Spam — to know it is to hate it. Ever since the first unsolicited advertisement was sent by telegraph in 1864, consumers have been contending with what we now call spam, and the mass adoption of email has only made it easier for scammers and legitimate businesses alike to stuff our spam folders with ads for things we don’t need or want.  

84% of the hundreds of billions of emails sent every day are considered spam, with advertising making up 36% of those messages. But surely this doesn’t include your company’s email newsletters and promotional messages, right? 

Unfortunately, it might. While spam filters are pretty sophisticated and can usually recognize the real bad guys, it’s estimated that more than 20% of marketing messages never make it to their subscribers’ inboxes.

Why Being Marked as Spam Hurts Your Email Marketing

The simplest reason why getting sent to spam is bad for your email marketing strategy is because it means people aren’t reading your content. With 55% of email users saying they don’t regularly read any of their emails, the chances that subscribers will look for your message in spam are extremely slim.

But the less simple explanation has to do with email deliverability — the likelihood that your emails will go straight to subscribers’ inboxes. It’s a vicious cycle: once you’ve been marked as spam, you’re more likely to be marked as spam in the future, which harms your long-term deliverability. If you’re sent to spam enough times, you could even be permanently blacklisted (but you’ll get warnings from your email service provider first).

How to Tell if Your Emails Are Going to Spam

The first indication that you might be getting spam-filtered is your engagement rates. If they’re lower than you expected, it may be because your subscribers aren’t seeing your emails.

There are a couple of ways to confirm this suspicion:

  1. You can set up a handful of free email accounts with servers like Gmail and Yahoo, then send a test email to those accounts and see if the message lands in spam.
  2. You can use a third-party email tester like Mail-Tester. They’ll give you an email address to send a message to, and then they’ll score your message for ‘spammyness.’ 

Tips to Avoid the Spam Folder

Of course, your messages will go to spam if a recipient marks one as spam. Hopefully, your emails are valuable enough to your subscribers that the worst they would do is unsubscribe, but it is a possibility. Generally, though, the two main reasons a message gets flagged as spam are send frequency and content quality.

Your email frequency should be consistent — it’s less about how often you send messages and more about maintaining a pattern that spam filters recognize. So if you usually send weekly newsletters, a week where you send three messages might flag your address to filters.

There are other reasons you might land in spam, including misleading subject lines or sender info, too many attachments or links, non-compliance with GDPR regulations, and low subscriber engagement. But the most important things to focus on, and the easiest to control, is the quality and uniqueness of your content and that every person on your email list has opted-in to receive your email marketing

Striking the right balance of images, hyperlinks, and text will indicate to spam filters that your email is legit, and avoiding trigger words will let them know you belong in the inbox. 

Here are some of the kinds of words that might trigger spam filters:

Numbers or Symbols

  • 100% (including 100% free, 100% satisfied, etc.)
  • 50% Off
  • $$$ (including earn $, save $, make $, only $, etc.)
  • #1
  • 4U
  • Billion
  • Join Millions
  • Million
  • One Hundred Percent
  • Thousands

Generic Greetings 

  • Dear {name}
  • Friend
  • Hello

Sales and eCommerce Language

  • Act now
  • As Seen On
  • Bargain
  • Best Price
  • Buy
  • Buy Direct
  • Cheap
  • Clearance
  • Compare
  • Compare Rates
  • Discount
  • Fantastic Deal
  • Free
  • Great Offer
  • Incredible Deal
  • Limited (i.e., Limited Time Offer, etc.)
  • Lowest Price
  • New Customers Only
  • Name Brand
  • No Purchase Necessary
  • Offer
  • Offer Expires
  • Order
  • Order Now
  • Order Shipped By
  • Order Status
  • Order Today
  • Risk-Free
  • Sale
  • Save
  • Shopper
  • Shopping Spree
  • Supplies
  • Why Pay More?

Obvious Marketing Terms 

  • Ad
  • Auto Email Removal
  • Be Amazed
  • Bulk Email
  • Call
  • Click
  • Click Below
  • Click Here
  • Click to Remove
  • Compete for Your Business
  • Direct Email
  • Direct Marketing
  • Email Harvest
  • Email Marketing
  • Form
  • Increase Sales
  • Increase Traffic
  • Increase Your Sales
  • Internet Market
  • Internet Marketing
  • Marketing
  • Marketing Solutions
  • Mass Email
  • Member
  • Month Trial Offer
  • More Internet Traffic
  • Multi-Level Marketing
  • One Time Mailing
  • Online Marketing
  • Opt-In
  • Performance
  • Removal
  • Removal Instructions
  • Sales
  • Search Engine Listings
  • Search Engines
  • Subscribe
  • The Following Form
  • Unsubscribe
  • Visit Our Website
  • Web Traffic
  • Will Not Believe Your Eyes

General Offer Language

  • Being a Member
  • Billing Address
  • Cancel
  • Cancel Any Time
  • Cannot Be Combined with Any Other Offer
  • Exclusive Deal
  • Financial Freedom
  • Gift Certificate
  • Giving Away
  • Guarantee
  • Have You Been Turned Down
  • Important Information Regarding
  • Mail-In Order Form
  • Message Contains
  • Not Intended
  • Obligation
  • Off Shore
  • Offer
  • Opportunity
  • Per Day
  • Per Week
  • Priority Mail
  • Prize(s)
  • Produced and Sent Out
  • Purchase
  • Removes
  • Reserves the Right
  • Reverses
  • Score
  • Sign Up Free
  • See For Yourself
  • Terms
  • Terms and Conditions
  • The Best Rates
  • They’re Just Giving It Away
  • Trial
  • Unlimited
  • Unsolicited
  • Vacation
  • Vacation Offers
  • Warranty
  • We Honor All
  • Weekend Getaway
  • What’s Keeping You?
  • Who Really Wins?
  • Win
  • Winner
  • Winning
  • Won
  • You Are a Winner!
  • You Have Been Selected
  • You’re a Winner!

