Are spam trigger word lists accurate and should I be concerned about them?
Summary
What email marketers say8Marketer opinions
Email marketer from HubSpot Blog responds that trigger words are part of the equation but not the only determinant. They advise marketers to focus on overall email marketing best practices, including personalization, segmentation, and deliverability.
Email marketer from Reddit user r/marketing explains that they generally ignore spam trigger word lists and concentrate on making sure they send personalised email to customers to increase engagement.
Email marketer from Reddit user r/emailmarketing says that a list of spam trigger words is not very important any more as deliverability has changed in recent years. They suggest it's more important to build up your sender reputation and IP reputation through warming and sending good quality emails.
Email marketer from Sendinblue Blog shares that focusing solely on avoiding trigger words is a simplistic approach. They suggest focusing on providing value to subscribers, using permission-based marketing, and maintaining a clean email list.
Email marketer from Mailjet Blog explains that while trigger words are a factor, they are not the be-all and end-all of spam filtering. They emphasize the importance of overall email quality, sender reputation, and authentication.
Email marketer from StackExchange user EmailGuru says that while trigger words are a factor, they are not the main determinant of whether an email goes to spam. Building trust with recipients is more important, getting them to engage with your emails, and moving you from the promotions tab back to the inbox.
Marketer from Email Geeks states that there's no such thing as spam words and many people have not understood that yet.
Email marketer from EmailOversight explains that worrying about the use of trigger words is a waste of time as spam filters use machine learning and AI to understand the context and tone of an email. They recommend to focus on writing content that's relevant and interesting to the recipient.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that spam filters do not simply block emails based on keywords alone. They evaluate a wide range of criteria. Reputation, authentication and subscriber engagement are key to inbox placement.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that the content of your email matters, but it is only one component of your email’s deliverability. Authentication, reputation and consistent sending practices are also important.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that the list of 394 spam trigger words is likely a dump of the Spam Assassin rules list and that the words will only contribute to your spam score if you use 100 of them at once.
Expert from Email Geeks links to his article, stating his take on spam trigger words. The article is available here: <https://www.spamresource.com/2022/11/take-your-spam-trigger-words-and-go-away.html>
Expert from Spam Resource explains that the concept of 'spam trigger words' is outdated and largely ineffective. Modern spam filters use sophisticated algorithms that analyze context, sender reputation, and user engagement, rather than relying on simple keyword detection.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from RFC explains that they make no reference to spam trigger words. They focus on how mail servers should operate to protect against spam by checking sender reputation, authentication and other mechanisms.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools shares that sender reputation plays a significant role in deliverability. While it doesn't directly address trigger words, it implies that a good sender reputation can outweigh the impact of a few potentially problematic words.
Documentation from Spamhaus explains that they do not rely on 'spam trigger words' to identify spam. They focus on identifying spam servers/networks and domains and not the content in an email.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that email filtering algorithms are complex and consider a wide range of factors beyond just keywords. These factors include sender reputation, authentication, user engagement, and content characteristics.