Here we will outline the best practices you should follow for great email content, including words and phrases you should avoid using.
Why should I focus on content?
As well as your sending behaviours, it is important to look at the content you are sending. Why? As one of the first things spam filters will focus on is the content you are sending especially from your subject line. Specifically they’re looking for words that spammers often use to lure a contact into opening their message.
This is where you will find your email is landing in your customers junk/spam folders instead of landing in their inbox.
We know that many of these words may be true as far as your campaign is concerned, however avoiding these in the subject line of your email will help in ensuring your email is received as expected.
Following these best practices along with focusing on your deliverability will help build you as a positive sender.
What words should I avoid?
1. 100% satisfied 16. Guarantee
2. 50% off 17. Herbal
3. Affordable 18. Hidden
4. Amazing 19. Limited Time Offer
5. Avoid 20. Lose
6. Best price 21. Offer
7. Collect 22. One time/ One-time
8. Cost/ No cost 23. Only
9. Compare 24. Open
10. Credit 25. Price
11. Discount 26. Remove/ Removes
12. Easy Terms 27. Save $
13. For You/ Your Family 28. Stop
14. Friend 29. Teen
15. Get 30. Win/ Winner
Additional subject line tips
Never start your subject lines with a "$" or "£" symbol or end it with a number or include these at all
DO NOT USE ALL CAPS, THIS WILL LOOK LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING AT THE CONTENT - THIS IS WHAT SPAMMERS DO!
Instead focus on using sentence case or using Capital letters for the beginning of your words.
Punctuation and symbols - using 'funky' punctuation or fonts ꔛꮺଘ✧ᯅꮺ?ᯅഒꕤଘ p.u.n.c.t.u.a.t.i.o.n - looks like suspicious content
It is important to know that spam filters are getting more advanced with analysing the content of your messages and subject lines to determine if what you are offering is genuine - however this isn't an opportunity to start including these words and phrases as many internet service providers are not this advanced yet.
What are manipulative words and phrases?
In addition to spam words, it is important to avoid using manipulative words and phrases, but what are classes as manipulative?
We know that you want to urge your contact to act now, however spam filters will penalise emails creating unnecessary urgency and pressure on the contact. If you continuously send 'urgent' 'act now' then this is showing that its actually not urgent. If you have enough value within the content you are offering your contacts, then the urgency will happen organically.
Examples of words and phrases:
1. Act now
2. Action
3. Apply now
4. Apply online
5. Buy
6. Buy direct
7. Call
8. Call now
9. Click here
10. Clearance
11. Click here
12. Do it today
13. Don’t delete
14. Drastically reduced
15. Exclusive deal
16. Expire
17. Get
18. Get it now
19. Get started now
20. Important information regarding
21. Instant
22. Limited time
23. New customers only
24. Now only
25. Offer expires
26. Once in a lifetime
27. Order now
28. Please read
29. Special promotion
30. Take action
31. This won’t last
32. Urgent
33. While stocks last
'Needy' words and phrases
A needy word or phrase is something used that is over exaggerating to the contact. If you are genuinely offering value then you do not need to use these type of words; as your email subscribers are looking for immediate value, they will want to know exactly what they will get on opening your email. It can be tempting to use the following words but again showing desperation will only look like spam and risk the email not reaching the contacts inbox.
Examples of needy words and phrases
34. 100%
35. All-new
36. Bargain
37. Best price
38. Bonus
39. Email marketing
40. Free
41. For instant access
42. Free gift
43. Free trial
44. Have you been turned down?
45. Great offer
46. Join millions of 'insert nationality'
47. Incredible deal
48. Prize
49. Satisfaction guaranteed
50. Will not believe your eyes
'Sleazy' words and phrases
Have you ever received an email that felt quite pushy or pressuring you into opening or purchasing, and instead of enticing you in you would rather delete or unsubscribe? This is what can happen when using these type of words. Are you adding value in a non-intrusive way and in a friendly manner to your contacts?
