The Ways to Avoid Spam Filters
A spam filter keeps certain messages from reaching your email account by evaluating its content and classifying it as spam or legitimate email. While spam filters are effective at keeping out plenty of junk email, occasionally a filter is overaggressive and sends a legitimate message to the spam folder. Avoid having your messages sent to the spam filter by paying close attention to the wording and format of your messages and newsletters.
Other People Are Reading
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Subject
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Evaluate the subject of your email. Spam filters look for certain keywords, such as "free," "guaranteed," "hello," "offer" or "instant." Keep your subject short, but don't make it too generic or the spam filter might send it to the trash. Don't leave the subject blank, either, because that's another spam trigger. Spam Assassin, an open source spam filter, created a list of rules, coded inside the program, to catch common spam messages. The No. 14 rule on SpamAssassin's Top 25 Sins List is to avoid placing the subject in all capital letters.
Message Formatting
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Avoid using too much HTML Web programming language in your message, especially if you're emailing for the first time. If possible, keep the body entirely in plain text. An email message filled with links also raises its chances of landing in the spam folder. Avoid placing multiple blank lines in between text. SpamAssassin lists a message with a minimum of 70 percent blank lines as No. 5 in its top 25-spam sins list.
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Capitalization
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Don't overuse capitals. Over the Web, excessive usage of capitals implies yelling or screaming. Capitalize only the first word in a sentence and proper nouns. Overuse of capitalization ranks as No. 3 on SpamAssassin's list.
Signature
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Increase your email's credibility by using a signature. A long email signature with no empty lines benefits you, while a very short or lack of signature shifts your email closer to the trash bin. Use basic characters in your signature and follow the capitalization rules. For example, "John Doe" is an appropriate signature, while "JOHN DOE" isn't. It may trigger a spam filter.
Get on the Whitelist
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Ask the recipient ahead of time to add you to his whitelist, a list that indicates your message must get through the filters regardless of how similar it looks to spam messages. If you're on a recipient's whitelist, no matter what you put in the email or how you format it, he will receive it.
From and To Fields
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Set up your email ahead of time with your real name and email in the header. Keep numbers out of your "from" field. Fill out the message "reply to:" field. In general, empty lines or blank spaces show spam filters that a person isn't sending the message. Avoid placing spaces in the message "to:" field.
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References
- "Web Marketing Today"; Words and Phrases That Trigger Some Spam Filters; Dr. Ralph F. Wilson; December 2002
- IMedia Connection; Avoid the Spam Filter; Russell Shaw; June 2004
- "Web Marketing Today"; 20 Ways Opt-in E-Mailers Can Outsmart Spam Filters; Dr. Ralph F Wilson; December 2002
- SpamAssassin: Some Tips for Legitimate Senders to Avoid False Positives
- SpamAssassin: Tests Performed: v3.2.x
- Photo Credit Medioimages/Photodisc/Photodisc/Getty Images
