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Email Marketers - How Reliable is Spam Assassin?

by Ron Douglas
9 replies
I see many marketers avoiding certain words when they send out emails. They even go as far as put periods, dashes, and other symbols to disguise words like:

fr.ee
make m-o-n-e-y
weight lOss
weight 1oss
fr-e-e tr1al

I always thought doing that was pretty silly - especially since many of those words don't raise your Spam Assassin score too much. But, there is always the chance that I'm wrong.

I just sent an email out that had words like free trial, drop pounds, Hoodia, lose weight, etc and the Spam Assassin score in Aweber was ZERO.

My question is - how reliable is Spam Assassin really?
#assassin #email #marketers #reliable #spam
  • Profile picture of the author ruch1v
    interesting question, did it get delivered? send yourself a test


    Ruchi
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  • Profile picture of the author digigo
    Good question.. I like to know the answer as well.

    You are asking if Spam Assassin score is a good bench mark for other spam blacklists... Different ISPs subscribe to different black lists.

    fr.ee
    make m-o-n-e-y
    weight lOss
    weight 1oss
    fr-e-e tr1al

    I would think smart filter will treat these words as red flag.. so the outcome is the opposite.. because these are unlikely human error ...

    so keep that in mind.. those spam filter software look for patterns.

    You use the correct spelling.. that actually lower the spam score...
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      ** DISCLAIMER** This is just my own personal experience. Test for yourself.

      Ron, I've been doing email marketing for what seems to be ages and what I
      have found is this.

      If you use the word free in a context like this...

      "Here Is Your Free Report"

      I have found that I almost never get anybody emailing me telling me that
      they didn't get the download email for the free report.

      However, from the other end, as a user of email, I find that subjects like
      these...

      "Free Viagra"

      End up in my spam folder.

      So it's not the word free so much as in how it is used in context.

      Same with the content of your email.

      Think about it...should this sentence in an email trigger spam assassin?

      "Naturally, you are free to do what you want, but given the data I've
      presented, it would be foolish to think that ignoring this problem is just
      going to make it go away."

      I use the word free and other words that supposedly spam assassin says
      you shouldn't use and I can count the number of times somebody said
      they missed an issue of my newsletter on one hand.

      Of course maybe the people who miss them don't care. I don't know. But
      based on my open rates regardless of the type of message I send out, I
      don't see the need for trying to trick spam assassin. In fact, I think doing
      those little tricks actually raises a red flag, though I have to admit, that
      is only a guess based on the crap I see ending up in my spam folder.

      In other words, all those fr.ee tricks don't seem to work. But again, it
      appears to be in context with what's coming after it.

      Anyway, that's my 2 cents on this issue based on my own experience. It
      is in no way to be taken as fact...just one user's experience.

      Take it for what it's worth to you.
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  • Profile picture of the author globalpro
    Ron,

    I have to wonder if the Spam Assassin for Aweber even works anymore. I test emails that used to trigger a higher score and now it doesn't do anything. I did have one false positive show about a month ago, and when I went to see what it was, it didn't show anything.

    Not sure why it changed, but doesn't seem very reliable lately.

    Thanks,

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    I haven't used Spam Assassin for a while, so I don't know if it's changed, but the last time I used it Spam Assassin had different settings, from barely filtering email to very aggressive. At the default setting, where most people probably leave it, a trigger word such as "free" would often have to be coupled with another trigger word, plus have other triggers that raise the cumulative score.

    There are other spam filtering systems that are harder to get email past. Barracuda Spam Firewall, more of a corporate or ISP level filter system rather than an individual system, is much tougher to get email through. It's too hard, if you ask me. That's where using things like fr.ee can help. Some of my emails get rejected by Barracuda for simple things like sending a registration code to a customer who has lost theirs.

    In your case though, I'd have to question if Aweber's Assassin test is working correctly. I send very short emails and most have a little bit of a score. I would think with the words you used in it, you'd have some kind of negative scoring. Remember Aweber was hacked once or twice in the last couple of months, maybe the hacker(s) did something to affect the scoring???
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    Just when you think you've got it all figured out, someone changes the rules.

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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    We have a free Spam Assassin checker that you can use to check the results you're getting from elsewhere.

    1. Make sure your subject line starts with the word CHECK.

    2. Send the email to check AT scoreforspam.com

    The subject mail of your email must start with the word CHECK or our spam scorer will think it is real spam and ignore it.

    Within a minute or so you'll get a reply by email with your Spam Assassin analysis and score.

    Note: It doesn't store your email address or message.

    Hope it helps.

    Cheers,

    Neil
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    Easy email marketing automation without moving your lists.

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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    I ran Steve's example message through ScoreForSpam...
    Naturally, you are free to do what you want, but given the data I've
    presented, it would be foolish to think that ignoring this problem is just
    going to make it go away.
    ..and it did not pick up on the word "free".

    This message scored zero.

    Cheers,

    Neil
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    Easy email marketing automation without moving your lists.

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  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    ..and I also ran this through:
    fr.ee
    make m-o-n-e-y
    weight lOss
    weight 1oss
    fr-e-e tr1al
    Free Viagra
    ...and it scored:

    Points: 0.3 DIET_1
    BODY: Lose Weight Spam

    Points: 0.6 DRUGS_ERECTILE
    Refers to an erectile drug

    0.9 for those 2 issues.

    Interestingly, it didn't pick up on the "m-o-n-e-y" etc.

    Cheers,

    Neil
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