How to Check Your E-mail Spamminess

Being I’ve posted about how your e-mail can be blocked if you do spammy things. Outside of following my recommendations, a bunch of folks have e-mailed me privately that they still are experiencing their e-mails being blocked. That means they are still sending spammy e-mails.

Over the past year, I’ve experienced even my plain text, no graphics or attachment e-mails getting blocked by the other side because I inadvertently did something spammy.

In my case, it was usually the original e-mail I was responding to that was spammy to start with (way formatted, had an embedded graphic, etc.) that took my reply right with it — blocked!

The fact remains that e-mail is not a brochure nor was it ever meant to be a fancily fonted graphically enhanced message. Although the temptation is there because the tools to do so are available in your e-mail program, if you are serious about your e-mail getting through, you need to be a “plain Jane” so to speak.

Why would formatting, embedding and such tools exist if they are now causing so many legitimate e-mails from getting through the network? Well, the answer is simple. Back in the day who would have thought that commercialism would so corrupt this communication tool is such a way as to necessitate the need to start blocking spammers. Heck, the word spam used to mean luncheon meat!

When it comes to business, it is best you type your e-mail properly from head to toe while being concise and clear about your message without having to rely on any formatting, caps or embedded graphics. And if you really want to get your e-mails through, plain text is the way to go. Forget about all those buttons in your e-mail program!

I’ve typed about this topic before here on my Blog, but many ignore my advice because they still want their photo, their logo, all their social media buttons or that fancy colored font to be seen in their business e-mails. Fine… then know you risk your e-mail getting blocked. You simply can’t have it both ways.

If you do get an e-mail returned due to “policy reasons” you know the system on the other side picked up on something spammy within your e-mail. You can check to see what that may be by using this free tool online that checks the content of your e-mail called ContentChecker.

And for those who didn’t catch my article on the topic yet, give it a read now and ensure your e-mails get through to their intended parties: Are You Spammy?.

Business E-mail and Grammar

E-mail is simply communicating with the written word. We are not born with these skills or education. Our writing skills are provided to us as we go through grade school for the basics, high school for more instruction and on to college.

Take it from me — this is a perpetual effort. I learn new things about how to write and use the English language properly on a regular basis. Site visitors e-mail me pointing out my errors with some being more kind than others. But regardless, I learn and apply and am always open to continuing that journey.

Proper grammar is so important to being understood, to providing a positive impression and to helping you excel so you are perceived as professional educated and credible communicator. Someone potential customers trust and want to do business with!
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You Are Bold When You Bold E-mail

No doubt about it if you bold text in e-mail you are being bold! Don’t underestimate how bolding certain words or sentences can make an otherwise benign statement one with a major point. To make the extra effort to bold only certain terms or phrases certainly makes the point of making a point.

Then, if you format that bolded word or sentence into red text — Yikes! Be sure that is the tone you want to relay. To say after the fact that you “didn’t mean it that way” simply implies you are not willing to stand behind your comments and what you did in fact mean to say when you composed that e-mail. Otherwise why would you have taken the extra time and effort to bold and red those specific words?

If you think about it, bolding many times is used in emotionally charged e-mails to make sure the other side is clear about how strongly the writer feels at that point in time. If you find you are bolding several portions of an e-mail or turning text red because you do in fact want to make a point, why not wait until the next morning to see if you still feel as strongly? More times than not the other side will over emphasize your emphasis!

Instead of relying on formatting for emphasis, build your vocabulary to use adjectives and verbs that relay the specific emphasis you desire. You’ll not only avoid misunderstandings but you will provide the impression that you are a profession that has the ability and skills to communicate with clarity.

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