What are common spam trigger words?

Common spam trigger words include financial terms ("free money," "cash bonus," "credit"), urgency phrases ("act now," "limited time," "urgent"), excessive claims ("guaranteed," "100% free," "risk-free"), sales language ("buy now," "order now," "special promotion"), and suspicious phrases ("click here," "dear friend," "congratulations"). However, context matters—these words aren't automatically spam. Using "free" in "free shipping" is less risky than "free money." Avoid excessive use, all caps, and multiple exclamation points. Focus on natural, valuable content rather than aggressive sales language. Modern spam filters consider overall content quality, not just individual words.

How do I improve my email deliverability?

Improve deliverability by authenticating your domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, maintaining clean email lists (remove bounces and inactive subscribers), avoiding spam trigger words and excessive formatting, using a reputable email service provider, warming up new IP addresses gradually, maintaining consistent sending patterns, encouraging engagement (opens, clicks, replies), making unsubscribing easy to reduce spam complaints, and monitoring sender reputation regularly. Test emails before sending using spam checkers. Segment lists to send relevant content. High engagement signals to ISPs that your emails are wanted, improving inbox placement. Deliverability is ongoing—monitor and optimize continuously.

What is sender reputation and why does it matter?

Sender reputation is a score (0-100) that ISPs assign to your sending IP address and domain based on email sending behavior. It's calculated from spam complaint rates, bounce rates, spam trap hits, blacklist presence, authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), sending volume consistency, and engagement rates. Good reputation (80+) ensures inbox delivery. Poor reputation (below 50) sends emails to spam or blocks them entirely. Reputation affects deliverability more than content. Build reputation by sending valuable content to engaged subscribers, maintaining list hygiene, authenticating your domain, and avoiding spam complaints. Monitor reputation using tools like Google Postmaster, Microsoft SNDS, or Sender Score.

What are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC?

SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) are email authentication protocols that verify sender identity and prevent spoofing. SPF lists authorized sending servers for your domain. DKIM adds a digital signature to emails proving they haven't been altered. DMARC builds on SPF and DKIM, telling receiving servers how to handle authentication failures. Together, they significantly improve deliverability by proving your emails are legitimate. Set up all three through your DNS records. Most email service providers provide setup instructions. Authentication is essential for professional email marketing—unauthenticated emails often land in spam.

How do spam filters work?

Spam filters use multiple techniques to identify spam: content analysis examines subject lines and body text for spam patterns, sender reputation checks IP and domain history, authentication verification confirms SPF/DKIM/DMARC, engagement tracking monitors how recipients interact with emails, machine learning algorithms trained on millions of spam examples, blacklist checking against known spam sources, and user feedback from spam reports. Filters assign points for various factors; exceeding a threshold sends emails to spam. Modern filters are sophisticated, considering hundreds of signals. No single factor determines spam—it's cumulative. Focus on overall email quality, sender reputation, and engagement rather than gaming individual factors.

What is a spam trap and how do I avoid them?

Spam traps are email addresses specifically created to catch spammers. Types include pristine traps (never used by real people, only appear on scraped lists), recycled traps (old addresses reactivated after abandonment), and typo traps (common misspellings of popular domains). Hitting spam traps severely damages sender reputation. Avoid them by never buying or scraping email lists, using confirmed opt-in for new subscribers, regularly cleaning lists to remove inactive addresses, removing hard bounces immediately, and validating email addresses at signup. Spam traps indicate poor list hygiene. If you hit traps, audit your list acquisition practices and implement stricter validation.

How often should I check my spam score?

Check spam scores before sending every major campaign, especially when trying new content approaches, using new sending infrastructure, experiencing deliverability issues, or launching to new segments. For regular campaigns, test weekly or monthly to catch issues early. Monitor sender reputation continuously using tools like Google Postmaster Tools. Set up alerts for sudden deliverability drops. After making changes to improve spam scores, retest to verify improvements. Consistent monitoring helps identify trends and prevent deliverability problems before they impact campaigns. Spam checking should be part of your standard pre-send checklist.

Can I get off email blacklists?

Yes, you can get delisted from most blacklists by first identifying which blacklists you're on using tools like MXToolbox, determining why you were listed (spam complaints, spam traps, compromised accounts), fixing the underlying issues, waiting for automatic delisting (many blacklists auto-remove after 1-7 days of good behavior), or requesting manual delisting through the blacklist's removal process. Some blacklists require payment for removal. Prevention is easier than removal—maintain good sending practices to avoid listing. Major blacklists like Spamhaus are harder to get off than smaller ones. Repeated listings may result in permanent blocking. Focus on root cause fixes, not just delisting.

