Email Frequency Spam Filter
The Filter You Probably Didn’t Know You Tripped
Spam Filters are becoming increasingly sophisticated these days and I thought I might write a post about a “silent” spam filter you may or may not know about. It probably has an official name but for the sake of this post, I’ll call it the “Frequency Filter” and no matter how many times you test your email in a spam checker, this is one filter you won’t know you trip until it’s probably too late.
Near as I can figure, the way it works is that if you send similar copies of a commercial email from the same email address to a recipient within a specified threshold time period (I’m sure it differs from client to client, provider to provider), the email(s) after your first email could get flagged as spam or junk.
This was likely a response to emails from spammers that would use auto-responders to send dozens of automated email messages to recipients in rapid succession each one reminding the recipient of a previous email with a limited time offer. The first one might pass if it looks enough like a legitimate email but subsequent ones get tossed in the Junk Mail Folder no matter how legitimate they appear. That’s bad news for you if you have a sizeable list you’ve worked hard to build.
If you take a moment to think about it, in a list of say 1000 people, to whom you sent 2 emails a week and each time 100 people’s clients or providers on your list flag your email as spam, it would only take 5 weeks before your list is completely useless or “Burned Out”
The take-away here is that no matter how valuable or spectacular you think your offer may be, sending it multiple times to a single address could eventually reduce the effectiveness of your efforts to zero. Keep that in mind the next time you decide “remind” your recipients of an email you sent yesterday. I came across this one by accident because I was sending test copies of an email to a client for approval so no harm was done. You, on the other hand may not be so fortunate so I hope you take my advice and watch how often you send. To stay on the safe side I would recommend at the absolute MOST sending 1 email per month.
If you want some more information about email marketing for your business, have a look at our Email Marketing page here. Information on How Email Laws Affect Business.
Happy Emailing!
