subject contains “advertisement”
Body contains “money back”
Body contains “cards accepted”
Body contains “removal instructions”
Body contains “extra income”
Subject contains “!” AND Subject contains “$”
Subject contains “!” AND Subject contains “free”
Body contains “,000” AND Body contains “!!”AND Body contains “$”
Body contains “for free?”
Body contains “for free!”
Body contains “guarantee” AND Body contains “satisfaction” OR Body contains “absolute”
Body contains “more info ” AND Body contains “visit ” AND Body contains “$”
Body contains “SPECIAL PROMOTION”
Body contains “one-time mail”
Subject contains “$$”
Body contains “$$$”
Body contains “order today”
Body contains “order now!”
Body contains “money-back guarantee”
Body contains “100% satisfied”
To contains “friend@”
To contains “public@”
To contains “success@”
From contains “sales@”
From contains “success.”
From contains “success@”
From contains “mail@”
From contains “@public”
From contains “@savvy”
From contains “profits@”
From contains “hello@”
Body contains “ mlm”
Body contains “@mlm”
Body contains “///////////////”
Body contains “check or money order”
And that’s just for starters! The moral here? You have to be very careful. For example, you’ll notice that if you use an exclamation point (“!”) and the word “free” in the subject line, your message is filtered out. I pay close attention to this and urge you to do the same!
By the way, Outlook Express isn’t the only product that contains a junk mail filter. Yahoo offers spam filters for its e-mail accounts. So does Eudora. Then there are all the other screeners such as Spam Motel and Spam Cop.
What’s a poor e-mail marketer to do?
Here are two suggestions for you to consider:
1. Start a testing program. I recently asked Jeff Wilkins, the CEO of MarketModels and an expert on all aspects of email marketing, his thoughts about filtering. Jeff told me the following:
“Client-side filtering is a giant wildcard for email marketers. No one really knows exactly how widespread the filtering problem is. However, if someone does have a filter on, and your message contains trigger words, you’re history.
“I think this issue would best be addressed by doing some good old-fashioned cell testing. For example, if an e-mail with ‘order today’ in the body performs significantly worse than a toned-down version, then you’ll naturally need to make changes.”
I think Jeff’s absolutely right. As so often is the case, testing will give you answers you can count on. One of the great things about email is that it can give you answers fast.
2. Start researching the subject. If you’re a heavy emailer, start checking out spam filters and avoiding trigger words that will get you in trouble. This may take some effort, but it is well worth the work.
The take-away message? Spam filtering is an important issue that’s worth paying attention to.
A little research on your part can help keep your emails where they belong. Right in front of your prospects.
Ivan Levison is a freelance direct response copywriter who works for technology companies such as Adobe, Hewlett-Packard, Intuit, Microsoft, Netscape and many others. For a free subscription to his monthly email newsletter for software marketers, visit his website at http://www.levison.com or email him at ivan@levison.com
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