How to Trigger a Spam Filter; or, 7 ways to reduce the chances of your email being read

You send an important email to a colleague on Monday morning and wonder why they haven’t replied by Monday afternoon. You wait until Tuesday but they still don’t reply. What happened?

Just maybe, your urgent email went into their Spam or Junk folder and, depending on how they’ve set up the rules in their mail program, it was deleted.

Did you know there are some cardinal rules to observe to prevent your email from going into a recipient’s Spam or Junk folder? Below, I’ve outlined 7 ways to reduce the chances of your email ending up unread.

Subject Lines are one of the first places spam filters look. Take care of what you say.

1. Avoid getting too emotional. Don’t use a question mark and an exclamation mark in the same line. Avoid subject lines that read, “Where are you?!” or “Did you get my document? Let me know!”
2. Avoid percentage exaggeration. Citing anything greater than 100% is likely to trigger a spam filter. “Our new launch has had a 110% increase over last year.” Good news but your recipient may never find out.
3. Avoid the word “urgent” as in “Urgent reply needed!” Nothing triggers a spam filter like the word “urgent” resulting in less-urgent emails being seen before yours.

The body of your email is another area that spam filters are programmed to look.

1. Avoid excessive use of photos and gifs. While they are popular, an email that has more images than text is likely to be flagged as spam.
2. Avoid being too formal in your salutation. Beginning an email with “Dear Sir” or “Dear Madam” is likely to get your email into the junk or spam folder. “Dear” is okay but avoid the formality of “Sir” or “Madam” or “Recipient”. Ironically, opening with the more informal “Dear Friend” can also get you into the spam category.
3. Avoid marking your email as “High Priority”. Mail programs like Outlook allow you to choose a priority setting for your email. Many people use this thinking it will get more attention. Spammers use this technique so often that spam filters now look for it and weed out those emails. You’ve been warned.
4. Avoid the word “cash” and never “free cash”. I’m not sure how this affected Johnny Cash but I’ve been told that folks with the surname “Cash” have had a greater incidence of their emails going into spam and junk folders. A lot of spam filters don’t like the word “cash” (or “free” for that matter) so best to avoid if possible.

I’m sure there are other words, phrases, or punctuation to avoid but if you follow these 7 rules, you should increase the chances of your email getting the attention it deserves.

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Michael Williams, Ph.D. is a licensed End-of-Life Planning Facilitator, storyteller, story coach, writer, and speaker. He currently lives in Hamilton Ontario Canada.