Dealing with spam... blockers

is anyone else being falsely accused?

[too much information]

I have a simple form on my site that my potential clients can fill out with their info so that I can send them more informaiton. I'm sure I'm not the only one with this setup.

So, recently when I write them back I am getting my messages returned by their ISP saying that it is spam and that I should be ashamed of myself. (well, not exactly that) But the fact is this is a follow-up with a potential client who contacted me first, and most of my sales come from being 'quick on the draw' with my replies.

Does anyone have any idea what might trigger these filters? (I'm sending text only e-mails, no attachments, with price ranges and descriptions of my services)

Also, how do you handle this when it does happen to you? Is contacting the admin a waste of time?

[rcjordan]

Happens fairly frequently. My guess would be spamassassin false-positives. That's what I've run across the most.

[Craig_F]

your form script could be being used to spam without you knowing it...don't know how that's done, though...

[rcjordan]

>form

Doesn't sound like that's the case.

"when I write them back I am getting my messages returned by their ISP saying that it is spam"

You're just prone to using spammy words, TMI. Try FREE TRIAL OFFER! to your hotmail account.

[rcjordan]

article: Spam Filtering and the Plague of False Positives [technewsworld.com]

You'll see some scary percentages in there. Some ISPs tracked in another study I read about came in at the mid-30% range.

[Craig_F]

Doesn't sound like that's the case.

"when I write them back I am getting my messages returned by their ISP saying that it is spam"

Yup, missed that. False positives would be my guess then too. In an email to myself from work today was filtered by Yahoo as junk...and I certainly don't spam. However, my work email addresses are faked all the time and used by spammers, which is what I think is causing that to happen for me.

[rcjordan]

>my work email addresses are faked all the time and used by spammers, which is what I think is causing that to happen for

That might be the case if your company is listed in the blacklists as having an open relay. Otherwise, I expect it's just picking you up using on-board heuristic filters.

FWIW, here's the Spamassassin test page
[spamassassin.org...]

[Skier]

too_much_information,

Have a look and see if your IP is on the "distributed service boycott list". They also show how to get yourself removed.

[too much information]

Thanks for the suggestions. Now I'm really irritated by these spammers. Not only do they annoy me, but now they are keeping me from doing business.

I'll have to give the test a try with my standard reply. Maybe it's just one word. (Hopefully, it's just one word) ;o)

[PhraSEOlogy]

You could always ask for a phone number instead of an email address.

[too much information]

actually I ask for both.. more like require both because I have found that the more serious people will give both, but there are some that enter the old 555-1212 and get around my checks.

The thing I'm worried about is that my industry has a very gosipy set of clients, and I don't want the "They never contacted me" type of rap.

People are impressed by a quick response, I don't want some over active spam filter messing up my marketing campaign.