Articles - Avoiding the Spam Filters

Introduction

E-mail marketing, as many of us know, can be a powerful and cost effective method of reaching our most active potential or existing members. It can boost not only our direct sales, but also our credibility and referrals.

One of the major benefits of e-mail marketing is that it an effective and low cost marketing channel. This is obviously the same reason why spam has become so popular and so frustrating. With spam comes spam filters and with spam filters comes the blocking of legitimate e-mail.

This article describes the basic steps that can help reduce the number of e-mails you send out that get blocked by spam filters -- hopefully resulting in a more rewarding marketing effort.

The right selection of words

Many spam filters work by analyzing the e-mail based on its content and the words used. Many words -- such as free, sex and so forth -- are very heavy spam trigger keywords. Your priority should be to avoid such words while keeping your newsletter as professional as possible.

Pay attention to your formatting

When formatting your e-mail, keep it simple and professional. Excessive use of different colors, fonts, sizes, images and so forth will result in a higher spam filtering rate. Keep your e-mail as clean as possible, and try to stick to a maximum of 2 or 3 different font types and sizes. Overly large sized fonts will surely add to an e-mail being flagged as spam, as will too many images (or not enough text).

Try and use a short and simple style sheet rather than using font tags excessively. Most spam filters don't appreciate a multitude of font tags and inline formatting, and the more primitive filters can't detect style sheets so they will not penalize as easily.

Consistency is king

Use a template if you plan on sending newsletters consistently. This will make sure that all your newsletters look and feel the same. It will also add a touch of professionalism and branding to your newsletters.

While not directly affecting spam filters, this will enable your readers to distinguish your newsletter instantly, thus not reporting it as spam accidentally. Some spam filters work by querying a spam server, whereas others report individual e-mails as spam. If your e-mail gets reported as spam, then more than likely multiple spam filters will flag your e-mail.

Being consistent with your timing of the newsletter also helps. For example, if you send a newsletter once per month (it is not recommend you send out any more than this, unless you've got something really interesting to say), then aim to send it out at the same time, on the same day each month.

Once again, your potential readers will learn to expect your e-mail, adding professionalism and often improving open rates, also reducing accidental spam flagging as well.

Always use Double Opt-in

Always make your mailing lists double opt-in. This means that when a user subscribes to your mailing list, they will be sent an e-mail with a link that they must click on to confirm their subscription.

This is very important because many people can accidentally enter an incorrect e-mail address, or even the e-mail address of someone else on purpose. When that person receives a newsletter they did not subscribe to, they will assume they have been spammed, and your newsletter (and possibly your web server) will be reported as spam.

Unsubscribe and Contact Information

Every newsletter you send out should contain a way for the reader to unsubscribe. Not doing so is illegal in some countries and is an instant sign of spamming. You should also display your contact information (Phone, Fax and Address) clearly, as this greatly increases confidence in your e-mail and your company, as well as conforms to spam laws in the United States . Contact information also allows a potential member to contact you if need be.

Test, Test, Test

The key to avoiding spam filters is testing. The first method of testing I use is to send the newsletter to multiple e-mail accounts with existing spam filters. For example, I have a Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com) account and a Hotmail (http://www.hotmail.com) account that I make sure I send my newsletter to. If the newsletter ends up in the junk folder, then I've got some work to do. I also have a local spam filtering application for my PC. It acts as a very close replica to the same software used on thousands of servers world-wide.

Conclusion

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