{"id":6737,"date":"2017-02-07T19:16:26","date_gmt":"2017-02-07T13:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blogs\/?p=6737"},"modified":"2020-10-21T16:54:57","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T11:24:57","slug":"avoid-spam-traps-filter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoid the (Spam) Trap! Things to look out in Email Design and Coding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a place far far far away, there was an email marketer charting out his marketing strategy. He identified his target audience, chartered his lead generating process, prepared incentives and set up his marketing and automation email processes. His emails have been freshly off the developer\u2019s desk and ready to be received at his subscribers\u2019 inbox. Moments after pressing the most feared button ever to be known to an email marketer (to those uninitiated, the Send Button), he observes poor delivery and exclaims:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/General-ackbar-star-wars-its-a-trap.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6739 size-full\" title=\"General-ackbar-star-wars-its-a-trap\" src=\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/General-ackbar-star-wars-its-a-trap.jpg\" alt=\"General-ackbar-star-wars-its-a-trap\" width=\"407\" height=\"218\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>He retraces his steps and checks his sender reputation and deliverability score, only to find they are not the culprits. What went wrong? How did his hopes for a high ROI get dashed against the trap of the SPAM filter?<\/p>\n<p>Surprisingly, certain ISP spam filters also monitor certain nuances on the <a href=\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/custom-email-templates-design-coding\/\">email design<\/a> and coding and if the incoming email is not compliant to their requirements then it gets marked as SPAM. We Uplers have listed out different pitfalls that trigger SPAM traps and how you can avoid them. Though different spam filters and email firewalls have different protocols that they follow, we have listed below the best practices followed currently.<\/p>\n<p><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><span id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-7b105263-d955-41c1-bcf4-8e06098ff547\" class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\"><span id=\"hs-cta-7b105263-d955-41c1-bcf4-8e06098ff547\" class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-7b105263-d955-41c1-bcf4-8e06098ff547\"><!-- [if lte IE 8]>\n\n\n<div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div>\n\n\n<![endif]--><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><\/p>\n<p>For reference:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Priority<\/strong> High are those which you need to tackle first, since that will impact faster.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Severity<\/strong> High are the ones which might have a huge impact but then slowly, so sooner the better. Yet it is not necessary they are at highest priority for all.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Design Pitfalls that SPAM filter look for<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Follow branding guidelines<\/strong>: Even though this is a no-brainer and not involved directly with an email spam filter, some brands have emails that are not easily associated with their branding design and people may mark it as a spam. SPAM filters \u2018learn\u2019 when various subscribers mark a specific email as SPAM and any further emails having similar subject lines, design layout, IP address, etc. are also considered so.<br \/>\n<strong>Priority<\/strong> \u2013 Low | <strong>Severity<\/strong> \u2013 High (Human inspired)<\/li>\n<li>Spam filters hate flashy emails. Using bold colors such as red and green to highlight certain parts of your email raises certain red flags (pun intended). Changing the background color and font color also draws unwanted attention.<br \/>\n<strong>Priority<\/strong> \u2013 Low | <strong>Severity<\/strong> \u2013 Low<\/li>\n<li><strong>Viewing the larger picture<\/strong>: Even though we promote usage of custom fonts as images, don\u2019t have a large image occupy the major chunk of your email body. SPAM filters mistake it to be a spamming gig. Based on your overall email length, maintain an <a href=\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/boost-deliverability-text-image-ratio-emails\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">80\/20 text to image ratio<\/a>.<br \/>\n<strong>Priority<\/strong> \u2013 High | <strong>Severity<\/strong> &#8211; High<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hide and Go unsubscribe<\/strong>: Never hide or ignore placement of the unsubscribe\/opt-out link in your campaigns. The CAN-SPAM Act mandates the requirement of an unsubscribe link to be present in every campaign that you send. SPAM filters are smart enough to weed emails with no unsubscribe links. Even though many ESPs provide unsubscribe links, it is better to be safe than sorry.<br \/>\n<strong>Priority<\/strong> \u2013 High | <strong>Severity<\/strong> &#8211; High<\/li>\n<li>Avoid usage of words such as Free, Money Back Offer Guaranteed and other similar click-bait terms. You may find the list <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mannixmarketing.com\/blog\/spam-trigger-words\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<br \/>\n<strong>Priority<\/strong> \u2013 High | <strong>Severity<\/strong> &#8211; High<\/li>\n<li>Never make your call-to-action buttons excessively in-your-face kind buttons. Use contrasting colors but not over-loud ones. Also generic CTA copy such as \u2018CLICK HERE\u2019 triggers spam.<br \/>\n<strong>Priority<\/strong> \u2013 Low | <strong>Severity<\/strong> &#8211; Low<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Subject Line Pitfalls that SPAM filter look for<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Typing in capitals sounds disturbing as it imitates someone shouting it out. Avoid it.<br \/>\n<strong>Priority<\/strong> \u2013 High | <strong>Severity<\/strong> &#8211; High<\/li>\n<li>Do not use exclamation signs or other punctuation marks more than once.<br \/>\n<strong>Priority<\/strong> \u2013 Low | <strong>Severity<\/strong> &#8211; Low<\/li>\n<li>D0n\u2019+ e\\\/er +ype like +|-|is (Don\u2019t ever type like this).<br \/>\n<strong>Priority<\/strong> \u2013 High | <strong>Severity<\/strong> &#8211; High<\/li>\n<li>Never deceive your subscribers by using \u2018Re\u2019 or \u2018Fwd\u2019 in the subject line. SPAM filters monitor this very efficiently.<br \/>\n<strong>Priority<\/strong> \u2013 High | <strong>Severity<\/strong> &#8211; High<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Coding Pitfalls<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Codes copy-pasted from Microsoft Word or Frontpage adds extra tags or poorly coded sloppy HTML is immediately weeded out by SPAM filter.<br \/>\n<strong>Priority<\/strong> \u2013 Low | <strong>Severity<\/strong> &#8211; Low<\/li>\n<li>Keep your email size under 30kb. Avoid unnecessary text, images and remove excessive nesting table.<br \/>\n<strong>Priority<\/strong> \u2013 High | <strong>Severity<\/strong> &#8211; High<\/li>\n<li>Try to avoid including any attachments.<br \/>\n<strong>Priority<\/strong> \u2013 High | <strong>Severity<\/strong> &#8211; High<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Test it before you hit send<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>MailingCheck is free software that can be used to check your email content for spam.