Spam filters can be considered a boon or a bane depending on which side of the bulk email marketing exercise you are. The industry itself started out with there being little semblance of a difference between spammers and genuine marketers, with both parties indiscriminately marketing to all and sundry. Such practices caused the separation of two groups eventually but the stigma remains for both. It is this stigma that is manifest in the result of spam filters aggressively filtering out email from both parties, especially if the information is unsolicited. So, what are these filtering mechanisms and how do they work?
Think about getting through a busy day with appointments with important people and sometimes ad hoc. How do you know which is a genuine meeting of your concern and which is a bother and a waste of time? You would scan the agenda of each meeting and accordingly plan your way out. This is exactly what a spam filter will do. It will scan each mail that comes into your inbox for possible spam content.
Spam filters nowadays filter using complex mathematical functions like the Bayesian method and Markovian discrimination. Both of these methods try and scan a mail for words that are indications of spam. Just the same that it takes you not more than a second of reading a subject line or a mail ID to identify mail, the software will scan your entire mail in the same time and compute a score. Based on this score, the mail may be left alone or sent to the spam folder. Bayesian method-based spam filters check for single words and those using Markovian discrimination scan entire phrases. It is the contribution of both of these mechanisms that has actually caused the overall reduction in spam traffic over the years to a point where you may not even encounter a spam mail unless you venture into a spam folder.
For genuine marketers, avoiding spam filtering mechanisms is an art. The first thing you need to do is to correct subject lines and follow internet etiquette. Do not shout and do not write "Dear." Always keep it as professional as you can. If you are sending an HTML mail, you should never use colors that are too loud. Try to emulate the designs of the legitimate mails that you receive.
Another point that cannot be underemphasized when dealing with spam filters is to always source your email databases from a trusted source and preferable after the user opts-in. This can be done by asking users if they would like to receive newsletter updates by email. One confirmation mail sent will take care of any possibility of the mail ending up in the spam folder. Even if it does, the customer will retrieve it and your mails from that point would be immune to checks by the filtering mechanisms. Acquiring email addresses by just buying CDs off a spammer is a sure way to get your IP blacklisted. Even if this does not happen, the user's better judgment just might get you.
Email Spam, Forum Spam, and Online Conduct Did You Host Your Website to Receive Junk Mail?
0 comments:
Post a Comment