Spam Filters: What You Need to Know About Them to Never Land in the Spam Folder
Summary
TLDRThis video by Kseniia from Snovio delves into the intricacies of spam filters, distinguishing between unsolicited bulk emails and targeted cold emails. It outlines the characteristics of spam and the importance of personalization in cold emails to avoid being flagged. The script also explains various types of spam filters, their functions, and how they use algorithms and heuristic methods to score and block emails. It emphasizes the significance of warming up email accounts and crafting personalized content to maintain good standing with spam filters.
Takeaways
- 📧 Spam is defined as unsolicited emails sent in bulk for promotion, malware spreading, or phishing without consent.
- 🔍 Spam can be identified by characteristics such as poor grammar, suspicious actions requests, bulk sending, and spammy subject lines.
- 🤔 Cold emails, when personalized and sent to potential customers, are different from spam, which lacks personalization and is sent indiscriminately.
- 🎯 Targeting is key; cold emails are sent to a specific, limited audience likely interested in the offer, unlike spam emails sent to a random database.
- 📈 Volume matters; spam is sent to thousands, while cold emails are more targeted and limited, emphasizing the importance of account warming up for large volumes.
- 🔑 Personalization in cold emails is crucial, contrasting with the generic, impersonal nature of spam emails.
- 🛡 Spam filters detect and block unsolicited and potentially harmful emails, protecting users' inboxes.
- 🔑 There are three types of spam filters: ISP, Email Service Provider, and Software or Cloud-based, each serving a different layer of email protection.
- 📚 Spam filters use heuristic methods, assigning scores to emails based on predefined algorithms, with high scores flagging emails as spam.
- 🚫 Filters focus on various criteria, including content, headers, blacklists, source code, and rules-based filtering, to determine the legitimacy of emails.
- ⚠️ Recipient engagement and shared data among spam filters can affect deliverability; unopened emails may end up in spam, and flagged emails by one filter can lead to increased scrutiny by others.
Q & A
What is the primary purpose of spam emails?
-The primary purpose of spam emails is to promote products, spread malware, or phish without the recipient's consent.
How can spam emails be identified?
-Spam emails can be identified by characteristics such as unsolicited nature, poor grammar and spelling, suspicious actions or information requests, bulk sending, anonymous sender, spammy subject lines, bright email body with lots of pictures, colors, and fonts, multiple links, and irrelevant and suspicious attachments.
Is there a debate on whether cold emails can be classified as spam?
-Yes, there is a debate because cold emails, while unsolicited, are often personalized and sent to potential customers who might be interested, unlike spam emails which are sent in bulk to recipients without any personalization or interest in the offer.
What differentiates cold emails from spam emails in terms of targeting?
-Cold emails are highly personalized messages sent to a limited circle of potential customers and partners, while spam emails are sent in bulk to a database without any targeting or research.
Why is volume important when distinguishing between spam and cold emails?
-Volume is important because spam emails are sent to thousands of people at a time, whereas cold emails are aimed at a particular audience, usually limited in size, to ensure personalization and relevance.
What does it mean to 'warm up' an email account when sending cold emails?
-Warming up an email account involves gradually increasing the volume of emails sent from the account to avoid triggering spam filters, especially when starting to send a large number of legitimate cold emails.
How do spam filters work in terms of inbound and outbound checks?
-Inbound filters check emails sent to the network and decide if they reach the recipient's inbox or spam box. Outbound filters check emails sent from the network to prevent spam from being sent out.
What are the three basic types of spam filters mentioned in the script?
-The three basic types of spam filters are ISP (Internet Service Provider) Email Spam Filters, Email Service Provider Spam Filters, and Software or Cloud-based Spam Filters.
How do spam filters use heuristic methods to evaluate emails?
-Spam filters use heuristic methods by applying a set of predefined algorithms to each email, assigning a numerical spam probability score. If the score exceeds a threshold, the email is flagged as spam.
What are some criteria that spam filters focus on to detect spam?
-Spam filters focus on criteria such as content (language, images, attachments, format, and spam trigger words), header (suspicious elements and known spammer email addresses), blacklists (reputation of sender IP addresses), and code (source code misuse and bad coding).
