Spam Trigger Words: How to Keep Your Emails Out of the Spam Folder in 2024
I‘ve been running HubSpot’s Marketing Daily emails for about as long as I’ve been with the company (a slight nudge for you to subscribe), so I know a thing or two about getting your marketing emails to the right inbox.
I also know a lot about avoiding spam trigger words and filters. Though avoiding trigger words isn‘t enough to evade the robust systems of spam filters, it’s good to know them to keep your marketing emails in good standing with email providers like Google Mail.
To ensure your marketing emails reach your target audience, here‘s a list of spam trigger words and habits to steer clear of in your messages. But first, let’s get into the details of spam trigger words.
Spam List: Words to Avoid When Possible
Some spam trigger words are easier to avoid in marketing emails than others. For example, you don’t have to refer to your email recipients as “dear” in your marketing emails (in fact, you shouldn’t).
However, avoiding specific calls to action like “Act now!” or “Discount” could be difficult, primarily if you sell products and services.
Fortunately, spam trigger words aren’t as relevant as they used to be now that inbox service providers (ISPs) have more sophisticated methods of determining if an email is spam.
That said, I strongly urge you to be aware of words and phrases to avoid (or use sparingly) to ensure your emails reach your target recipients and avoid spam folders.
How to Avoid the Spam Folder
Here are some tips to help you protect your brand’s reputation and ensure your emails reach the inbox.
1. Send targeted content to those who have asked to receive it.
In my experience, sending marketing emails to contacts who have consented will result in positively engaged mail.
It’s also essential to send mail that contacts are expecting to receive.
For example, I only send Marketing Blog Daily emails to contacts subscribed to receive them. I do not send them to our weekly email subscribers. Contacts requesting a weekly newsletter may engage negatively if they’re emailed daily.
This may include leaving it unopened or taking more drastic measures like unsubscribing or marking it as spam.
In addition to obtaining consent and being thoughtful with outreach, I also suggest protecting a strong reputation by not sending materials to those who have stopped engaging with your emails.
It’s normal for lists to depreciate and for contacts to become unengaged. It’s important to start thoughtfully suppressing unengaged contacts before they start dragging down engagement rates and impacting reputation.
This strategy is often accompanied by a sunset policy, a plan for managing contacts that have stopped engaging.
Pro-Tip: Always include a visible unsubscribe link in your emails. This will help avoid spam triggers and will help ensure your recipients are choosing to still remain subscribed.
2. Use the same name for every email.
I always include the same sender name for every HubSpot Marketing email I send: HubSpot Blog, Marketing. Spammers will often change their sender name between emails to confuse recipients.
So, ensure your sender name is consistent and authentic so you don‘t get lumped in with the fakers. Be authentic by using your company name, brand name, or person’s name.
3. Be mindful of your email’s content.
Include your business’ physical address so spam filters can confirm your authenticity. Also, keep a balanced ratio of images and texts, and avoid using just one large image or too many in your marketing emails.
For example, my HubSpot Marketing emails consist of 3 medium-sized featured images split up by headings and short body paragraphs.
4. Authenticate your brand’s marketing emails.
DMARC, SPF, and DKIM are means of authentication, and all are considered best practices.
Adding authentication to your brand’s sends won’t reverse negative reputation impact or ensure that mail is delivered to a primary inbox. Still, it can improve the trust recipients’ mail servers have in your mail.
You should also take steps to protect your brand’s sending reputation by regularly monitoring the following metrics:
Open Rate
Low opens indicate a need for unengaged contact suppression or that your sending reputation has been negatively impacted.
Click-through Rate
Low click-through rates can mean an opportunity for better segmentation or clearer CTAs.
Hard Bounce Rate
A high hard bounce can indicate that a list is outdated, although reading the bounce message will be the best way to diagnose bounce issues.
Unsubscribe Rate
A high unsubscribe rate can also mean that a list is stale or that contacts are being sent something they didn’t subscribe to.
Spam Compliant Rate
A high spam complaint rate is always a reason for pause, as that’s a strong indicator that contacts weren’t expecting mail from your brand.
Spam complaints are taken seriously by inbox service providers (ISP) and can negatively impact your brand’s sending reputation quickly.
5. Avoid the abnormal.
ISPs are looking for senders to remain as “normal” as possible from send to send — of course, “normal” is a relative term.
In general, sending to the same audiences (with the necessary segmentation) and avoiding large volume spikes can help your brand avoid the abnormal.
Knowing what you’re linking to can also help avoid the spam folder.
Just like how your brand’s reputation can dictate whether or not your mail is delivered to a primary inbox (not spam, junk, or other filtered inboxes), websites you link to carry their reputation.
Sharing a link to an external website with a poor reputation can make your mail more likely to bounce or get filtered out.
For this very reason, I only link to other HubSpot content in my marketing emails.
Speaking of abnormalities, avoid making unrealistic promises or claims (more on that later).
6. Comply with local email regulations.
Whether it’s GDPR, CAN-SPAM, CCPA, CASL, or one of the many other local regulations, complying with these local requirements will be vital to a successful mail strategy.
You must comply with the regulations and your email-sending platform’s requirements (ESP). This protects you as a sender (violating local regulations can have ramifications) and allows you to treat your contacts the way they expect to be treated based on their location.
Spamming Examples
Here are two examples of spam emails I‘ve found in my inbox. Notice how the first one is vague and only mentions a “proposal” and a “client.” This is obvious spam, and you probably think, “I’d never send a marketing email that looks like!”
