- by Tim Gross, President - Internet Profit Systems

Warning: If you publish an online newsletter or mail to any opt-in list (including your customer list), it is critical that you read this. I'm sure you already know that your opt-in lists (of customers, subscribers, etc) are someof the most valuable assets of your business.You've probably also heard that there are some Spam filters programs and scripts that may stop recipients from receiving certain email messages sent out.

What you probably don't know is how insanely broad-based and indiscriminately these program filters tag messages as spam and delete them automatically.It's one thing to talk about this in vague terms; It's another to see the facts. This article is not intended to debate the merits of spam filters or the nuisance of spam. I've never had much interest in debating how things "should be" in business... I simply work at having the most accurate understanding of how things actually are to best serve my marketing clients and customers.

As spam email continues to increase and become more problematic, more and more attempts will be made - at both individual and group levels - to filter these messages. Unfortunately, in order to for these filters to block out a good percentage of spam, they are deleting non-spam messages as well. "Throwing the baby out with the bathwater", so to speak.The filters look for certain words like "XXX, porn, Bizop, $$$, things like that, and delete them on the (probably valid) assumption that they're spam.

However, They Don't Stop There

Below are the actual "Spam Filter" terms built in to Mcafee Spam Killer. To see it in action (and to watch a lot of mail you wanted to receive get "zapped and deleted", download it at www.download.com .

Business Email

Now let's look at what Mcafee Spam Filter (as an example) will zap in responsible opt-in subscriber/customer email correspondence:

So you can't help people avoid heart attacks, keep them from preventing suicide, or send them a 100% free gift as a personal thank-you. What's the world coming to? (smile again)

Are You Starting To Get The Picture?

Unless you actually have a list of "spam triggers" in front of you to use as a reference, it can be fairly hard to get a message through to someone who has a spam filter in place, whether the filter has been installed voluntarily by the end-user, or whether their ISP or Service Provider has one in place for all their users which functions automatically.A more comprehensive list of "trigger words" is listed below. First, let's talk about how this affects you and what you can do about it.

1. Be aware of trigger words and phrases that can get your message deleted in ALL of your correspondence. Pay close attention to opt-out phrases (to be removed...), there are a lot of variations of those that'll get you zapped. Unfortunately, the clear opt-out instructions of legitimate newsletter publishers are the exact wordings that are set to trigger Spam Killers. When in doubt, don't send your entire newsletter by email (which may contain "trigger words"). Just email your list and say, "Your newest newsletter issue is available to read by click here. In this issue, we show you 7 ways to get a better nights' sleep, and 3 methods of getting extra energy in the afternoon. Click here to read it now.
   
   (In other words, you'll probably get higher readership if you "tempt" your readers with what they'll get, instead of just saying, "click here for the newest issue". An alternative is just to be extremely careful in your newsletters and mailings regarding specific words, phrases, and opt-out notices. Don't mention free gifts, toll-free numbers, special offers, don't say "visit our website", use an unusual unsubscribe statement, and proceed as usual. If you're in the Bizopp, weight loss, or MLM field, you you have even more challenges. Those actual words are on the list, as well as related ones. ;-)
2. Be very aware of 3rd party opt-out notices if you're doing Joint Ventures, cross-promotions, or opt-in email advertising!
   
   You may write a well-crafted letter that avoids all potential spam trigger words, work out a Joint Venture endorsement with someone else's list, and have them mail your offer to their list with a heading the ad that triggers spam filters like artillery fire:

"This is not a spam email. (1) To be removed, click here.(2) Free gift (3) and free consultion (4) if you respond now".

5. 
   That disclaimer/notification box triggered 4 separate spam filters in McAfee Spam Killer, as noted above.
6. Warning: If you do any paid advertising to opt-in lists, do NOT expect the list owner to be familiar with the spam filter words and phrases listed here (I've checked).

I hope you've found this article useful... I received an email from a newsletter subscriber previously who was emailing me to thank me for my newsletter being so helpful, and he casually mentioned that his spam filter had deleted my newsletter email automatically, but that luckily he "recovered" it and read it.

I'm glad he emailed me to let me know.

Most people who don't receive your emails due to spam blocking NEVER see it. And if they do, they're not going to go to the trouble to warn you that you were blocked by a spam filter.How many emails of yours are "missing in action" due to spam filter deletion? It's hard to say. But what's obvious is that spam filters will become more prevalent and aggressive in the future. If you can avoid the problem by following the simple steps I've listed above, you'd be crazy not to.If you have any personal experience on this subject, I'd love to hear it. Email your comments to feedback@iprofitsystems.com A more complete list of Spam Filter triggers is below. There are different ones for email subject lines, "To:" field, and body text. I've omitted the obvious ones that you shouldn't have to worry about, like "free porn" and obnoxious things of that nature.Here is a sampling of the filters for the "Header" field. If ANY of the following words/phrases are found by McAfee Spam Killer, your email is history.