How do recipient engagement and spam filter data sharing affect email deliverability?
-Recipient engagement, such as opening emails, influences whether an email is flagged as spam. Data sharing among spam filters means that if an email is flagged by one filter, it may be scrutinized more closely or even rejected by others due to the shared information.
Outlines
📧 Understanding Spam and Cold Emails
This paragraph introduces the concept of spam and its characteristics, which include unsolicited emails sent in bulk with the intent to promote or spread malware without consent. It distinguishes between spam and cold emails, emphasizing that cold emails, when personalized and sent to a targeted audience, are not considered spam. The paragraph also highlights the importance of warming up an email account to avoid triggering spam filters when sending a large volume of legitimate cold emails.
🛡️ Navigating Email Spam Filters
The second paragraph delves into the types and functions of spam filters, which are designed to detect and prevent unsolicited and potentially harmful emails from reaching inboxes. It outlines three basic types of spam filters: ISP filters, email service provider filters, and software/cloud-based filters. The paragraph also explains the inbound and outbound spam filter functions and how they use heuristic methods to assign a spam probability score to each email. It further discusses various spam filter criteria, including content, header, blacklist, code, and rules-based filters, and how recipient engagement and shared data among filters can impact email deliverability.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Spam
💡Cold Emails
💡Spam Filters
💡Personalization
💡Volume
💡Warming Up an Account
💡Heuristic Methods
💡Blacklists
💡Engagement
💡Deliverability
💡Rules-based Filters
Highlights
Introduction to the importance of understanding spam filters to avoid misclassification of emails.
Definition of spam as unsolicited emails sent in bulk with promotional or malicious intent.
Characteristics of spam emails including poor grammar, bulk sending, and suspicious requests.
The debate on whether cold emails are considered spam and the distinction between the two.
Targeting as a key difference between spam and cold emails, with cold emails being personalized.
Volume distinction, with spam emails sent to thousands versus the limited audience of cold emails.
The necessity of warming up email accounts when sending large volumes of cold emails.
Content personalization in cold emails versus the generic nature of spam email offers.
Explanation of spam filters, their purpose, and the types of filters used by ISPs and email service providers.
Differentiation between inbound and outbound spam filters and their roles in email delivery.
Heuristic methods used by spam filters to assign a spam probability score to each email.
Types of spam filters including content, header, blacklist, code, and rules-based filters.
Importance of sender reputation and the impact of shared IP addresses on deliverability.
The role of recipient engagement in spam filter decisions and the potential for shared data among filters.
The potential for emails to be rejected without checking due to previous spam flags by other filters.
Advice on following basic rules to avoid spam filters and maintain good email outreach practices.
Invitation to watch further videos for tips on avoiding spam filters and improving email outreach.
Call to action for viewers to like, subscribe, and enable notifications for more sales and marketing insights.
Transcripts
Hi! Welcome to Snovio!
I am Kseniia and in this video we’ll take a close
and thorough look at spam filters and what you need to know to avoid them.
The word “spam” has become a familiar part of our daily vocabulary.
We may pay no attention to it,
but what we definitely do not want is our emails to fall under this classification
So what is spam?
Spam is unsolicited emails sent in bulk with the purpose to promote,
spread malware, or phish, to the people who didn’t give their consent to receive them.
Spam emails can be recognized by the following characteristics:
Unsolicited
Invisible headers
Poor grammar and spelling
Asking for suspicious actions or information
Sent in bulk
Anonymous sender
Spammy subject lines
Bright email body with lots of pictures, colors, and fonts
Multiple links
Irrelevant and suspicious attachments
I know what you’re thinking:
isn’t cold outreach all about sending attention-grabbing emails to recipients
that do not expect them and didn’t give consent to receive them?
Yes
So, are cold emails actually spam?
There’s much debate whether cold emailing can be classified as spam.
On one hand, cold emails can be considered undesirable messages.
On the other hand, cold emailing is pretty much the only one connector between vendors
and potential clients, networking aside.
And it’s especially important in the times like now when offline events
and face-to-face meetings are impossible.
So what is the difference between spam and cold emails?
#1 Targeting.
Cold emails, when done correctly, are highly personalized messages
with a specific offer sent to a limited circle of recipients
These recipients are potential customers
and partners that are likely to be interested in the offer.
