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'Filter-Proofing' the Email You Send
Just as each of us wants to spam proof the email we receive, so do the thousands of other people that we want to communicate our message to on a daily basis. So, how do you make sure that the e-mail you ‘send’ does not end up on the junk pile of your intended recipients?
Unfortunately some spam filters are so tough these days that perfectly legitimate emails can wind up in someone’s 'spam' folder.
There are a variety of ways in which spam filters decide what is spam and what is not. Some use a 'one strike' system where if the 'bad content' occurs even once, then the email is spam. Others, which are becoming more popular, score emails based on certain features or elements and then the user can decide how high a level they are prepared to accept before the email is classed as spam.
While you cannot guarantee that the emails you send won't be filtered out, there are a few things that you can do to improve your chances of having your email reach its intended recipient.
HTML
The simple fact that an email is HTML can add to an email's spam score. A spam filter shouldn't simply reject an email because it is HTML but combined with other things it may push the email score too high.
This doesn't mean you should never send an HTML email. There are good reasons for using HTML emails. Clarity and readability are one, projecting a consistent business image is another.
Most email programs don't ask you if you want your email sent as HTML, they just do so if you include any form of formatting (e.g. bold, underline, colours, an image etc). You should be able to configure your email program to check with you before it sends an email, and only send HTML emails if you need to.
The best way to handle this is to use plain text for short simple emails, and for emails with necessary HTML formatting, avoid including other content that might set off a spam trigger.
Signatures
Signatures are one of the most likely things to trigger a spam filter. The 'webbug' service you are using to track whether your email was received, the 'visit our website' link. The little bit of lead-in text that says 'money-back guarantee', all of these are things that can cause your email to wind up in the trash.
Check your signature doesn't contain any of the trigger phrases listed below. Rephrase if necessary. Make sure your website link includes the http:// and create a text only version of the signature for sending out with text only emails.
Addressing your emails
Certain types of email addresses are more likely to trigger a spam filter. Steer clear of using webmail accounts (e.g. hotmail, yahoo etc) for business purposes. Some people simply won't accept emails from these domains. Your ISP should be able to setup a better email address for you, or help you find someone who can.
Email addresses that begin with certain words like success@ or sales@ can also add to an email's spam score, so can email addresses that don't look like names e.g. mskd22@somewhere.com. This might be my initials and my favorite number, but the spam filter will probably consider this to be a randomly generated email address. Stick to “OK” words or names e.g. info@somewhere.com or mike.smith@somewhere.com.
Don't broadcast your email to a large number of people by putting all their emails in the ‘to’: or ‘cc:’ headers. This makes you look like a spammer. Including the ‘from:’ address in the ‘to:’ header can also cause a problem. If you want to copy yourself on the e-mail, or need to send an e-mail to a large number of people, use the ‘bcc:’ header. But note: if the recipient's email is not in the ‘to:’ or ‘cc’: header their filter may score it as likely spam (a catch 22 situation). If you regularly send newsletters to large groups, consider getting newsletter software or subscribing to a newsletter service which individually addresses each newsletter email. This gives you extra opportunities for including the recipient's name in the newsletter to make it more personal.
So what is likely to trigger a spam filter?
Below are some tables indicating the kind of things that can cause email to be scored as possible spam. This is a list of things that are likely to cause a problem for a business. There are lots of other obvious triggers like 'porn' words and 'viagra' type words – we would assume that you already know to avoid these.
This list is not complete or definitive. An email which doesn't contain any of these things might still be marked as spam, and an email that breaks all these rules might get through fine – it depends entirely on how the recipient's filters are set up.
In general though, an email that breaks one or two of these rules will probably be fine, but too many broken rules and the email will score highly as spam winding up in the recipient's trash.
