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Jan 14 2008
Top 100 Words You Should Never Use in the Subject Line of an Email
“Buy the Rudolf webhosting plan now” let’s say you get an email from THC saying that. Would you even bother opening it? Or do you think that an email with such a subject line would go pass your overzealous spam blocker? I think it wouldn’t. Let’s analyze the title, shall we?
It’s not bad from a sales point of view. It answers all the basic questions: you know what to buy, you know what we want you to do, and you know even when. It’s a pure call to action and a shameless sales pitch. But this doesn’t make it a good title to put in an email subject line, not even for a newsletter. We live in a world supersaturated with hype. Everyone tries to sell something. We are no hypocrites. We want to sell webhosting. But we try to do it as ethically as possible given the parameters of modern marketing strategy.
What makes “Buy the Rudolf webhosting plan now“ a bad idea for the subject line of an email? Two words: buy and now. These two words are top of the 100 words you should never use in the subject line of an email list.
Do you need to know these words? Of course you do, or else you’ll never stop wondering why someone never answered your email, why are your emails landing in the bulk folders or never reach their addressee.
Writing emails seems to be an easy job. If they are personal the subject line can be as simple as “hello.” But when you mean business – try to write meaningful subject lines and avoid the following 100 words and word phrases as much as you can.
free, attention, hi, urgently, instant, friend, hidden, for you, FREE, STOP, off, offer, now, hot, amazing, satisfaction, act now, apply now, now only, as seen, as seen on TV, avoid, by your own boss, work from home, home based, buy, call now, cash bonus, free cash, double your income, earn $, multi level marketing, earn money, make money, get paid weekly, serious cash, earn cash, extra income, fast cash, immediate payment, your delayed payment, funds management, free access, free gift, free info, information you requested, check this out, free offer, financial freedom, medicine, soft tabs, cialis, xanax, valium, vicodin, Viagra, levitra, herbal, enlargement, click here, open now, take a look, read now, don’t delete, this is not spam, collect, compare, consolidate, $$$, credit, debt, get out of debt, eliminate debt, lower your mortgage rate, refinance, lowest insurance rates, life insurance, loans, dear friend, discount, lose, lose weight, online degree, online marketing, online pharmacy, opportunity, promised you, search engine listings, teen, winner, you’re a winner, your family, your email won, please help me, partnership request, God bless you, buy now, job offer!!!, limited time, undisclosed recipient
Add to this list of words and phrases everything else that has something to do with pharmacy and pornography and words spelled in ALL CAPS, e.x.t.r.a. punctuation, g r a p p y text, followed by $$$ or 100%, 50% etc., words preceded by dollar amounts or words ending in numerical digits.
It’s hard to remember them all, isn’t it? But if you bookmark this entry and check back each time you are not sure whether your email subject line would pass the spam test – you’ll be safe.
Excellent advice, Sia. A good spam filter will catch these, and if one accidentally slips through the spam filter it’s likely to be marked as junk mail by the recipient and not read.
Lillie Ammann | Jan 14, 2008 | Reply
Great list, Sia! And the list is ever-growing, enriched with promises of physical happiness, social acceptance and cheap software
Alina Popescu | Jan 15, 2008 | Reply
Hi Lillie, thank you and yes the occasional one does slip through but expertly tossed out just as fast
SiaL | Jan 15, 2008 | Reply
Hi Alina, in all the spam we receive, something has to be said for the persistence of Viagra spam. Don’t you think ? And who knew men had such a BIG problem with that anyway ?
SiaL | Jan 15, 2008 | Reply
Hi guys,
did you know that this type of spam originally appeared in internet guestbooks, where spammers repeatedly fill a guestbook with links to their own site and no relevant comment to increase search engine rankings.
If an actual comment is given it is often just “cool page”, “nice website”, or keywords of the spammed link.
dasylva | Jan 15, 2008 | Reply
Wow, Sia! Great come back!
Glad to have you back.
mig | Jan 15, 2008 | Reply
Great entry, I like this post, Sia.
Very informative indeed.
John Raul Joven II | Jan 15, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for the info Sia.
I wonder whether the list also implement by akismet spam blocker for Wordpress…
i used it in my blog.
Hendra | Jan 15, 2008 | Reply
Dasilva no, I didn’t know this but thanks for the info.
Mig, THANK YOU but this work wouldn’t be possible without the likes of your very creative mind
John Raul, thanks for stopping by.
Hendra, “We use dozens of factors to determine the spamminess of a submission”, this being a direct quote from Akismet who will never tell us more than we need to know with regards to their “secret sauce” so your guess is as good as mine
SiaL | Jan 15, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for the great article. Keep up the good work.
Michael | Jun 22, 2008 | Reply
Excellent tips. The debt word in google search shows up your blog. I think this post have made some good credit in google’s eye for this keyword.
Debt management plan | Apr 29, 2009 | Reply