# Words to avoid to get your newsletter past spam filters

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2002/12/03/words-avoid-get-your-newsletter-past-spam-filters/
- Published: 2002-12-03T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Publishing an email newsletter to supporters can be a major undertaking for some
charities, but newsletter editors now need to avoid using some common words and 
phrases that will trip spam filters and prevent their newsletter getting through.
Do you know which words to avoid?
While many charities are only just getting used
to creating and publishing email newsletters to their supporters, another issue 
is rapidly arising to make this a more complicated process. Newsletter editors must
now avoid a wide range of words or phrases that will trigger anti-spam filters and
thereby prevent their email newsletter getting through to its intended recipients.

Some trigger words and phrases are obvious to anyone who receives spam. “Multi level
marketing”, “Amazing stuff”, and “cash bonus” will all be intepreted by SpamAssassin,
the popular anti-spam software, as likely indicators of spam. They are unlikely 
of course to appear in a charity’s email newsletter.

However, there are many other phrases that will appear in charities’ newsletters,
and seem innocuous, yet they too contribute to a message’s total spam rating by 
SpamAssassin. These words include:

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So should charity newsletter editors avoid these words completely? Of course not.
Using one or two of these words or phrases probably won’t result in your newsletter
failing to get delivered, but using several in one issue could produce that result.

The best approach is to remain aware of these trigger words and phrases, and the
new ones which get added to SpamAssassin’s database, and either use alternatives
or use them sparingly.

In addition, each issue of the newsletter should be tested using some of the free
spam filter testing tools available online. In addition, if your organisation uses
SpamAssassin, send the test issue to yourself and see the summary report that SpamAssassin
includes in the headers of the email.

Remaining unaware of the effect of certain words in email newsletters is not an 
option, assuming a charity wants as many of its opt-in supporters as possible to
receive its email newsletter or fundraising appeals.

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 * **[Charity marketing emails second most likely to be opened](https://fundraising.co.uk/2003/02/07/charity-marketing-emails-second-most-likely-be-opened/)**(
   7 February 2003)
 * **[Guide to direct mail](https://fundraising.co.uk/2003/03/05/guide-direct-mail/)**(
   5 March 2003)