Email Spam Checker

What hurts your spam score

Spam filters score messages on dozens of signals. You can't control all of them, but the content-level ones are entirely in your hands — and they're where most cold emails go wrong. Here's what this checker weights.

Spam-trigger words, by category

Promotional and urgency language is the strongest content signal — but not every word is equal. We check hundreds of trigger words across nine weighted categories, and a pharma or scam word hurts far more than a common salesy word like offer or price. Your results show exactly which category each match falls into:

• Shady / scammy — risk free, no catch, you're a winner, this is not spam
• Health / pharma — weight loss, miracle cure, no prescription
• Gambling / adult — casino, jackpot, free spins
• Overpromise / hype — amazing, guaranteed results, once in a lifetime
• Money / financial — cash, make money, financial freedom
• Urgency / pressure — act now, limited time, expires today
• Spammy greeting — dear friend, to whom it may concern
• Pushy call-to-action — click here, buy now, call now
• Salesy / promotional — free, discount, deal (fine in context, flagged gently)

The point isn't to scrub every one of these — it's density and context. One offer in a relevant sentence is fine; five urgency words plus a pharma term is what triggers filters. Want the complete reference? See our list of 355+ spam trigger words, grouped by category.

Links — and shortened ones

More than one or two links, especially on a first touch, reads as bulk mail. URL shorteners (bit.ly, tinyurl) are worse — they hide the destination and are a strong spam signal. Keep it to a single link to your real domain, or none, and earn the click by getting a reply first.

ALL-CAPS, exclamation marks, and emojis

Capitalized words, strings of exclamation marks, and a row of emojis all look like shouting to prospects and filters alike. One exclamation mark is plenty; $$$ and !!! are textbook spam patterns; a single tasteful emoji is fine but several make a cold email read like a newsletter.

Deceptive subject lines

We also check the subject line — a fake Re: or Fwd: on a first-touch email, ALL-CAPS, exclamation marks, and emojis are all penalized by recipients and filters. Keep it short (under 50 characters), specific, and honest.

Length

Extremely short emails (a line and a link) look automated, while very long ones lose the reader. For cold outreach, roughly 50–150 words tends to perform best.

Beyond spam: is your email actually readable?

Clearing spam filters only gets you into the inbox — it doesn't earn a reply. That's why this tool also grades readability, the difference between an email a busy decision-maker skims and answers versus one they ignore. Here's what we check.

• Reading ease & grade level — a Flesch score and grade level. Aim for 60+ (8th-grade or simpler); executives skim, so plain language wins.
• Passive voice — “it will be sent” is longer and weaker than “I'll send it.” We flag passive sentences so you can make them active.
• Long sentences — anything over 20 words is hard to skim on a phone. We list the offenders so you can split them.
• Adverbs — really, quickly, actually. An -ly adverb usually signals a weak verb; cut most of them.
• Filler words — just, very, basically. They add length without meaning.
• Clichés — circle back, touch base, hope this email finds you well. Overused openers make you instantly forgettable.
• You vs. I/we focus — prospects care about themselves. If you say “I” and “we” more than “you,” the email is about you, not them.
• A clear ask — every cold email needs one specific, low-friction call-to-action. We flag emails with no question or CTA.

Fix the spam triggers to reach the inbox; fix the readability to earn the reply. The best cold emails do both.

Content is only half of deliverability

A clean, human-sounding email still lands in spam if the domain it's sent from isn't properly authenticated and warmed up. Once your copy scores well here, check the technical side: run the email deliverability test on your sending domain, or verify your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records individually.

Want emails that are both well-written and well-delivered? That's the whole job. See how we run cold email infrastructure, or read the deliverability guide.