Top 10 Spam Trigger Words
Written by Sue Walsh on February 8, 2012
Almost all spam filters rely on trigger words. These words are commonly found in spam messages and serve as a pretty good indicator of which messages are legit and which aren’t. To keep your company and marketing emails on the good side of these filters, take a look at the top 10 trigger words and try to avoid them, especially in your subject lines:
1. Meet Singles - This subject line is used endlessly in many types of porn spam.
2. Work From Home - Work from home scams are among the most common types of spam. Work at home jobs are highly sought after, especially in today’s shaky economy.
3. Business Opportunity - Have you ever gotten a 419 or Nigerian Scam message? These spam messages often offer fake business opportunities along with the fake inheritances and pleas for help smuggling a fake family fortune out of an obscure country.
4. Buy Direct - A favorite phrase for spammers hawking counterfeit designer goods and pharmaceutical products.
5. Clearance - Another favorite phrase. Spammers like to create a sense of urgency to help make recipients think they are getting a huge deal.
6. Pre-approved - A tell-tale sign of financial spam. Mortgages, credit cards, payday loans, you name it.
7. Hello - This innocent sounding salutation has been thoroughly exploited by spammers thinking the casual and familiar feel it gives their messages will make them more likely to be opened and read.
8. You Have Been Selected - The favorite subject line of spam messages claiming the recipient has won a fake foreign lottery or one hosted by Yahoo! or Microsoft.
9. Weight Loss - Weight loss pills are often touted along with other shady drugs and supplements in pharmaceutical spam.
10. Limited Time - Subject lines like this create a sense of urgency, which spammers love.
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You forgot to include “watches”, “replica watches”, “rolex watches”, “real estate”, “viagra”, and “male enhancement drugs”. Check your outbox or spam folders and these are among the most common email message subjects you’ll see.
These keywords and the ones written above are the trigger words for now, but they will evolve soon as spammers are making new keyword methodologies.
No real big surprises here except for Hello, though I can’t think of how many emails I’ve sent that actually say “hello.” Still, that’s pretty sad when it indicates that more spammers are sending emails with our most common English greeting than actual people. Says a lot about the way people talk to each other these days.
What about “Free” – what does your research show about this term and its effect on email delivery?
At first, I also thought that “free” must be at the top of the list but maybe “free” has gone out of fashion because it is the first word that is entered in spam filters and because of this spammers had to diversify their wording.
Also, another common tactic is to start the subject line with “Re:” to make you think you have written them and they are simply responding.