Event and Meeting Management Blog

Reducing Your Event Communications Spam-Factor

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If you send event emails long enough, you will inevitably run into spam filter issues. When using Eventsforce, or any other online tool, for sending large numbers of invitations, reminders or marketing emails, automatic or ad-hoc emails, they can get caught in the recipients’ spam filter.

Obviously, this is not intentional or ideal.

We've found that on average, you can expect 10-15% of your emails to just get lost in cyberspace, mostly due to overzealous spam filters. You don't even have to be a spammer to be spam-filtered. Innocent event marketers who send permission-based emails to people who requested them get spam filtered all the time.

Below are some of our tips for avoiding spam filters when sending event emails:

1. Be Compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act

If you are sending “any electronic mail message, the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service,” then you must comply with the following 7 main requirements (or face hefty penalty fines):

• Don’t use false or misleading header information

• Don’t use deceptive subject lines

• Identify the message as an ad

• Tell recipients where you’re located

• Tell recipients how to opt-out of receiving future email from you

• Honor opt-out requests promptly

• Monitor what others are doing on your behalf

If your email contains only transactional emails or relationship content, then you are exempt from these rules; however, you must still not include false or misleading routing information but we suggest providing contact information.

Make sure the contents of your email don’t look like spam - include descriptive text as well as any clickable links to web pages. This sounds obvious but worth remembering when formatting your emails.

2. Avoid Spam Trigger Words and Phishing Phrases

Unfortunately, there is no complete list of spam trigger words (It’d probably be too long to read-through anyway). And, it is not always the case that your email will end up in the spam filter simply by using one of these trigger words.

The key thing to remember is that a spam filter is trying to prevent unsolicited advertisements and promotions. So generally, words that are common in such emails should be avoided or used sparingly. That said, here is a list of words, phrases and “-isms” to avoid, if possible:

• Coloring fonts bright red or green

• ALL CAPS, especially in the subject line

• Too  much punctuation such as !, $, £ or 100%

• Lots of punctionation (No !!!)

• "Click here!" or "Once in a lifetime opportunity!"

• Bargain or best price

• Good deal

• Opportunity

• Click Here

3. Include a Text Version of Your Email if You Are Sending HTML Emails

This is a common, and easily preventable, cause for landing in the spam folder. Not only is this a good practice for avoiding a spam filter, but it also covers you in the case where the recipient cannot view HTML emails.

Eventsforce converts your HTML emails to text, automatically, without having to set anything up.

If you are only using HTML, keep your HTML content to less than 50% of the total message. Spam filters love simple HTML and are much more likely to let simple rather than complex messages into a recipient’s inbox.

Want to read more tips on reducing your spam-factor?