Often people send out email campaigns and not realise that their newsletters can get trapped in the recipient’s junk folder. There is something called “spam filter”, which aid email clients (Outlook, Entourage, Mail etc.) to block out harmful and unwanted junk mail. You can see it as another level of security for email users.

There is no point in designing, coding and writing your email newsletters if they are to get trapped into the recipient’s junk folder. So how can we avoid this? There is a long list of criteria that spam filters look at when deciding whether your email is considered as junk or not. The spam criteria is constantly being updated and adapted for enhanced security. Contributing to this, everytime someone reports that the email is junk mail, the spam filter will learn from it. Spam filters even sync up with each other to share what they have learned.

Similar to SEO, there is no predefined formula or guideline to follow. Through research and observation, there are a few tips that may help you prevent your next email newsletter heading towards the junk folder.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Spammy phrases like “Click here!”, “FREE! FREE!”, “Once in a lifetime opportunity!”
• Too many exclamation marks “!!!!!!”
• Using capital letters throughout – especially in the subject line
• Colouring fonts with bright red or green
• Coding sloppy HTML – usually converting from a Word file
• Creating an HTML email with little or no text, but one big image (spam filters can’t read images, they assume you are a spammer that’s trying to trick them)
• Using the word “Test” in subject line
• Sending a test to multiple recipients within the same company (there’s a chance that the company’s email firewall assumes it is a spam attack)

If you need help with email marketing and campaigns, contact SWiM and we will provide you with the best solution.