| For marketers who send emails on a regular | | | | another job a professional list broker can help you |
| basis, spam filters are the scourge of many a | | | | with to make sure your list remains current, |
| campaign. | | | | useful and legally compliant. |
| Not only do an average 10 to 20% of emails sent | | | | 3. Send messages from a real name. Avoid using |
| become victims of spam blocker software, but | | | | symbols and numbers in your "From" name field. |
| even permission-based emails can get filtered out | | | | Individual's prefer to receive emails from a name |
| of in-boxes as spam. | | | | they recognise and trust. If they don't recognise |
| Understanding how spam filters work seems to | | | | you, it's very likely your email will end up in the |
| be the only way to take on the software and get | | | | junk mail folder. |
| your message to your intended audience. | | | | 4. Keep your subject lines simple. Avoid |
| How Spam Filters Work | | | | recognised spam words and phrases like "free", |
| Essentially a spam filter is a tool for quickly | | | | "buy now" and "win", instead be clear about what |
| checking an email against a set list of criteria to | | | | your email is about. Is there a particular customer |
| decide if it is spam or not. | | | | benefit or solution that would make a great |
| One of the criteria might be a phrase such as | | | | headline. Don't try to be over complicated or over |
| "FREE", "CLICK HERE", "WHY PAY MORE" or | | | | personal in your subject line. Keep excessive |
| "BUY NOW". Points are given each time one of | | | | punctuation out of this field as well as the use of |
| these phrases occurs. Some criteria are awarded | | | | ALL CAPS. Avoid buzzwords and overused |
| more points than others. | | | | marketing phrases like "while stocks last" or "last |
| If your email campaign's total point score reaches | | | | week of sale". |
| or exceeds a set threshold your email is | | | | 5. Keep the main body of email text clear and to |
| automatically classed as spam and gets | | | | the point. Don't fill it with marketing jargon and |
| quarantined. | | | | unnecessary padding. Say what you want to say, |
| The problem for the marketer is that rules for | | | | include details of benefits and offers and end with |
| awarding points and thresholds are not uniform. | | | | a clear call to action. |
| How high or how low spam tolerance is set | | | | 6. Test, test and test again before sending your |
| depends on the software being used and the | | | | email. Aim to run a test of different email |
| person who sets it up. | | | | systems and email programmes to flush out any |
| The best way to ensure your email gets through | | | | problems. It's also useful to send your email to |
| is to keep an eye on spam criteria and make | | | | various email accounts with different protection |
| sure your campaign removes as many of these | | | | settings. |
| as possible. This is an on-going learning curve as | | | | 7. Use a normal font size. Very small fonts are |
| spam filters are continuously updating their spam | | | | flagged up by spam filters as a sign that the |
| criteria whenever someone clicks on the "this is | | | | sender is attempting to embed content or other |
| spam" button. Some spam filters even compare | | | | other harmful elements in a message. |
| and synchronise criteria on-line. | | | | 8. Avoid using lots of images. Spam filters can't |
| If all this sounds too much to handle, a | | | | read images and may automatically assume they |
| professional email broadcaster can help you. They | | | | are spam. |
| deal with marketing emails every day and keep | | | | 9. Don't send multiple copies of an email to the |
| abreast of the latest developments in spam | | | | same address. If you have problems de-duplicating |
| blocking technologies. | | | | your lists, talk to reputable email list broker for |
| 10 Top Tips for Beating Spam Filters | | | | advice. |
| In the meantime here are our top 10 tips to help | | | | 10. Be aware of blacklists. Blacklists of known |
| your email marketing campaigns beat the spam | | | | spam offenders are blocked by ISPs. Getting on |
| blockers. | | | | the list is usually down to feedback and complaints |
| 1. Rent only clean lists from reputable email list | | | | received from ISP subscribers as well as evidence |
| brokers. Do some background research to find | | | | of bad emailing practice, like a high number of |
| out how they keep their lists up to date and | | | | bounce backs. |
| compliant with legal obligations like the preference | | | | The best way to avoid blacklists is to ensure you |
| services and EuroCAUCE. | | | | adhere to email best practice and adopt an |
| 2. If you are using your own list, this has to be | | | | ongoing email testing process to catch problems |
| updated regularly to make sure it takes into | | | | early. You could also investigate the procedure for |
| account unsubscribe requests, bounced emails and | | | | getting accepted onto ISP whitelists as an |
| that it complies with privacy and preference | | | | identified good sender. |
| legislation. Data cleansing and list management is | | | | |