Meanwhile, spam emails are messages sent in bulk
to a database scraped or bought without any research
that contains people that will have no interest in the offer at all.
#2 Volume.
Spam emails are sent in large volumes, usually to thousands of people at a time,
while cold emails are aimed to the particular audience
which is usually limited in size.
However, it’s worth noting the importance of warming up your account
when it comes to sending a large number of genuine cold emails:
if you do send 1000 legitimate cold emails and follow-ups a day,
it’s important to make sure your email accounts are warmed-up.
Sending such volumes from newly created accounts is likely to trigger spam filters.
#3 Content.
Cold emails are highly personalized
while spam emails usually contain a one-fits-all generic offer.
When you read such emails, you may notice how impersonal they are,
as if the person sending them knows absolutely nothing about you.
So what are spam filters?
The name speaks for itself -
their purpose is to detect unsolicited and virus-carrying emails
and stop them from getting into users’ inboxes.
There are three basic spam filter types:
1. ISP (or Internet Service Provider) Email Spam Filters
Used by ISP service providers.
At this level the emails are filtered before they can even reach you.
2. Email Service Provider Spam Filters
Used by email service providers like Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and others.
3. Software or Cloud-based Spam Filters
Can be used by organizations or individual users.
Spam filters are divided into two types - inbound and outbound.
Outbound filters are designed to check the emails sent from the network.
Inbound filters examine the emails sent to the network.
Inbound filters are the first line of defense that welcomes your email
and defines its further fate -
whether it`ll get to the recipient's Inbox, Spam box or will be rejected altogether.
Spam filters use heuristic methods, which means each email undergoes
a checkup by a set of predefined algorithms.
After each step of the checkup
the email message gets a numerical spam probability score
and if the score exceeds a particular threshold
the email gets flagged as spam and blocked from going further.
Spam filters can be focused on certain criteria:
Content filters scan the content of email messages:
the language, images, attachments, format of the message
and whether there are any words that are commonly used in spam,
aka spam trigger words.
Header filters check the email header to look for suspicious elements
such as known spammer email addresses.
Blacklist filters.
Blacklists are one of the most popular anti-spam filtering measures.
Blacklists check the reputation of sender IP addresses
and help providers to reject emails coming from suspicious
or blacklisted IP addresses.
That’s why it’s important for legitimate senders to have a dedicated IP address
- if anyone with the same IP address sends spam,
it could affect the deliverability for other users.
Code filters check the source code of the emails.
Misuse of tags and bad coding, especially the code copy pasted from Microsoft Word
can trigger spam filters.
Rules-based filters apply a set of customized rules
created by the company to exclude emails from specific senders,
or emails containing specific words in the subject line or body.
Many spam filters, especially spam filters of the email providers
like Gmail, Outlook, and others
take your recipient's engagement into consideration
when deciding whether your email will get flagged as spam
If your emails tend to be left unopened,
you will find that more and more of your emails will land in the spam folder.
Moreover,
spam filters always share the data about senders` activity with each other.
If your email gets flagged as spam by one of the spam filters,
there is no doubt this info will be shared to the rest
and from that moment your emails will be examined with more attention.
It’s quite possible that your emails may even be rejected without checking
simply because they`ve been marked as spam before by another filter.
Spam filters can be a great obstacle on the way to the recipients` Inbox,
but if you follow all the basic rules, you have nothing to worry about.
These filters
were created in order to protect our inboxes from unsolicited messages
and while yes, they will examine your emails with extra care,
it doesn't mean outreachers cannot be on good terms with them.
Check out our next videos on how to avoid spam filters
and not get flagged as spam for even more tips.
As always, like, subscribe and hit that notification button
to stay tuned for our latest sales and marketing growth hacks.
See you!
関連動画をさらに表示
How to Avoid Spam Filters: 12 Tips from Snov.io
How to Track Links Without Hurting Email Deliverability
don't send another outreach without watching this...
I got 5 website clients using this new method (WaaS)
I tried sending 1 million emails (don't make these mistakes)
Text Classification Using BERT & Tensorflow | Deep Learning Tutorial 47 (Tensorflow, Keras & Python)
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)