How to Lower Spam Score

Spam filters perform regular tests on mail messages to determine if they are spam or not. Most of them work on a spam score system, so that the occurrence of just one “spam phrase” probably will not trigger rejection. But if your spam score is too high, your message will get blocked, even if it is well-designed and formatted.

Before sending your newsletters, always remember to perform a spam check. This tool will tell you what your spam score is, based on the SpamAssassin rules. If you get a big score (ex. more than 5) then it is better that you adjust your newsletter before sending. Always save deliverability by avoiding all those “spam” words.

SpamAssassin is an open source, third-party service that ISPs use to analyze messages for suspicious content.

What Is a good spam score?

Messages with a score less than 5 will not have deliverability issues from this measure.

Content filtering is only one way ISP’s analyze messages. An increasing weight is being given to the reputation of the sender and other factors.

If your score is still less than 5, and you’re still seeing deliverability issues with your message, review other issues that may be causing problems.

How to lower your SpamAssassin Score ?

1. Use the Built-In Spam Scoring and Reviewing System by clicking the Check Spam button. You’ll find a result of how your message’s score was compiled.

You may find messages about words or phrases in your message you can work on within your message, as well as changes you might make to the settings of your messages and campaign. After you make your changes, you can re-test the message then re-check the score, repeating until it falls beneath the 5 threshold.

2. Review More Advice From SpamAssassin’s Website

For more information on how to avoid having your messages identified as SPAM by filters, see Spam Assassin’s tips on avoiding false positives.