Spammy subject lines and words that trigger filters

What it means

Spam filters read your subject line and the text of your email. Some patterns are typical of spam: subjects in capital letters, many exclamation marks, "FREE!!!", "Act now", fake "Re:" or "Fwd:", or promises of easy money. Content filters such as SpamAssassin give points for these patterns, and mailboxes like Gmail learn from what readers mark as spam.

Why it matters

• One spammy word alone rarely sends an email to spam. But each pattern adds a little, and together they can push a good email over the limit.
• Readers react to the subject too. A subject that sounds like a scam gets fewer opens and more spam reports, and that hurts your reputation for every future email.
• A subject that promises something the email does not deliver feels like a trick.

How to check

• Send a test email: on the home page, copy your unique test address, send it a normal email from the mailbox or tool you want to check, then open the report. Look at the SpamAssassin score and its list of rules. Rules about the subject or text show up there with their points, for example a subject in all capitals or too many exclamation marks.

How to fix it

Patterns to avoid

• Whole words or subjects in CAPITAL LETTERS.
• Several exclamation or question marks: "Last chance!!!".
• Fake replies or forwards: "Re: your order" when there was no previous message.
• Money and urgency clichés: "100% free", "Make money fast", "Act now", "Risk-free", "You have been selected".
• Many symbols or emojis, like "$$$" or five emojis in a row.
• Strange spacing or symbols to hide words: "F.R.E.E" or "fr€e".
• A very long subject, or an empty one.

What a good subject looks like

• Short: around 30 to 60 characters, so it fits on a phone.
• Clear about what is inside: "Your March invoice", "3 new recipes for autumn", "Spring sale: 20% off until Sunday".
• Normal sentence case, at most one exclamation mark or one emoji.
• Honest: the content delivers exactly what the subject says.

Bad:  FREE!!! Make $$$ from home NOW
Bad:  Re: urgent - you have been selected
Good: Your guide to working from home
Good: Spring sale: 20% off until Sunday

Look at the body too

• Keep the same calm tone in the text.
• Avoid one huge "BUY NOW" image with almost no text.
• Do not hide text in white on white or in tiny fonts.

Words are only one part of the picture. Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), a clean sender reputation and readers who asked for your emails count much more. A perfect subject does not save an email sent to a bought list.

Check that it is fixed

Send a new test email from the home page with the new subject and text. The SpamAssassin score should be lower, and the subject or text rules should no longer appear in the list.