Resources Hub » Blog » What’s Considered Email Spam and How to Avoid It

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What’s Considered Email Spam and

How to Avoid It
campmonauthor - Dec 6, 2017

Email spam. Anyone with an email address has probably

encountered it. While anti-spam software and 몭ilters trap a
lot of unwanted messages, spam still accounts for 45% of
all emails, according to SpamLaws.com.

While most spam comes from suspicious sources that are trying to scam
subscribers, sometimes reputable brands accidentally create spammy messages.
These messages are most often 몭lagged by a spam 몭ilter and dropped into the spam
folder rather than the inbox.

As a marketer, you obviously want to avoid the spam folder at all costs. To make
sure your emails arrive in subscribers’ inboxes without incident, here’s what you
should know about spam.

Understanding email spam

Most people de몭ine spam as junk mail. While it may seem like a basic de몭inition, it’s
actually a good one. A more detailed de몭inition would be unsolicited, irrelevant
emails that land in your inbox.
Spam is usually sent out in bulk email “blasts” in hopes that someone will open it.
Sometimes it’s sent by a legitimate company hoping to drum up some business,
but some spam is sent by dubious individuals who are trying lure people into a
scam. Regardless of the purpose, these emails are sent without a recipient’s
permission and are considered spam.

But not all spam is sent by cyber-criminals looking to take advantage of people.
Even the most trusted businesses might be sending spam without knowing it.

How do 몭ilters and anti-spam software detect spam?

Anti-spam software and 몭ilters scan emails for red 몭lags. These red 몭lags are based
on common attributes of spam messages.

In the time an email is sent, to the time it lands in your inbox, 몭ilters will examine an
email and decide whether it gets delivered to your inbox or into the spam folder.

When an email is sent to you, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and email inbox
provider, like Gmail or Yahoo!, will send it through the 몭ilters they’ve built into their
systems. There are many things taken into consideration including the content of
your emails, how often you send, and your sending reputation. The 몭ilters look at
speci몭ic parts of an email, such as the subject line, email content and even the
header data. The header data is like an email’s GPS. It tracks where an email came
from, where the email goes and when it arrives at various stops. The 몭ilters look at
this data for anything out of the ordinary and demotes emails to the spam folder if
anything is out of place.

In addition, there are global lists of spammers called blacklists. If a 몭ilter spots an
email sent by a spammer on the list, the email is banned from the inbox.

Filters are checking the message too; looking for telltale spamming signs. Emails
with suspicious subject lines, messages with a glut of images, or shortened URLs –
just to name a few. If you aren’t aware of these red 몭lags, you might be unknowingly
sending emails that are labeled ‘spam.’

The constant evolution of spammers and spam 몭ilters

Spammers are clever. They know how spam 몭ilters work and are constantly evolving
to trick the 몭ilters into delivering their message. Fortunately, as spammers evolve, so
do the various 몭ilters. And inboxes have evolved too, giving the user more tools to
control what they see.
Email inbox providers have made it easy for subscribers to 몭lag an email as spam.
For example, let’s say you receive an email that’s touting a remedy for the common
cold, and you have no idea where this email came from. You can mark it as spam
and banish it to the spam folder.

Filters for inbox providers examine emails from subscribers all over the world that
are marked as spam. They look for similarities and use the information to strengthen
their 몭ilters. Essentially, subscribers are teaching spam 몭ilters what’s spam and what
isn’t.

The fact that spam 몭ilters are evolving is good– it keeps the Internet a safe place for
users. However, in an effort to be as safe as possible, these spam 몭ilters may
occasionally catch emails from your brand. It’s up to you to learn how to send better
emails so that your messages never hit the spam folder.

How to send better emails and avoid spam 몭ilters

Subscribers typically punish senders by marking unsolicited emails as spam. Once
there, you start to get a bad reputation with email 몭ilters so it’s a dangerous path to
start down.

Wondering how to avoid spam 몭ilters? Here’s how to make sure your email
campaigns aren’t marked as spam.

