Innocent Words Branded as Spam

Magilla Marketing published an article today called Not-So-Obvious Words Trigger Spam Filters, which is based on research by an email marketing firm in the UK. Here are ten of the words that could easily appear in email from nonprofits:

• acceptance
• accordingly
• presently
• maintained
• organization
• percent
• sincerely
• somebody
• statements
• urgent

None of these rise to the same level as “Viagra” or “re-finance,” but if you can avoid them, you might as well. Getting your e-newsletter, fundraising appeal, or call for volunteers through the various spam filters employed today isn’t easy.

An even better strategy, however, is to constantly remind the people your organization emails to add you to their “friends” or “white” list in their spam filters. Give your email readers a specific address you use for mass mailings and ask them on your website and in your print publications to approve that address in their spam filters.