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isnotspam.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">IsNotSpam<\/a> is a free online spam checker that requires you to email your content to them and they send you an alert if the content contains spam triggering factors.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Parting Thoughts<\/h2>\n<p>Making an email reach any inbox involves loads of preparations and knowledge of the different spam triggers. Hope you shall take a leaf out of the above listed best practices. For improving your sender score and email reputation, refer to our &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/infographics\/email-deliverability-best-practices\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Email Deliveribility Best Practices<\/a>&#8221; infographic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a place far far far away, there was an email marketer charting out his marketing strategy. He identified his target audience, chartered his lead generating process, prepared incentives and set up his marketing and automation email processes. His emails have been freshly off the developer\u2019s desk and ready to be received at his subscribers\u2019 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[381],"tags":[31,291,636,637],"class_list":["post-6737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-email-design","tag-anti-spam-prevention","tag-email-spam","tag-email-spam-filter","tag-email-spam-traps"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Avoid the (Spam) Filter from Email Design and Coding aspect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SPAM Filters: Email marketers&#039; worst nightmare! SPAM filter is also triggered when red flags are raised in design and coding aspect. Learn how to avoid it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Avoid the (Spam) Filter from Email Design and Coding aspect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SPAM Filters: Email marketers&#039; worst nightmare! SPAM filter is also triggered when red flags are raised in design and coding aspect. Learn how to avoid it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Email Uplers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/email.uplers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-07T13:46:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-21T11:24:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Avoid-the-Spam-trap-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"217\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin George\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@email_uplers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@email_uplers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin George\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/\",\"name\":\"Avoid the (Spam) Filter from Email Design and Coding aspect\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Avoid-the-Spam-trap-1.jpg\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7ffa431167e8be5eb07b050cd5c663fa\"},\"description\":\"SPAM Filters: Email marketers' worst nightmare! SPAM filter is also triggered when red flags are raised in design and coding aspect. Learn how to avoid it.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Avoid-the-Spam-trap-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Avoid-the-Spam-trap-1.jpg\",\"width\":\"1170\",\"height\":\"470\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Avoid the (Spam) Trap! Things to look out in Email Design and Coding\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Email Uplers\",\"description\":\"Email Marketing Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7ffa431167e8be5eb07b050cd5c663fa\",\"name\":\"Kevin George\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Img-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Img-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Kevin George\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is the Head of Marketing at Email Uplers, one of the fastest-growing full-service email marketing companies. He is an email enthusiast at heart and loves to pen down email marketing content. You can reach him at kevin.g@uplers.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kevin-george-email\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Avoid the (Spam) Filter from Email Design and Coding aspect","description":"SPAM Filters: Email marketers' worst nightmare! SPAM filter is also triggered when red flags are raised in design and coding aspect. Learn how to avoid it.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Avoid the (Spam) Filter from Email Design and Coding aspect","og_description":"SPAM Filters: Email marketers' worst nightmare! SPAM filter is also triggered when red flags are raised in design and coding aspect. Learn how to avoid it.","og_url":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/","og_site_name":"Email Uplers","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/email.uplers\/","article_published_time":"2017-02-07T13:46:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-10-21T11:24:57+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Avoid-the-Spam-trap-1.jpg","width":540,"height":217,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin George","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@email_uplers","twitter_site":"@email_uplers","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin George","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/","url":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/","name":"Avoid the (Spam) Filter from Email Design and Coding aspect","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Avoid-the-Spam-trap-1.jpg","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7ffa431167e8be5eb07b050cd5c663fa"},"description":"SPAM Filters: Email marketers' worst nightmare! SPAM filter is also triggered when red flags are raised in design and coding aspect. Learn how to avoid it.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Avoid-the-Spam-trap-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Avoid-the-Spam-trap-1.jpg","width":"1170","height":"470"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/avoid-spam-traps-filter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Avoid the (Spam) Trap! Things to look out in Email Design and Coding"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/","name":"Email Uplers","description":"Email Marketing Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7ffa431167e8be5eb07b050cd5c663fa","name":"Kevin George","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Img-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Img-96x96.png","caption":"Kevin George"},"description":"Kevin is the Head of Marketing at Email Uplers, one of the fastest-growing full-service email marketing companies. He is an email enthusiast at heart and loves to pen down email marketing content. You can reach him at kevin.g@uplers.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kevin-george-email\/"]}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6737"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22812,"href":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6737\/revisions\/22812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/email.uplers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}