Home

Previous Articles
Advertising

Events
Links
Publications

About BDM News
Contact Us

Marketing With E-mail?
Watch Out For Spam Filters!
by Ivan Levison

A friend of mine was fed up with all the spam he was getting. So he decided to do something about it.

He activated the junk e-mail filter (default setting) on Outlook and set up a folder to which all the spam would automatically be sent. Two weeks later he checked out the messages that had accumulated.

Sure enough, there was all the usual garbage... money-making plots from Nigerians, news about valuable prizes waiting to be claimed, etc.

What was troubling, however, was that among all the junk were two letters from clients < letters that he wanted to receive and never got!

How had they wound up in the junk folder? Simple. My friend's clients had inadvertently used "trigger words" in their e-mails that the junk filter spotted. The software then automatically shunted the e-mails containing the trigger words to his junk folder.

Bad news for my friend and bad news for you. You see, if you're sending e-mail to large numbers of people, and they have their junk filters turned on, your e-mails may be getting deleted automatically.

What can you do to avoid junk filters?

Don't use the trigger words that get you trashed.

For example, if you use the Outlook Express spam filter in default mode, you'll be trashed if:

From is blank
Subject contains "advertisement"
Body contains "money back "
Body contains "cards accepted"
Body contains "removal instructions"
Body contains "extra income"
Subject contains "!" AND
Subject contains "$"
Subject contains "!" AND
Subject contains "free"
Body contains ",000" AND
Body contains "!!" AND
Body contains "$"
Body contains "for free?"
Body contains "for free!"
Body contains "Guarantee" AND (
Body contains "satisfaction" OR
Body contains "absolute")
Body contains "more info " AND
Body contains "visit " AND
Body contains "$"
Body contains "SPECIAL PROMOTION"
Body contains "one-time mail"
Subject contains "$$"
Body contains "$$$"
Body contains "order today"
Body contains "order now!"
Body contains "money-back guarantee"
Body contains "100% satisfied"
To contains "friend@"
To contains "public@"
To contains "success@"
From contains "sales@"
From contains "success."
From contains "success@"
From contains "mail@"
From contains "@public"
From contains "@savvy"
From contains "profits@"
From contains "hello@"
Body contains " mlm"
Body contains "@mlm"
Body contains "///////////////"
Body contains "check or money order"

And that's just for starters!

The moral here? You have to be very careful. For example, you'll notice that if you use an exclamation point ("!") and the word "free" in the subject line, you're message is filtered out. I pay close attention to this and urge you to do the same!

By the way, Outlook Express isn't the only product that contains a junk mail filter. Yahoo offers spam filters for its e-mail accounts. So does Eudora. Then there are all the other screeners like Spam Motel and Spam Cop.

What's a poor sales person to do?

Here are two suggestions for you to consider:

1. Start a testing program. I recently asked Jeff Wilkins, the CEO of MarketModels and an expert on all aspects of e-mail marketing, his thoughts about filtering. Jeff told me:
   
   "Client-side filtering is a giant wildcard for e-mail marketers. No one really knows exactly how widespread the filtering problem is. However if someone does have a filter on, and your message contains trigger words, you're history.
   
   I think this issue would best be addressed by doing some good old-fashioned cell testing. For example, if an e-mail with "order today" in the body performs significantly worse than a toned-down version, then you'll naturally need to make changes."
   
   I think Jeff's absolutely right. As so often, testing will give you answers you can count on. One of the great things about e-mail is that it can give you answers fast.
   
   
2. Start researching the subject. If you're a heavy e-mailer, start checking out spam filters and avoid trigger words that will get you in trouble. This may take some effort but it is well worth the work.

The take-away message? Spam filtering is an important issue that's worth paying attention to.

A little research on your part can help keep your e-mails where they belong. Right in front of your prospects.

* * * * *

About Ivan Levison

Ivan Levison is a freelance direct response copywriter who works for technology companies like Adobe, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Intuit, Microsoft, and many others. Ivan writes direct mail sales letters, e-mail letters, Web sites, and ads. For a free subscription to his monthly e-mail newsletter for software marketers, visit his Web site at http://www.levison.com.

Ivan can be reached at (415) 461-0672 or at ivan@levison.com.

* * * * *

Get a FREE subscription to "The Levison Letter" at: http://www.levison.com

The Levison Letter is created specially for marketing professionals and is delivered every month by e-mail.

Five fabulous books to read now: http://www.levison.com/books