In the previous blog, we discussed certain points that add your spam score. I think it will be better if I could discuss with you how you can reduce your spam score. So in this article, we will discuss some tips, or you can say tricks to escape from spam filters. You can build up a good e-mail marketing strategy if you could give a little attention to your subject line.
• If your subject contains newsletter header (list), it will reduce your spam score (- 0.22)
• It is more beneficial if your subject contains newsletter header (news). (-0.62)
• Again, if your subject contains newsletter header (in review), it will reduce your spam score (- 1.00)
• If your subject contains a frequency-probable newsletter, it will reduce 0.73 from your spam score.
• If your subject contains a month name-probable newsletter, it will reduce 0.48 from your spam score.
• If your subject contains a date, 1.60 will be reduced from your spam score.
Some other words or phrases that help you out of these spam filters include a PGP signature, about a forgotten password or a registration system.
Another important part you may miss in your e-mail is your signature. You are getting much probability to escape from a spam filter if your mail contains an e-mail signature. Most spam messages don’t have that. Anyway I couldn’t find any points saying whether it will add your spam score if you don’t have a signature in your e-mails.
• If a short signature is present without empty lines----- -0.30
• If a short signature with empty lines is present------- -2.09
• Long signature present(no empty lines) ------- 3.13
• Long signature present(empty lines) ------- -0.30
• Contains what looks like an Email Disclaimer------- -0.70
• Contains what looks like an Email Attribution------- -1.63
• Contains what looks like a quoted email text-------- -0.83
Next point to be remembered is not to mention Spam Law Compliance. It is not wise to claim that you observe all the spam laws. You will be penalized from 0.91 to 3.47 points for this. Most spam messages’ size range is below 20K. So if your message is below 20K, it will be surely flagged as spam. So, SpamAssassin will credit you upto -0.71 if your message size ranges from 20-40K. If it is above 40K, you will reduce your spam score upto -0.12.
Some people may add e-mail addresses to your e-mail addresses to your list just to get you in trouble with the anti- spammers. I prefer scanning your e-mail database for an e-mail address starting with abuse@, postmaster@, or nospam@. Also you might scan for the word “subscribe” among your e-mail addresses. Another small percentage of recipients use systems that block all e-mails except those that respond to an e-mail message and sometimes give a name and reason for the e-mail. So, you have to monitor your “From” E-mail address for challenge systems.
E-mail client programs such as AOL 8.0 and Hotmail have changed their interface to allow users to sort their mail into preferred folders. As people subscribe, ask them specifically to place you in their address book (AOL), "safe list" (Hotmail), or "whitelist" (some spam filters) so that your e-mail will come directly into their inbox. You may find difficulty in asking people to do so. But, this increases the probability of your e-mails found in the inbox itself. Monitoring Blacklists and Test Accounts will also helps you a lot. SpamAssassin currently checks 3 blacklists:
• Razor2 (http://razor.sf.net)
• DCC List (www.rhyolite.com/anti-spam/dcc/dcc-tree/dcc.html)
• Pyzor (http://pyzor.sf.net)
Some other blacklists that may prevent your recipients from receiving their e-mail include:
• Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS, www.mail-abuse.org)
• Network Abuse Clearinghouse (www.abuse.net)
• NJABL.ORG (Not Just Another Blacklist, www.njabl.org)
• SPAM Blocking Blackhole List (http://blackholes.bruli.net)
Currently there are some services you can use to test the spam quotient of your e-mail offers before sending them out. Examples are Site Sell Spam Check Report and Assurance Systems. But currently spammers who used to spam as it is cheap will no longer spam because of the increasing risk. So, let me hope you will be able to build up a good e-mail marketing strategy. Read another article on E-mail marketing.