I trust you wouldn‘t, but the vague messaging is one of many reasons it’s in the spam folder. There‘s no mention of the business’ name, physical address, or purpose.
There also isn’t an unsubscribe button.
Notice the second example below. This one mentions that I have a podcast, which is true. But it doesn‘t say it by name, and it’s making unrealistic promises to get my content to rank on YouTube in just 5 minutes. Unrealistic claims are red flags for spam filters.
Furthermore, instead of including an unsubscribe link, the email urges recipients to respond to unsubscribe. When it comes to spam emails, engaging at all is risky. So, the best thing to do is not reply, especially if there isn’t a simple link to unsubscribe.
Spam List: Words to Avoid When Possible
As I said, some words and phrases are easier to avoid than others. At the very least, you’ll want to ensure you use some of these only if you absolutely need to and as little as possible.
Commerce
As seen on
Buy
Buy direct
Buying judgments
Clearance
Order
Order status
Orders shipped by shopper
Personal
Dig up dirt on friends
Meet singles
Score with babes
XXX
Near you
Employment
Additional income
Be your own boss
Compete for your business
Double your
Earn $
Earn extra cash
Earn per week
Expect to earn
Extra income
Home-based
Home employment
Home-based business
Income from home
Make $
Make money
Money making
Online biz opportunity
Online degree
Opportunity
Potential earnings
University diplomas
While you sleep
Work at home
Work from home
Financial – General
$$$
Affordable
Bargain
Beneficiary
Best price
Big bucks
Cash
Cash bonus
Cashcashcash
Cents on the dollar
Cheap
Check
Claims
Collect
Compare rates
Cost
Credit
Credit bureaus
Discount
Earn
Easy terms
F r e e
Fast cash
For just $XXX
Hidden assets
hidden charges
Income
Incredible deal
Insurance
Investment
Loans
Lowest price
Million dollars
Money
Money back
Mortgage
Mortgage rates
No cost
No fees
One hundred percent free
Only $
Pennies a day
Price
Profits
Pure profit
Quote
Refinance
Save $
Save big money
Save up to
Serious cash
Subject to credit
They keep your money — no refund!
Unsecured credit
Unsecured debt
US dollars
Why pay more?
Financial – Business
Accept credit cards
Cards accepted
Check or money order
Credit card offers
Explode your business
Full refund
Investment decision
No credit check
No hidden Costs
No investment
Requires initial investment
Sent in compliance
Stock alert
Stock disclaimer statement
Stock pick
Financial – Personal
Avoid bankruptcy
Calling creditors
Collect child support
Consolidate debt and credit
Consolidate your debt
Eliminate bad credit
Eliminate debt
Financially independent
Get out of debt
Get paid
Lower interest rate
Lower monthly payment
Lower your mortgage rate
Lowest insurance rates
Pre-approved
Refinance home
Social security number
Your income
General
Acceptance
Accordingly
Avoid
Chance
Dormant
Freedom
Here
Hidden
Home
Leave
Lifetime
Lose
Maintained
Medium
Miracle
Never
Passwords
Problem
Remove
Reverses
Sample
Satisfaction
Solution
Stop
Success
Teen
Wife
Greetings
Dear [email/friend/somebody]
Friend
Hello
Marketing
Ad
Auto email removal
Bulk email
Click
Click below
Click here
Click to remove
Direct email
Direct marketing
Email harvest
Email marketing
Form
Increase sales
Increase traffic
Increase your sales
Increase visibility
Internet market
Internet marketing
Marketing
Marketing solutions
Mass email
Member
Month trial offer
More Internet Traffic
Multi-level marketing
Not spam
One time mailing
Online marketing
Open
Opt-in
Performance
Removal instructions
Sale
Sales
Search engine listings
Search engines
Subscribe
The following form
This isn’t junk
This isn’t spam
Undisclosed recipient
Unsubscribe
Visit our website
We hate spam
Web traffic
Will not believe your eyes
Medical
Cures baldness
Diagnostic
Fast Viagra delivery
Human growth hormone
Life insurance
Lose weight
Lose weight spam
Medicine
No medical exams
Online pharmacy
Removes wrinkles
Reverses aging
Stop snoring
Valium
Viagra
Vicodin
Weight loss
Xanax
Numbers
#1
100% free
100% satisfied
4U
50% off
Billion
Billion dollars
Join millions
Join millions of Americans
Million
One hundred percent guaranteed
Thousands
Offers
Being a member
Billing address
Call
Cannot be combined with any other offer
Confidentially on all orders
Deal
Financial freedom
Gift certificate
Giving away
Guarantee
Have you been turned down?
If only it were that easy
Important information regarding
In accordance with laws
Long-distance phone offer
Mail in order form
Message contains
Name brand
Nigerian
No age restrictions
No catch
No claim forms
No disappointment
No experience
No gimmick
No inventory
No middleman
No obligation
No purchase necessary
No questions asked
No selling
No strings attached
No-obligation
Not intended
Obligation
Offshore
Offer
Per day
Per week
Priority mail
Prize
Prizes
Produced and sent out
Reserves the right
Shopping spree
Stuff on sale
Terms and conditions
The best rates
They’re just giving it away
Trial
Unlimited
Unsolicited
Vacation
Vacation offers
Warranty
We honor all
Weekend getaway
What are you waiting for?
Who really wins?
Win
Winner
Winning
Won
You are a winner!
You have been selected
You’re a Winner!
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Building Your Brand’s Reputation
While, unfortunately, simply avoiding a list of words won’t keep you out of the spam folder, you can still take steps to protect your brand’s reputation and work towards solid deliverability. Good luck!