What is a good spam score?

A good spam score is below 3 on a 0-10 scale, indicating low spam risk and high deliverability likelihood. Scores of 3-5 suggest moderate risk—emails may reach inbox but need improvement. Scores above 5 indicate high spam risk with likely spam folder placement. However, spam scores are estimates, not guarantees. Different spam filters use different criteria. Focus on multiple factors: low spam score, good sender reputation (80+), proper authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), high engagement rates, and low complaint rates. Test with actual recipients in your target audience—real-world deliverability is the ultimate measure.

Does email design affect spam scores?

Yes, email design impacts spam scores. Spam filters flag poor HTML code, excessive images with little text (image-to-text ratio above 60%), hidden text (white text on white background), suspicious links or shortened URLs, forms in emails, JavaScript or active content, and broken HTML. Use clean, simple HTML, maintain 60% text to 40% images ratio, avoid hidden elements, use full URLs or reputable link shorteners, and test HTML across email clients. Well-coded, professional designs signal legitimacy. Sloppy or deceptive designs trigger spam filters. Use email templates from reputable sources or email service providers for best results.

How do engagement metrics affect deliverability?

Engagement metrics significantly impact deliverability. ISPs track opens, clicks, replies, forwards, and time spent reading emails. High engagement signals valuable content, improving sender reputation and inbox placement. Low engagement (especially spam complaints and deletes without reading) hurts deliverability. Gmail algorithm particularly emphasizes engagement. Improve engagement by sending relevant, segmented content, maintaining consistent send schedules, using compelling subject lines, providing clear value, and removing inactive subscribers. Engagement-based segmentation helps—send best content to most engaged subscribers. ISPs increasingly use engagement as a primary deliverability factor, making it as important as technical factors like authentication.

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What is a Spam Score?

A spam score measures the likelihood that an email will be flagged as spam by email filters. It analyzes content for spam triggers like excessive caps, spam keywords, suspicious links, and poor sender reputation. Scores typically range from 0-10, with lower scores indicating better deliverability. Testing spam scores before sending helps ensure emails reach recipients' inboxes.

How to Use the Spam Score Checker

Follow these steps to get the most out of the Spam Score Checker:

Paste Email Content: Copy and paste your email subject line and body content.
Analyze Spam Score: Get instant spam score and detailed analysis of potential triggers.
Review Triggers: See specific spam triggers: keywords, formatting, links, and sender issues.
Get Recommendations: Receive actionable suggestions to improve deliverability.
Fix Issues: Edit your email to remove spam triggers and reduce score.
Retest and Send: Retest until spam score is low, then send with confidence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Get answers to common questions about Spam Score Checker

A spam score is a numerical rating (typically 0-10) indicating the likelihood an email will be flagged as spam. It's calculated by analyzing multiple factors: content triggers (spam keywords like "free," "guarantee," excessive caps), sender reputation (IP address history, domain authentication), technical factors (SPF, DKIM, DMARC records), engagement metrics (open rates, spam complaints), and email structure (HTML quality, image-to-text ratio). Spam filters use machine learning algorithms trained on millions of emails to identify spam patterns. Scores below 3 are generally safe, 3-5 need improvement, and above 5 likely land in spam. Different spam filters weight factors differently.

Spam Score Checker - Test Email Deliverability | MediaPlanPro

Spam Score Checker

What is a Spam Score?

How to Use the Spam Score Checker

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a spam score and how is it calculated?

What are common spam trigger words?

How do I improve my email deliverability?

What is sender reputation and why does it matter?

What are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC?

How do spam filters work?

What is a spam trap and how do I avoid them?

How often should I check my spam score?

Can I get off email blacklists?

What is a good spam score?

Does email design affect spam scores?

How do engagement metrics affect deliverability?

Spam Score Checker - Test Email Deliverability | MediaPlanPro

Spam Score Checker

What is a Spam Score?

How to Use the Spam Score Checker

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a spam score and how is it calculated?

What are common spam trigger words?

How do I improve my email deliverability?

What is sender reputation and why does it matter?

What are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC?

How do spam filters work?

What is a spam trap and how do I avoid them?

How often should I check my spam score?

Can I get off email blacklists?

What is a good spam score?

Does email design affect spam scores?

How do engagement metrics affect deliverability?

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