Examples of 'sleazy' words and phrases to avoid:
51. As seen on
52. Click here
53. Click below
54. Deal
55. Direct email
56. Direct marketing
57. Do it today
58. Order now
59. Order today
60. Unlimited
61. What are you waiting for?
62. Visit our website
'Cheap' words and phrases
If you have an offer for your customers, and this is appearing more available than it is then your customers will perceive this as lower value. We are enticed into things that we can't have, so if you include 'Congratulations' or 'You are a Winner!' this is likely to end up in spam. To position value that customers will organically chase you, we would avoid the following words.
Examples of 'cheap' words and phrases to avoid:
63. Acceptance
64. Access
65. Avoid bankruptcy
66. Boss
67. Cancel
68. Card accepted
69. Certified
70. Cheap
71. Compare
72. Compare rates
73. Congratulations
74. Credit card offers
75. Cures
76. Dear [personalization variable]
77. Dear friend
78. Drastically reduced
79. Easy terms
80. Free grant money
81. Free hosting
82. Free info
83. Free membership
84. Friend
85. Get out of debt
86. Giving away
87. Guarantee
88. Guaranteed
89. Have you been turned down?
90. Hello
91. Information you requested
92. Join millions
93. No age restrictions
94. No catch
95. No experience
96. No obligation
97. No purchase necessary
98. No questions asked
99. No strings attached
100. Offer
101. Opportunity
102. Save big
103. Winner
104. Winning
105. Won
106. You are a winner!
107. You’ve been selected!
'Far-fetched' words and phrases.
What is a far-fetched word or phrase? If you are sending an email that has an offer that is too good to be true, customers will pick up on this, if your customer has picked up on this, spam filters will also pick this up. Nobody likes when someone is trying to oversell, so try and limit these words and phrases so that your customers will believe you are genuinely offering something true.
Examples of 'far-fetched' words and phrases to avoid:
108. Additional income
109. All-natural
110. Amazing
111. Be your own boss
112. Big bucks
113. Billion
114. Billion dollars
115. Cash
116. Cash bonus
117. Consolidate debt and credit
118. Consolidate your debt
119. Double your income
120. Earn
121. Earn cash
122. Earn extra cash
123. Eliminate bad credit
124. Eliminate debt
125. Extra
126. Fantastic deal
127. Financial freedom
128. Financially independent
129. Free investment
130. Free money
131. Get paid
132. Home
133. Home-based
134. Income
135. Increase sales
136. Increase traffic
137. Lose
138. Lose weight
139. Money back
140. No catch
141. No fees
142. No hidden costs
143. No strings attached
144. Potential earnings
145. Pure profit
146. Removes wrinkles
147. Reverses aging
148. Risk-free
149. Serious cash
150. Stop snoring
151. Vacation
152. Vacation offers
153. Weekend getaway
154. Weight loss
155. While you sleep
156. Work from home
'Shady words and phrases'
Many people can be easily led, and there will always be people with bad intention that will try to take advantage of them. The following words are associated with ethically or legally questionable behaviours and may trigger the spam filter so we advise to use these with caution.
Examples of shady words and phrases:
157. Addresses
158. Beneficiary
159. Billing
160. Casino
161. Celebrity
162. Collect child support
163. Copy DVDs
164. Fast Viagra delivery
165. Hidden
166. Human growth hormone
167. In accordance with laws
168. Investment
169. Junk
170. Legal
171. Life insurance
172. Loan
173. Lottery
174. Luxury car
175. Medicine
176. Meet singles
177. Message contains
178. Miracle
179. Money
180. Multi-level marketing
181. Nigerian
182. Offshore
183. Online degree
184. Online pharmacy
185. Passwords
186. Refinance
187. Request
188. Rolex
189. Score
190. Social security number
191. Spam
192. This isn’t spam
193. Undisclosed recipient
194. University diplomas
195. Unsecured credit
196. Unsolicited
197. US dollars
198. Valium
199. Viagra
200. Vicodin
201. Warranty
202. Xanax
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us through the live chat function available bottom right in your Force24 Platform. Our team is ready to assist you and provide support whenever you need it.