What goes through the mind of the recipient, when checking an inbox every morning? Is there a secret to staying relevant in your target market’s eyes, or is it simply a matter of dispatching the most emails at a time that wins? Here’s a look at what most web users are doing to filter out the noise, and what you can do as a legitimate wholesaler or retailer with a valuable message to share, as you try to stay on their inbox, rather than end up being labeled as spam.

According to researchers, one of the first things many web users do is clear their spam folders, or at least take a quick look to see what’s showing up there. Whether it’s the daily morning ritual, or an unscheduled periodic check some time during the week, users are growing keenly aware of the torrent of emails that are sent to them. Sometimes these missives are unsolicited, and sometimes they come as a result of willingly giving information to a marketer.

Knowing the methods users are employing can help you keep your emails at the top of the list.

Users are rapidly gaining a growing list of spam-fighting resources, and this is not good news for the web marketers out there who are trying to legitimately do some advertising on the web, especially through client email addresses. Not all of these users are aware of the fact that their anti-spam efforts are being put to good use, either, as most simply allow the filter functions to do their work, and leave the rest up to a program that “sniffs” out suspicious emails, whether they are of benefit to the user or not.

Some commonly-used mainstream resources that you should familiarize yourself with are:

• http://www.cauce.org
• http://www.scambusters.org/stopspam
• http://www.blighty.com/products/spade
• http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/junkemail.html
• http://www.chooseyourmail.com/spamindex.cfm
• http://www.spamkiller.com
• http://spamcop.net

The challenge for email marketing doesn’t stop with automated services, however. Common point of identification, like looking for email addresses within the body of an email, mysteriously lengthy email addresses from the sender, and header information that is too wordy, can all be misconstrued as spam.

Staying off of spam lists is another concern for many users, and it can sometimes border on paranoia when people start disguising their email addresses and information to make it less crawlable, for fear of extractors picking it up at some point. Providing a clear, easy to understand, and simple Privacy Statement will help to win trust, and put yourself at distance from the real spammers.

Some users are fighting back, and with good reason. Spam is a growing nuisance on the web, and it can be promoted through the illegally obtained information that makes your business seem like just another spammer, to those who are already inundated with emails. Knowing the ways users deal with and anticipate spam is the first step to creating an effective marketing platform for yourself, and it doesn’t need to be an environment that puts you on the defensive.