Only send emails to subscribers who’ve opted in

One of the cardinal rules of email marketing is to only send emails to those who
knowingly join your list. That means, you shouldn’t buy a list and send emails to
people who don’t know you or your product, and you shouldn’t assume that just
because you exchanged business cards with a new contact at a trade show that he
or she wants your emails

To make sure subscribers want to receive your messages, create a double opt-in
process for all email contacts. When someone voluntarily joins your email list, you
send a con몭irmation email to that account to make sure they agree to receive your
emails.

Welcome new subscribers quickly

As new subscribers join your list, don’t wait too long to make contact. If you wait, a
subscriber might not remember signing up for your list and mark it as spam.

To avoid this, send a welcome email to new subscribers within the 몭irst 24 hours.
You don’t have to watch your list and manually send an email, you can automate
this process. Create an automated welcome email that every subscriber receives
and trigger it to send as soon as a new subscriber joins your list.

The email should offer a friendly hello and de몭ine your new email relationship like
this one does from Flight Centre, a travel booking company.
Personalize your emails
Spam 몭ilters look for evidence that you know the person you’re emailing. You can
easily do that by personalizing the email. Use ‘merge 몭ields’ to add a subscriber’s
몭irst name to a subject line or a subscriber’s job title to the body of an email or use
other data you have about your subscriber to further personalize your messages.

Not only will personalization methods keep spam 몭ilters happy, it also improves your
open rates. Research shows emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more
likely to be opened.

Send emails from your company domain

Serious email marketers send emails from reputable company email addresses, not
free accounts like Gmail or Hotmail.

Spam 몭ilters are looking for authenticity, and emails with @gmail.com or
@hotmail.com count against you.

Aside from setting up a company email address, make sure the ‘from name’ is
reputable too. An email from Snow몭lake@ABCCompany.com doesn’t inspire much
con몭idence.

Here’s a great example from CoSchedule where the ‘from name’ reads “Breonna
from CoSchedule.” When a subscriber rolls over the contact in Gmail, the full email
address and a picture appears.
Avoid spam words
Spam 몭ilters are looking for “buzz words” that spammers love to use. There’s a list of
the most notorious spam words from Mequoda below. Some of them are obvious
phrases that scammers would use, like “earn extra cash” or “100% free,” but there
are others that legitimate brands would use like “free gift” or “order now.”

You should try to avoid the words on the list, but if you’re offering a free gift as a
promotion, the words “free gift” are hard to avoid. If you’re using any of the spam
words, make sure you provide context. For instance, “Jill, you can receive a free gift
with a $20 purchase at Bob’s Market,” is a great way to provide evidence of a
legitimate offer. Or, you can use any of these 15 power words.

Avoid link shorteners

Spammers shorten links because they typically don’t want anything in the email
that can identify their whereabouts, so if a spam 몭ilter sees shortened links it’s a red
몭lag.

As a marketer, knowing this piece of information is important. After all, using link-
shortening tools, like Bitly, is common practice. But, it’s important to avoid
shortened links in your email.

Use an email service provider with a spam test

Many email service providers offer a spam test, that gives marketers the ability to
scan through a spam 몭ilter before it’s sent.

Campaign Monitor customers, for example, can run a spam test and get a list of
spam-prevention tips like this:

This feature helps provide an additional layer of protection to keep your emails from
hitting the spam folder.
 Wrap up
While spam is a common problem, knowing how it’s detected and sent to unseen
folders is less understood. Using the information above, you can create your next
campaign with con몭idence knowing that you’ve taken precautions to keep your
messages out of spam folders.

Set it and forget it

Try our automation tool, and send triggered emails based on user activity or time of
day.

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CASE STUDY

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This blog provides general information and discussion about email marketing and related subjects.
The content provided in this blog ("Content”), should not be construed as and is not intended to
constitute 몭inancial, legal or tax advice. You should seek the advice of professionals prior to acting
upon any information contained in the Content. All Content is provided strictly “as is” and we make no
warranty or representation of any kind regarding the Content.

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