7 Best Practices to Avoid Landing in SPAM

This article contains both the US Government requirements as well as best practices for avoiding Spam filters.

If you need help or have any questions on the terms used below, do not hesitate to reach out to support, and they will assist you in ensuring best practice is being followed. 

What is SPAM?

SPAM is an unwanted commercial email that is sent to a large number of recipients.

Best Practices

Apart from the governmental requirements, use the following best practices to ensure your emails will get to target recipients.

1. Use a trusted IP address to send emails. Every IP address has its rating: if it is low, the letter will likely be regarded as spam. Check the reputation of your IP on one of the IP presence in spam databases resources. For different types of messages (private business, mass customer newsfeed, mass “cold” emailing), use a different IP not to lose communication with all recipients.
2. Use a reliable internet domain. This means you should not use free domains for sending mass emails. Mark your domain with special DKIM keys (Gmail allows keys no longer than 1024 bits) and SPF keys.
3. Use real names in the emails. Avoid using such words as “lottery,” “opportunity,” “click,” “buy,” “download,” etc.
4. If your bounce rate is higher than 10% and open and reply rates are lower than 2%, you are in the high-risk category of being listed in the anti-spam systems. If you are using Ubico's AI prospect builder, we manage the bounce rates and validation of prospects with bounce rates under 5%. 
5. Avoid using unnecessary code and tags in the email template.
6. Do not copy and paste content from text editors such as Microsoft Word, as it may contain code and trigger anti-spam systems.
7. Use professional email templates.

General Rules of compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act

The Federal Trade Commission of the United States has issued the following main requirements for sending commercial emails:

1. Don’t use false or misleading header information.
2. Don’t use deceptive subject lines. The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message.
3. Identify the message as an ad. The law gives you a lot of leeway in how to do this, but you must disclose clearly and conspicuously that your message is an advertisement.
4. Tell recipients where you’re located. Your message must include your valid physical postal address.
5. Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future emails from you. Your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting an email from you in the future.
6. Honor opt-out requests promptly. Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your message. You must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days.
7. Monitor what others are doing on your behalf. The law clarifies that even if you hire another company to handle your email marketing, you can’t contract away your legal responsibility to comply with the law.