Email blasts that go straight to the spam folder

No wonder it ended up in my email spam folder.

 

The Secretary of State for Arizona, Michelle Reagan, sent an email blast titled "Show Us the Money!!!!" 

 

Sorry, people, there are no more exclamation marks available for use today. Not just in Arizona, but North America. She used them all in one email title. Come back tomorrow, when we get another exclamation mark shipment.

 

The other thing is that her title and content were too much like the scams sent by Nigerians or the fake PayPal and Netflix people trying to get me to "update" my account info and password. 

For instance, here's how the third spam down (in my folder) begins: 

 

Hello Dear, [Don't call me Dear. You're a ripoff scammer/phisher in Africa.]

 

I apologize if the content of my email is contrary to your moral ethics [I have much higher ethics than you do, sucker] but I find it pleasurable to offer you my partnership in business. I am Cpt.Joe Davison, an officer in the US Army, presently serving in the Military with the 82nd Airborne Division Peace Keeping Force here in Afghanistan. [The 82nd Airborne is an elite parachute division, not a peace-keeping force.] I need your help in assisting me with the safe keeping of Two Military Trunk Boxes. [What's in a box that you have to keep secret?]

 

I hope you can be trusted? If you can be trusted, I will explain further when I get a response from you for further clarification.Nevertheless, please ensure to reply via my private E-MAIL...  [Your email address has been shared with the 82nd Airborne web page, tee-hee! Good luck with that.]

As for the Arizona Secretary of State's email, below the graphics, the text begins:

Show Us the Money!!!!

 

Money in politics. It’s been a hot topic since 1758 when George Washington spent nearly all of his campaign budget on booze to win over voters on Election Day.

 

Ever since, our country has debated the role of money in politics and how it impacts our elections...

 

 

The clever email blaster will avoid keywords that send your communications straight to the trash.

Some of those triggers or keywords are:

• money
• check or money order
• trust
• terms of endearment
• "words" like 4U and gr8
• partner
• inherit
• help
• assistance
• parcel
• claim
• excessive punctuation marks
• poor spelling
• odd turns of phrase
• links that make readers suspicious that they'll be pushed to malware or virus sites  

When I worked full-time for a nonprofit company, I wrote email blasts that directed attention to specific pages on our website and printed magazine, as well as our appeal letters. The blasts were read by several team members with different points of view. They were coordinated with our other communications for the best results: goodwill to the company, participation in our initiatives, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations each year.  

You may be wise about what emails you receive, open, or send to spam in your business or personal email, but think carefully about the emails you send. Your readers may not be as sophisticated as you are, and their email provider may divert your communications so that they never see it. Try to think as your intended audience, give it a few minutes, read it through again, and then send it.