Email marketing is a powerful tool, but it’s not without its challenges. One of the biggest hurdles is ensuring your carefully (they should be) crafted emails don’t end up in the dreaded spam folder. A key factor in this is understanding and avoiding spam trigger words. 

What are email spam trigger words?

Spam trigger words are phrases that email providers flag as potentially fraudulent or malicious. When these words are detected, your email may be redirected away from the recipient’s inbox and into their spam folder. 

These words often overpromise a positive outcome or aim to extract sensitive information from the recipient. HubSpot has made a great list, based on their millions of sent emails. In this article, you will find all 394 words in different categories. My personal favorite? This one is in the personal section: “Dig up dirt on friends”.

Yeah. You do not want to do that.

What other factors impact my emails negatively?

It’s not just about the words you use. There are other factors that can land your emails in the spam folder. For instance, if you’ve made it onto an email blacklist, meaning you’ve repeatedly sent emails to recipients who haven’t signed up for your list, your emails are more likely to be flagged as spam. Other red flags include not including an unsubscribe button, sending poorly-designed emails, addressing your recipient impersonally, buying email lists online, using all-caps text and extreme punctuation, and linking to fraudulent websites.

What are the positive factors you can add to your emails? 

Now that we know what not to do, let’s focus on what we should do. To become a high-reputation sender, ensure you include an unsubscribe button, design your emails with clean code, personalize your emails, only email those who’ve subscribed to your list, keep your email deliverability high, keep the text free of odd formatting and extraneous punctuation, and only link out to reputable websites.

Which words should you avoid? 

When it comes to spam trigger words, it’s important to be mindful when crafting your email subject lines. While it’s beyond the scope of this blog to list all potential trigger words, some examples include “buy”, “order”, “earn”, “discount”, “credit”, and “investment”.

Conclusion

Remember, email marketing is about striking the right balance between compelling content and avoiding the spam trap. By understanding spam trigger words and following best practices, you can ensure your emails reach their intended destination: your recipient’s inbox.

Happy emailing!

Please note that this blog post is based on the information from the HubSpot blog post titled “The Ultimate List of 394 Email Spam Trigger Words to Avoid in 2023“

The blog post is worthwhile the read, and you can also download their beginner’s guide to email marketing. 

Commerce

• As seen on
• Buy
• Buy direct
• Buying judgments
• Clearance
• Order
• Order status
• Orders shipped by shopper

Personal

• Dig up dirt on friends
• Meet singles
• Score with babes
• XXX
• Near you

Employment

• Additional income
• Be your own boss
• Compete for your business
• Double your
• Earn $
• Earn extra cash
• Earn per week
• Expect to earn
• Extra income
• Home based
• Home employment
• Homebased business
• Income from home
• Make $
• Make money
• Money making
• Online biz opportunity
• Online degree
• Opportunity
• Potential earnings
• University diplomas
• While you sleep
• Work at home
• Work from home

Financial – General

• $$$
• Affordable
• Bargain
• Beneficiary
• Best price
• Big bucks
• Cash
• Cash bonus
• Cashcashcash
• Cents on the dollar
• Cheap
• Check
• Claims
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• Compare rates
• Cost
• Credit
• Credit bureaus
• Discount
• Earn
• Easy terms
• F r e e
• Fast cash
• For just $XXX
• Hidden assets
• hidden charges
• Income
• Incredible deal
• Insurance
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• Million dollars
• Money
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• Mortgage
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• Save big money
• Save up to
• Serious cash
• Subject to credit
• They keep your money — no refund!
• Unsecured credit
• Unsecured debt
• US dollars
• Why pay more?

Financial – Business

• Accept credit cards
• Cards accepted
• Check or money order
• Credit card offers
• Explode your business
• Full refund
• Investment decision
• No credit check
• No hidden Costs
• No investment
• Requires initial investment
• Sent in compliance
• Stock alert
• Stock disclaimer statement
• Stock pick

Financial – Personal

• Avoice bankruptcy
• Calling creditors
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• Consolidate debt and credit
• Consolidate your debt
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• Get paid
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• Social security number
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General

• Acceptance
• Accordingly
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• Chance
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• Freedom
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• Medium
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• Passwords
• Problem
• Remove
• Reverses
• Sample
• Satisfaction
• Solution
• Stop
• Success
• Teen
• Wife

Greetings

• Dear [email/friend/somebody]
• Friend
• Hello

Marketing

• Ad
• Auto email removal
• Bulk email
• Click
• Click below
• Click here
• Click to remove
• Direct email
• Direct marketing
• Email harvest
• Email marketing
• Form
• Increase sales
• Increase traffic
• Increase your sales
• Internet market
• Internet marketing
• Marketing
• Marketing solutions
• Mass email
• Member
• Month trial offer
• More Internet Traffic
• Multi level marketing
• Notspam
• One time mailing
• Online marketing
• Open
• Opt in
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• Removal instructions
• Sale
• Sales
• Search engine listings
• Search engines
• Subscribe
• The following form
• This isn’t junk
• This isn’t spam
• Undisclosed recipient
• Unsubscribe
• Visit our website
• We hate spam
• Web traffic
• Will not believe your eyes

Medical

• Cures baldness
• Diagnostic
• Fast Viagra delivery
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• Life insurance
• Lose weight
• Lose weight spam
• Medicine
• No medical exams
• Online pharmacy
• Removes wrinkles
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• Valium
• Viagra
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Numbers

• #1
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• 4U
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• Billion
• Billion dollars
• Join millions
• Join millions of Americans
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• Thousands

Offers

• Being a member
• Billing address
• Call
• Cannot be combined with any other offer
• Confidentially on all orders
• Deal
• Financial freedom
• Gift certificate
• Giving away
• Guarantee
• Have you been turned down?
• If only it were that easy
• Important information regarding
• In accordance with laws
• Long distance phone offer
• Mail in order form
• Message contains
• Name brand
• Nigerian
• No age restrictions
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• No experience
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• No-obligation
• Not intended
• Obligation
• Off shore
• Offer
• Per day
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• Priority mail
• Prize
• Prizes
• Produced and sent out
• Reserves the right
• Shopping spree
• Stuff on sale
• Terms and conditions
• The best rates
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• Trial
• Unlimited
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• Vacation
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• Who really wins?
• Win
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Calls-to-Action

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• Sign up free today

Free

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Descriptions/Adjectives

• All natural
• All new
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• For free
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• Outstanding values
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Sense of Urgency

• Access
• Act now!
• Apply now
• Apply online
• Call free
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• Can’t live without
• Do it today
• Don’t delete
• Don’t hesitate
• For instant access
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• Great offer
• Info you requested
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• Instant
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• New customers only
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• Once in lifetime
• One time
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• Order now
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• Please read
• Special promotion
• Supplies are limited
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• Time limited
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• While supplies last

Nouns

• Addresses on CD
• Beverage
• Bonus
• Brand new pager
• Cable converter
• Casino
• Celebrity
• Copy DVDs
• Laser printer
• Legal
• Luxury car
• New domain extensions
• Phone
• Rolex
• Stainless steel

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PS! I promise not to spam you! Just when I have published a new blog!