That was the subject line of a piece of unwanted e-mail (i.e., spam) that I received recently. Although the subject line was a bit nutty, even I have to admit that it was creative.
And that’s what I’m noticing . . . that spammers and phishers are getting more and more creative in their subject lines and targeting. Thousands of people fall prey to these e-mails every day. They enter their sensitive information on what appears to be a legitimate website–even some confusingly similar to their own banking institutions–and, before you know it, someone either tries to remove money from their bank accounts or, worse yet, assume their identity.
It’s getting bad out there. Really bad.
Here’s how we help stem spam at xynoMedia. I hope it will give you a few ideas:
1. Don’t use filters. Filters give too many false positives. How many times have you sent an e-mail to someone who tells you he or she didn’t receive it, only to have that person find your e-mail crowded among obscene enlargement and international dating offers?
2. Use challenge-response systems instead. You’ve seen this system at work, I’m sure. You send an e-mail to someone and, right away, that person’s system e-mails you back asking you to click a link to confirm that a real person with good intentions sent the e-mail.
The idea is that many of the robots used to send spam out won’t have enough “sense” to open the e-mail and click the link. What’s more, many of the reply e-mail addresses for spam are non-operational anyway, so the challenge e-mail won’t even be received.
Many people think this puts a barrier between you and someone who is trying to communicate with you. Not so. Many people are used to these systems by now, and since you only have to click once, it’s not really a bother. The reality is, people who really want to be in touch with you will take the time to click a link; those who don’t, won’t. Simple.
An example of a good challenge-response e-mail service is Spam Arrest. (BIG Hint: If you’re not a technical person, have someone walk you through the setup. The software is great, but setup is not exactly intuitive and the e-mail support stinks. You can purchase priority support for 10 bucks . . . which puts you at the front of the e-mail queue. Yes, I’m serious.)
3) Use first name-initial, full surname e-mail address conventions. It’s much easier to spot spam that’s addressed to “Dear LWest” than it is to “Dear Lena.” So rather than using lena.west@somecompany.com as your e-mail address convention, use LWest@somecompany.com and whenever you receive e-mail addressed to LWest, you know you can toss it because people who know you–or even people who don’t–would never refer to a real person that way . . . they would use your first name.
4) Never, ever, ever reply to spam. Not even to bail off their list(s). One reason for those seemingly genuine unsubscribe links is to get you to reply or click. The spammers then know that your e-mail address is a “live” e-mail account (meaning actually working, because they really don’t know whether an account is operational when they send the e-mail). They then take your name and e-mail address, move it to a “live” e-mail address list and sell your information to other, more advanced spammers for money. Sick, I know.
And . . .
5) If you’re ever unsure about a link, type it yourself. If you think that your bank has sent you an e-mail, take the time to pick up the phone and call to ask or open a new browser window and type in the website address yourself to log into your account to see if there’s a problem. Never click a link contained in an e-mail you don’t know. Not only can it lead you to a phishing website, but it can also possibly invisibly launch/install viruses and trojans onto your system. Not a good look.
Remember, spam is a business designed to put you out of business. You and your employees are your company’s best defense.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 2:17 pm and is filed under Business, E-mail, Productivity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.8 Responses to “‘Account Update from the Lord’”
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June 19th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I have to say that is a great headline to get someone to open an email. I use a program called glyphius to score the copy and headlines in my email to boost clicks with success but i also do not spam. I have to say that I like the idea of having a response sent to a sender to verify the email as oppose to an email filter that is great advice.
June 19th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
@Sarah:
Yeah, that headline really grabbed me. I mean, I knew it was spam, and I didn’t open it, but it intrigued me nonetheless.
I’ve never heard of Glyphius, but I looked it up and it seems like a copywriter’s dream. Thanks for giving me the heads up about it.
Challenge-response systems are the best way to tackle spam problems. Once one of our clients installed it, it decreased her spam to zero! Amazing.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
-Lena
June 20th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Hi Lena,
This article really opened my eyes and made me realize that spammers are getting more creative with their headlines (Account update from the Lord definately grabbed my attention!) Also, Glyphius is absolutely amazing it creates unique headlines so you don’t have to worry about people copying your exact phrase. I know that I use it to improve my score so I can feel more secure when I send out e-mails or try to promote my company. I would just like to thank you for the great advice! Keep up the great work!
June 20th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
@Kendyl:
I’m glad you enjoyed this blog post.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
-Lena
June 24th, 2008 at 7:13 am
Thanks for the great article. The challenge-response and using a middle initial really was of use! One thing that’s been on my list of things to do is get the software, Glyphius. It helps you write ad copy or any copy better by scoring it. Have you checked it out? I would love to here some feedback on this if anyone out there has used it.
July 4th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Thanks for the great article. The challenge-response and using a middle initial really was of use
June 21st, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Great games blog, cheers
September 10th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.