The same qualities that make email attractive to legitimate advertisers also make email attractive to spammers.
To combat the ongoing flood of spam, Internet Service Providers, email marketing services, and even email program companies (such as Mozilla or Microsoft) analyze millions of messages and compile lists of “trigger” words and phrases most often associated with spam. These trigger words and phrases are then used to filter incoming messages.
This is a good thing, since it helps reduce the amount of unwanted messages we all receive. But it’s also a bad thing, since it invariably snares legitimate messages from honest advertisers.
This means that when you’re writing email messages for a client or for your own business, you face a unique challenge. Because, like it or not, seemingly innocent copy, especially in the subject line, can kill your email copy.
Here’s one example of a spam trigger word list from Vertical Response:
#1
100% satisfied
4U
Accept credit cards
Act Now!
Additional Income
Affordable
All natural
All new
Amazing
Apply online
Bargain
Best price
Billing address
Buy direct
Call
Call free
Can’t live without
Cards Accepted
Cents on the dollar
Check
Claims
Click / Click Here / Click Below
Click to remove
Compare rates
Congratulations
Cost / No cost
Dear friend
Do it today
Extra income
For free
Form
Free and FREE
Free installation
Free leads
Free membership
Free offer
Free preview
Free website
Full refund
Get it now
Giving away
Guarantee
Here
Hidden
Increase sales
Increase traffic
Information you requested
Insurance
Investment / no investment
Investment decision
Legal
Lose
Marketing
Marketing solutions
Message contains
Money
Month trial offer
Name brand
Never
No gimmicks
No Hidden Costs
No-obligation
Now
Offer
One time / one-time
Opportunity
Order / Order Now / Order today / Order status
Orders shipped by priority mail
Performance
Phone
Please read
Potential earnings
Pre-approved
Price
Print out and fax
Profits
Real thing
Removal instructions
Remove
Risk free
Sales
Satisfaction guaranteed
Save $
Save up to
Search engines
See for yourself
Serious cash
Solution
Special promotion
Success
The following form
Unsolicited
Unsubscribe
Urgent
US dollars
Wife
Win
Winner
Work at home
I know what you’re thinking: “This is ridiculous! Solution? Urgent? Phone? Those are spam words?” It’s not pretty, but this is the world you live in when you’re writing email copy.
Your email won’t get snared just because you include one of these words. Filters use formulas that assign spam points to each message. The words above, or words on other lists, add points. When your message accumulates enough points, the message is filtered.
Talk to the email service that will send your message and ask for their most current spam trigger word list. Be particularly careful about your subject lines.
There’s no way to know whether any particular message will get snared by any particular filter, but you can improve the odds by staying current on the trigger words spammers are using.
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