Direct Marketing 101: Avoiding the Spam Filter

After all your hard work with direct marketing and designing eblasts, the last thing you want is for them to end up in the spam folder! There are a lot of different ways that you can avoid spam filters. It all starts with the wording that you choose to include, and whether or not it is considered spammy or sales-pitchy. Stop using words like free, urgent, buy, earn, subscribe, collect, help, reminder, clearance, cash, percent off, click here, guarantee and the list goes on.

When people see this in eblasts for direct marketing, they think there’s a catch or that it’s fake. This also stands true for phrases used in direct marketing as well. When your eblasts incorporate copy that rambles on about outrageous promises, then it does not have a chance. Other phrases in direct marketing  that will kick you out of the game real quick are claiming urgency in the eblasts, as well as money-back guarantees.

Also, if your eblasts have too many graphics, it can be seen as spam. If you wish to avoid spam filters, check the size of your images and try to add more copy to smooth it all out. Do not use a bunch of exclamation points throughout your eblasts, do not use ALL CAPS and don’t use sloppy HTML. Other tips to avoid spam filters when you use direct marketing are getting on white lists, cleaning up your e-mail list and testing out the eblasts yourself. When you test out the eblasts, you should also use a spam-checker so that it can let you know if your eblasts contain any spam-worthy features.