Still learning on the content / deliverability argument

Latest posts | Feed | By Mark Brownlow on August 29, 2007

Yesterday, I posted about the "dirty words" problem...those lists of words that might cause your email to get blocked or filtered.

The lists in themselves aren't the problem. But the sloppy reporting of those lists might have led some to believe that such words are the main criteria by which email gatekeepers decide whether your email gets delivered or not.

More articles popped out today to correct this misapprehension. Stefan Pollard has a beautifully simple explanation of the precise role of words and phrases when it comes to the dreaded spam filters.

And Jordan Ayan (CEO of SubscriberMail who put out one of the lists) responds to the kerfuffle with a calm and graceful post resolving some of the reported misunderstandings.

Both authors also make a crucial point that I'm ashamed to say I missed first time round. Important as particular words and phrases might or might not be for digital spam filters, there's also the human spam filter to consider.

Recipients use the words, calls to action and phrases in your email to build a perception of that email. If that perception is a spammy one, then you just triggered the human spam filter.

Avoiding "spam" words and phrases is as much about encouraging the right human reaction as bypassing automated spam filters.

More on email deliverability | Tags: email marketing, spam words, deliverability, spam filters, content filters

[This post brought to you by Campaigner Email Marketing]
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