7 steps to writing better spam email (or, what to do if you’ve got an overstock of viagra)

I realize writing spam email is difficult. You’ve got to set up scripts and buy mailing lists and harvest addresses and set up proxies. I know. It’s hard work. But if you’re going to go through all that trouble, you may as well go that extra step to really pull me in until I’m so compelled I can’t help but order your cheap viagra online because I would just be crazy not to. Even though I’m a girl.

After years of extensive research and experience of receiving and not reading spam mail, I pass my wisdom on to you.

  1. Typos make your email seem more real. Computers spell everything correctly. Humans, not so much. We’re not great at typing and we forget our elementary school spelling lessons because we’ve had all those years since then of drinking vodka, I mean learning other things that crowd our brains. But if you’re going to go the typo route, really go all out. For instance, I have an email in my inbox right now with the subject line “P C PC н ³ê Ä£ ʽ90650″. Clearly, a computer couldn’t have written that. That is likely from some friend of mine drunk emailing me. I would be foolish not to click on it.
  2. Include the word “Google” in the subject. Everything’s free at Google, so obviously, Google probably gives a lot of stuff away over email. For instance, I have an email right now that says I just won a Google lottery! It has batch numbers and reference numbers so it must be legit. Plus, it’s from Google, who would not lie about me winning the lottery, right? All I have to do is send them my bank information, plus a few other small details, so they can deposit the money into my account. That Google, so high tech. They don’t even need to mail me a check. Of course, the email tells me to keep the news of my winning private, to prevent any mixups, so I hope blogging about it won’t keep me from getting my winnings.
  3. Write the email in a language other than the one I speak. I will find that exotic and sexy. I won’t know what I’m ordering, but I won’t be able to resist giving you my credit card number.
  4. Call me your friend. Everyone can use more friends. And the best kind of friend is one who you’ve never heard of, who sends emails completely unsolicited. If the person is willing to do that without being asked, just think of how much help he’ll be when you need to move that heavy couch down two flights of stairs and into your new apartment.
  5. Include profound stanzas of poetry. If you know poetry, you must be sincere. To really get me though, make obscure Chaucer references and quote Sylvia Plath. You might have to get an English degree to make these emails really authentic, but I think it’s a fair price to pay to make me really feel the pain you felt when your rich father/husband/uncle, who was the king/president/prime minister of an African and/or Eastern European country died and left you all of his money, but in such a way that you can only get to it if I take some of it as well.
  6. Forget to replace your variables with actual, well, values. Sure, you could say, “Hello Vanessa. I love your blog at www.vanessafoxnude.com. It really speaks to me in a way that no other nude blog does.” But if instead you say “Hello Name. I love your blog at URL. It really speaks to me in a way that no other TOPIC blog does,” then I can see that you like me so much, you’ve given me a special nickname. And my blog is so definitive that you think of the domain as just URL. When you type something into that browser address bar, you don’t think of a URL beyond mine. There simply is no other URL. And my blog’s topic is the only topic you care to know. To you, my blog is the topic of life. There’s no need to classify it and give it some category name that fences it in and limits it. