 Content Tips for Copywriters & Designers
Writing a better Unsubscribe
Tips for the more Technically-Inclined
Tips for Marketers
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There are hundreds of filters and thousands upon thousands of rule combinations. This list of tips is by no means exhaustive nor, unfortunately, would any list of "to do's" or "not to do's" adequately represent the myriad ways these filters work. That being said, if you are not in a position to use our eContent Scorer solution or a similar tool that allows you to actually process your content through filters, these are some general guidelines that can help. Most of these are things you should avoid. Avoiding them is absolutely not a guarantee your mail will be delivered but breaking too many of them will significantly increase the chances your mail will not be delivered.
1) Subject Lines
Be careful what you say in your subject line; almost all content filters include direct analysis of the subject line. The words and/or phrases to avoid in the subject line: bill consolidation, cash, credit, hello, free , instant winner, investment report, interest rates, register to win, save $, seen on tv, stock alert, life insurance.
2) Capitalization of words or phrases
Normal capitalization does not hurt an overall email spam score. However, capitalizing entire words, phrases or paragraphs will count against the email score.
3) Message Text
Tens of thousands of emails are analyzed to determine which words and phrases appear most often in spam. These probability-weighted words and phrases are often what are used to establish spam scores. Example of words and phrases which may seem innocuous but which have higher relative scores for "spamminess" include:
Dear (something)
free installation
no obligation
online pharmacy
no investment
special promotion
consolidate bill
call toll free
limited time offer
home financing
removed from this mailing *
sign up FREE!
money back guarantee
credit card debt
*PV Note: try to avoid using the words "unsubscribe", "remove", or "delete" in the same sentence as "email" "mail", "list", or "reply-to" or any derivations thereof (e.g. removed, mailing) – see our full tips for unsubscribe language for more information.
4) Wording Regarding Anti-Spam Legislation Compliance
When an email states it is in compliance with anti-spam legislation (e.g. H.R. 3113 or U.C.E–Mail Act), it negatively affects an email score. The theory is that only true spammers include these types of statements. The same holds true for phrases such as "is not spam". Unfortunately, blatant assertions that your mail is legal, not spam, not unsolicited, etc. count against you and, thus, you should avoid making them.
5) Email Size
Several anti-spam filters score unfavorably based upon the weight of the email. Spam messages tend to be less than 20k and, therefore, filter programs count this size against an email score. However, an email whose size is between 20k-40k scores favorably towards your overall score.
6) Email Format Issues : Text, HTML, MIME, Images
- Emails that contain images with little or no text will count against an email score.
- Message text in HTML without a specified character set; containing thick borders, or font colors with missing hashes work against the email overall score.
- MIME - Emails which are a mixture of plain text and HTML are more likely to be marked as spam than a message that is pure HTML or pure text.
7) Colors & Fonts
- Most colors have little impact on an email's overall score but green and blue generally score worse than any other colors.
- Generally fonts do not count against an email; however fonts that are rarely used score a little worse than typical everyday fonts. Additionally, a larger font size can trigger a slightly higher spam score.
8) Hyperlinks & Tags
- In some anti-spam filters a hyperlink without an http:// will count against the overall score of the email.
- Use of a "tracker-id" embedded in the URL is used by some filters as a spam indicator. If you are tagging the URLs with customer numbers or other tracking numbers, avoid labeling them as such.
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