Tuesday Tip: Content filtering, sometimes (but rarely)

In a previous Tuesday Tip, I suggested that those big lists of spam trigger lists to avoid were mostly bologna. And that remains true; whether or not your mail goes to spam at Gmail is not going to be because you put "FREE!!!" in the subject line. You get to the inbox at Gmail (and elsewhere) by sending wanted mail with high engagement, and having all the technical bits right.

In a comment on that post, a reader did make a good point, though – pointing out that from their own experience, it does seem like Spam Resource emails go to their personal spam folder, thanks to Vade Secure, quite likely because of the word "spam." Is it true? Possibly. Maybe even likely. Weirder stuff has happened.

But I did want to remind folks that this doesn't suddenly lend credence to the myth of spam trigger words. What it does tell us is that everybody’s spam filters are slightly different and spam filters are created by humans and sometimes humans are imperfect. It would be entirely silly to filter out my emails because they contain the word spam. However, people make silly filtering decisions sometimes.

So yeah, watch out for those few times when a spam filtering issue does actually seem to be content related. But don’t live your life trying to avoid these weird edge cases, because they're uncommon and poorly documented. Be aware, take note, be ready to test and measure when you have suspicions.

But that whole "800 spam filter words to avoid" thing, that’s still pretty much just a lugubrious fiction.

I do, however, plan to start a rumor that using the word "lugubrious" in an email prevents promotional tab placement.

Looking to learn more on the second day of every workweek? Check out the Tuesday Tips section here on Spam Resource!