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10 Tips for Negotiating the Spam Filter Minefield and Designing for Compatibility with Different Email ProgramsIndustry estimates indicate that the proliferation of spam filters has created a virtual spam filter minefield in which 14-25% percent of email messages broadcast for legitimate marketing purposes gets trapped. In addition, emails that look correct in one email program may not display properly in another. The purpose of these guidelines is to offer some tips for designing your email so as to increase your chances of avoiding these pitfalls. 1. Avoid words known to trigger spam filters in both your HTML code and email copy. For example, the word "free" and its synonyms are considered "spammy." Avoid these words both in your copy and in URL’s and filenames. In other words, don’t include a URL in your HTML code pointing to a file called "free.gif." Which words or phrases trigger spam filters changes constantly. Below is a small (but by no means exhaustive) sample of words and phrases to avoid:
2. HTML Header - Always include the Document Header, Character Set, and Title in the HTML creative. 3. Font colors - Use images or inline style elements for changing font colors. Font color changes in the HTML coding catch the attention of spam filters. 4. Code HTML emails by hand using Notepad or a similar plain text editor. Do not use MS Word, layers, external or cascading style sheets (CSS), PageMaker, Dreamweaver or similar. Although these programs work fine for web sites, they cause problems with email. If you must use a WYSIWIG HTML editor, make sure you have someone who can recognize and remove all the elements introduced by these editors that cause display issues and trigger spam filters. 5. Avoid SPAN elements. Use in-line style elements instead. 6. Do not use JavaScript. 7. Use HTML character codes rather than high ASCII characters. Common elements that use high ASCII characters include copyright symbols and punctuation such as apostrophes and dashes. They will display incorrectly in some email programs unless you use the HTML character codes. High ASCII characters are often inadvertently inserted when copy is cut and pasted from Word. 8. Text Files – Use a plain text editor such as Notepad to create text backup versions of your email creative rather than Word. Word includes formatting and other characters which cannot be displayed by pure text email readers. 9. Line length – Use a maximum of 72 characters per line. 10. Preview Panes & Image Blocking – Design your emails with plain text and a call to action in the preview pane area rather than images. Numerous studies report that the majority of subscribers to B2B email newsletters use preview panes and block images. MarketingSherpa reported in February 2007 that 26.6% of adult consumers use preview panes and 59% routinely block images. This means that if you load the preview pane area with images, a significant proportion of your target audience may never see your message. |