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Triggers in the email addresses |
Explanation |
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The’ from:’ address contains letters mixed with numbers / The from: address is a webmail service (e.g. hotmail or yahoo etc) and the address ends in numbers. |
E.g. mskd22@somewhere.com or mike22@hotmail.com The from address looks randomly generated. |
|
The ‘reply-to:’ address is empty |
You just need to make sure that your reply to address is setup with your email address in your email program's options. |
|
The ‘to:’ address repeats the address as a real name |
E.g. 'mike@somewhere.com' mike@somewhere.com Some address books do this if they don't have a name for the recipient, so check your address books. Even 'Mike' mike@somewhere.com is better. |
|
The ‘to:’ address uses one of the following words as a real name:
Everyone
Friend
Nobody
Fellow marketer
Winner
Person |
E.g. 'Friend' mike@somewhere.com Some newsletter software does this when it doesn't know the recipient's name, and some email address books do this as well. |
|
Lots and lots of people in the ‘cc:’ address |
|
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The ‘from:’ address has no lowercase characters |
E.g. MIKESMITH@SOMEWHERE.COM |
|
The recipient's address does not appear in the ‘to:' or ‘cc:’ address lists. |
Some spam filters won't accept an email that is not explicitly addressed to the recipient. This is because spammers often send emails with the recipients all in the ‘bcc:’ field. If you think emails that you ‘bcc:’ to someone are not getting through, consider putting the person in the ‘cc:’ list or forwarding the sent mail to them after you send it to the main recipients. |
|
The ‘from:’ address starts with any of the following:
sales@
success@
mail@
friend@
public@
hello@
profits@ |
|
|
Triggers in the email subject |
Explanation |
|
The subject line is blank. |
Some spam filters automatically filter out messages with no subject. |
|
Email includes a tracking ID / Subject contains a unique ID |
This can be a unique number to track the recipient; many newsletter mailing systems have this feature, so check yours out. If you don't need the feature, turn it off. |
|
Long lines of capital letters |
Don't use whole words or lines in capitals. Firstly this is rude (you are SHOUTING), secondly it is considered typical of spam. |
|
Subject contains any of the following phrases:
As seen
increase your sales
web traffic
opportunity
info you requested
$$ |
|
|
Subject starts with either 'Free' or 'Hello' |
|
|
Message or subject contains multiple '!' Or '?' symbols |
E.g. 'now!!!' or 'help?!?!' etc. Stick to a single '?' Or a single '!' |
|
Triggers in the email message |
Explanation |
|
Email includes a tracking id / Subject contains a unique ID |
This can be a unique number to track the recipient, many newsletter mailing systems have this feature, so check yours out. If you don't need the feature, turn it off. |
|
Long lines of capital letters |
Don't use whole words or lines in capitals, firstly this is rude (you are SHOUTING), secondly it is considered typical of spam. |
|
The message includes HTML |
Most spam uses HTML for impact. You don't have to stop using HTML but keep it necessary and keep it free of other spam triggers. |
|
The message contains Javascript code |
Apart from being a sign of spam, this is also a security breach and most email programs won't accept it, even if the spam filters will. |
|
The message is mostly one large image |
If you have a fancy newsletter it might seem sensible to have it made up as an image so you can email it out looking just like the printed version. Unfortunately this is likely to be tagged as spam. Generate the email as HTML or provide a link to a PDF file on your website. |
|
Message contains HTML links with the any of the following text:
Click here
Click
Remove |
Use alternative phrasing for your links. |
|
The message contains an image tag intended to identify the recipient. |
This is known as a 'webbug' and some email services and newsletter services include them to track the recipient and work out whether they opened their email. Unfortunately this is common feature of spam and is likely to cause your email to score high as spam. |
|
Message contains links with no http:// prefix |
E.g. www.somewhere.com It is simple to make sure that all the links you include have the full prefix e.g. http://www.somewhere.com |
|
The message claims compliance with the spam legislation. |
Sometimes you need to indicate that your email is legitimate if the person you are emailing has not had previous contact with you. You may need to be creative about the phrasing that you use – quoting 'Spam Act' or 'compliance with Spam Act'” or similar will probably add to the spam score for the email. |
|
Message doesn't ask any questions. |
Generally an email is a request for something, so include the request as a question eg: Would you like us to confirm the booking? Or Can you supply me with the full details? |
|
Message contains a URL or email address with 'remove' in it. |
E.g. mailto:remove@somewhere.com or http://www.somwhere.com/removeme.html |
|
Message includes a link to send mail with a subject |
E.g. mailto:mike@somwhere.com?subject=Message%20confirmation You probably can leave out the subject in email links, the recipient can generally work out their own subject. |
|
Message claims you can opt out |
|
|
Message or subject contains multiple '!' Or '?' symbols |
E.g. 'now!!!' or 'help?!?!' etc. Stick to a single '?' Or a single '!' |
|
Message contains any of the following phrases:
To be removed from list
One time mailing
Remove
Click here for removal
Click here to remove
Click here to be removed
Accept credit cards
Future mailing
Message is sent in compliance
Please respond with remove
r e m o v e
Received this email because
Reached you in error
To be taken off
Visit our web site
Visit out website
your time and interest
Removal instructions
“more info” and “visit” and “$”
Dear friend
cards accepted
money-back guarantee
free |
Some of these phrases are more likely to cause a problem than others, but aim to avoid them all. In particular check your signature as many people's signatures contain these trigger phrases. |
If you would like some more information on how spam filters work and the ways in which they may intercept legitimate email, the following links are a starting point:
http://www.wordbiz.com/avoidspamfilters.html
http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/ezine-publishing/avoid_spam_filters.html
http://www.webpronews.com/articles/1219ab2.html
Note: This article is not designed to tell you how to send spam and get it past a spam filter. The author does not support spam or unsolicited commercial email in any way, shape or form.
About the Author
Michelle Davis is Director of Websites at Work a web design business which specialises in designing and supporting database driven websites set up for easy owner content management. She may be contacted via e-mail at michelle@websitesatwork.com.au, or via their web site: www.websitesatwork.com.au .
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