Email marketing can open up tons of opportunity for your business. And, as long as you use email marketing thoughtfully, you can be very successful in your efforts. But, what if, by accident of course, you find your messages are landing in the junkbox? Or worse, are getting flagged as SPAM?

Napa Valley Register columnist Randy Martinsen recently put together a list of spam trigger words to avoid. According to Martinsen, “Spam filters are widening their nets every day to catch unscrupulous marketers. Commendable job, but there is a pitfall. Valid online marketers are also bearing the brunt of it, since their useful, ‘requested’ content is often dumped into junk-mail folders.” The way to avoid junk mail jail, says Martinsen, is to “get smart with words.”

Some words and phrases you might want to steer clear of include:

• apply online
• as seen on
• 100 percent free
• call free
• call now
• direct email
• direct marketing
• double your income
• earn dollars
• earn extra cash
• extra income
• free
• fast cash
• gift certificate
• great offer
• guarantee
• money back
• no cost
• no credit check
• no purchase necessary

Which brings up the question, “Free shipping is one of the most popular offers in subject lines, how is free on the spam word list?” Excellent point. The word “free” in your subject line won’t put your email in a spam folder all on its own. Most spam filters use a rating system, so while “free” can be a trigger, if the rest of your email is good (useful content, clean HTML, reputable links, and a solid delivery system) you can expect your email to be delivered to the inbox.

To ensure your emails get through, Martinsen suggests, “You can also test your emails through free Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail and AOL email accounts before you send your message to your entire list. The Skadeedle team likes using Email on Acid for this purpose.
Email marketing has come a long way in recent years, and junk mail folders have done their best to catch every piece of spam, sometimes to the detriment of good, honest marketers. To see more words to avoid, check out this list. And if you like things a bit more technical, SpamAssassin has some great info, too.

What tactics do you use to avoid spam filters, and are there any words you think should be added to this list to avoid?

Source: Napa Valley Registry

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