Using spam words won't automatically mark your email as spam

If you google it, you’ll find quite an extensive list of words and phrases that can trigger email providers, like Free (anything), Giveaway, Lowest price, One time, Save up to, Special promotion, Act now, Apply now, Become a member, Call now, Get it now, Do it today, Limited time, Sign up free, Take action, Urgent, Last day, Last chance, Final call,...

And, if you don’t have enough experience, you could start panicking since I’m sure, you have already used many of those in your emails.

Don’t worry; what matters is the context in which you use them and how often you use them.

Promotional campaign emails

If you run promotional campaigns from time to time,?phrases like Special offer,?Limited time offer,?and?Last day/chance to claim…?won’t hurt your email reputation. Even if you use these once a month or bi-weekly.

Just add in the extension what the offer is, e.g.,?Special offer: Get 1 free (something) with a purchase of (something).

In my experience,?the Last day/chance/call?phrase in the email on the last day of the promotional campaign works like a miracle.

People tend to wait until the last minute to get a deal. When they realize they won’t get a deal if they wait another day, they will make a decision. Sometimes, you just have to give them a push.

Free stuff emails

When you offer free stuff to your users, it helps if you use the phrase?Free. Just don’t overuse it. There is no need to repeat it more than twice, e.g., in the subject and CTA button or subject and somewhere in the body text.

In my experience, using Free in the subject will get you a higher open rate if you offer free stuff from time to time.

But, if your content strategy is to share a lot of free stuff, you don’t have to use Free each time.

Focus on the material you are promoting and be as precise as possible about what your users will get if they open the email. ?E.g.,?List of the spam email words,?Checklist that helps you avoid spam filters…

These subjects work even if you don’t use action words like Get, Download, Use… But I suggest you test the subject with and without action words and see what resonates better with your audience.

You should avoid the subjects that only use?Act now!,?Final call!, Last chance!,... since your users won’t know what you are referring to and won’t open the email. This can be a sign to the email provider that the email could be spam (but won’t instantly be marked as one if other conditions are OK).

If you explain it like this:?Act now and get those trousers while they are discounted!?the email provider will not consider you a spammer, and your user will be urged to check the email and make a decision.

To conclude, you can use spam phrases in the email subjects, body texts, and CTA buttons. It’s important to use them wisely with additional explanation or description.

The email providers' algorithms are sophisticated, and they use more than one parameter to decide whether an email is spam or not.