A-Z Media & Scrapbooking.com Magazine
EmailBlast Content Submission Guidelines
SPAM Filters • Common SPAM Terms
Every email blast and newsletter we send out goes through a content checker. You will find that we often have to make changes to the text and the format of the email blasts that go out so that we can ensure the highest deliverability. This document was created in order to streamline the process and help the sales staff serve our advertisers better.
27% of all permission-based emails don’t get through due to spam filters. To combat this, you need to be sure all your messages are “filter-friendly.” By following the guidelines given here, you can dramatically improve your rate of deliverability.
*It is preferred that all EmailBlast submissions are received in HTML format.
SPAM Filters
Most email providers use a combination of filters based on blacklists and what are known as “content-based” filters. Content-based filters determine if a message is spam by analyzing the structure, language, and format of a message. They label a message as spam based on a combination of factors that are common to spam messages.
While these factors can vary slightly depending on the specific filter, here a few elements that most content-based spam filters consider high-risk:
- Excessive use of pictures, prices, and words like ‘sale’ or ‘guarantee’
- Excessive use of CAPS and punctuation (!!! Or $$$)
- Balance in the use of images and text.
- Large relative font sizes (any text that’s “2” or more is flagged)
- Avoid excessive hyperlinks and blue text (some spam filters associate blue text with links).
- HTML-only messages will be blocked by quite a few spam filters. The system we use at A-Z Media requires that a text message is sent with the HTML message, and it also checks that the text in the HTML message matches the plain text message.
Terms that are considered Common Spam Terms
Most content-based spam filters use a scoring system that assigns point values to certain elements of a message. At A-Z Media, we do our best to keep that rating below 1.0 for all email blasts and newsletters. The following terms will almost always alert spam filters and should be avoided if at all possible.
- opt-in
- guarantee
- $ or !!!
- click here or click below
- unsubscribe
- no-cost
- grow
- free
- look great
- thousands of happy customers
- million emails
- million messages
- money-back
- new and improved
- slimmer
- staggering response
- they will spend more
- thinner
- financial success
- merchant account
- this is not spam
- you are receiving this because
- 800 numbers
The most popular triggers our clients tend to use are “free,” “click here,” and 800 numbers. If a trigger word MUST be used, they should be used sparingly and only within an image, not in the text of a blast.