Non-Standard Finance Terms

  • Affordable
  • Beneficiary
  • Big Bucks
  • Billing
  • Cash
  • Cash Bonus
  • Cents on the Dollar
  • Check
  • Claims
  • Collect
  • Cost
  • Credit
  • Credit Bureaus
  • Earn
  • Easy Terms
  • Extra Cash
  • Fast Cash
  • Hidden Assets
  • Hidden Charges
  • Income
  • Insurance
  • Investment
  • Loan(s)
  • Million Dollars
  • Money
  • Money Back
  • Mortgage
  • Mortgage Rates
  • No Cost
  • No Fees
  • One Hundred Percent Free
  • Pennies a Day
  • Price
  • Profits
  • Pure Profit
  • Quote
  • Rates
  • Refinance
  • Refund
  • Save
  • Save Big Money
  • Save Up To
  • Serious Cash
  • Subject to Credit
  • They Keep Your Money – No Refund
  • Unsecured Credit
  • Unsecured Debt
  • US Dollars

Business Finance Terms

  • Accept Credit Cards
  • Cards Accepted
  • Check or Money Order
  • Credit Card Offers
  • Full Refund
  • Investment Decision
  • Requires Initial Investment
  • Stock Alert
  • Stock Pick

Personal Finance Terms

  • Additional Income
  • Avoid Bankruptcy
  • Be Your Own Boss
  • Calling Creditors
  • Collect Child Support
  • Consolidate Credit
  • Consolidate Debt
  • Consolidate Your Debt
  • Debt
  • Double Your Cash
  • Double Your Income
  • Earn Extra Cash
  • Earn Extra Income
  • Eliminate Bad Credit
  • Eliminate Debt
  • Expect to Earn
  • Extra Income
  • Financially Independent
  • Get Out of Debt
  • Get Paid
  • Home Based Business
  • Home Employment
  • Income from Home
  • Lower Interest Rate
  • Lower Monthly Payment
  • Lower Your Mortgage Rate
  • Lowest Insurance Rates
  • Make Money
  • Money Making
  • Online Biz Opportunity
  • Potential Earnings
  • Pre-Approved
  • Refinance Home
  • Social Security Number
  • Your Income

Over-the-Top Adjectives

  • Affordable
  • All Natural
  • All New
  • Amazing
  • Certified
  • Cures
  • Drastically Reduced
  • It’s Effective
  • Fantastic
  • For Free
  • Guaranteed
  • Home Based
  • Luxury
  • Outstanding
  • Real
  • Risk-Free
  • Satisfaction Guaranteed

Urgent Language 

  • Act Now
  • Apply Now
  • Apply Online
  • Call Now
  • Can’t Live Without
  • Do It Today
  • Don’t Delete
  • Don’t Hesitate
  • Expire
  • For Instant Access
  • For Only
  • Get It Now
  • Get Started Now
  • Instant
  • Limited Time (i.e., offer, only, etc.)
  • Now
  • Now Only
  • Offer Expires
  • Once in a Lifetime
  • One Time
  • Only
  • Order Now
  • Order Today
  • Please Read 
  • Special Promotion
  • Supplies are Limited
  • Take Action Now
  • This Won’t Last
  • Time-Limited
  • Urgent
  • What Are You Waiting for?
  • While Supplies Last

Variations on “No”

  • No Age Restrictions
  • No Catch
  • No Claim Forms
  • No Cost
  • No Credit Check
  • No Disappointment
  • No Experience
  • No Fees
  • No Gimmick
  • No Hidden
  • No Hidden Costs
  • No Interest
  • No Inventory
  • No Investment
  • No Medical Exams
  • No Middleman
  • No Obligation
  • No Purchase Necessary
  • No Questions Asked
  • No Selling
  • No Strings Attached
  • No-Obligation

Variations on “Free”

  • Free
  • Free Access
  • Free Consultation
  • Free DVD
  • Free Gift
  • Free Grant Money
  • Free Hosting
  • Free Info
  • Free Installation
  • Free Instant
  • Free Investment
  • Free Leads
  • Free Membership
  • Free Money
  • Free Offer
  • Free Preview
  • Free Priority Mail
  • Free Quote
  • Free Sample
  • Free Trial
  • Free Website

The spam folder is every email marketer’s nightmare, but it doesn’t have to be your future. If you follow the guidance in this blog post and take a little extra care with your content and strategy, your messages will be more likely to land in your subscribers’ inboxes, which means they’ll have a shot at converting.

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by Benchmark Team