Are spam filters kicking your ass?

July 16, 2009

Are you sure about that? Did you know that according to an article in Time Magazine nearly 40–70% of all e-mail, even legitimate ones, are getting blocked by spam filters before anyone has the opportunity to read them? I’m not sure what they define as “legitimate,” but regardless, that is a ridiculously high number.

Despite the failure rates, in my opinion e-mail is still an awesome marketing medium, but it takes a little bit of know-how and ingenuity to get your message in front of your audience. Spam filters are making it difficult for marketers to ensure e-mail gets to their intended targets, and this is a good thing.

Most spam filters search e-mails for words, phrases, and symbols that commonly appear in spam. If your e-mail has more than a certain number of these words, phrases, or symbols, the filter identifies it as spam and blocks delivery of the e-mail.

Here is a list of 11 ways to get schooled by spam filters.

1) Send bulk emails, especially if your customers use Shaw or Telus addresses
2) Use caps in your email, especially in your Subject line
3) Overuse punctuation!!!!
4) Don’t provide an “unsubscribe” link
5) Start your subject line with “Dear…”
6) Use your PC as a server
7) Send emails without checking to see if you are on a Blacklist
8) Use the BCc or Cc feature to send your emails
9) Overuse “Marketing Phrases”
10) Use the Priority option in Outlook
11) Don’t provide a text-based version of your html email

Don’t waste your time.

Using your email client to send mass emails to your customers is too risky. There are so many things that can go wrong, not to mention managing subscribers and unsubscribers is an absolute nightmare. And from a marketers perspective, how can you determine the success of your campaigns? You can’t!

There are a lot of really cool and inexpensive automated programs you can use to send emails. They are 100% legitimate, they come with ‘spam-o-meters’ so you can determine the level of spamminess of your emails; you can track your traffic, click-thru rates and article popularity; plus they automatically manage your lists.

Our Favorites:

1. Mailchimp
2. Nourish
3. AWeber

Posted by Craig Blackburn

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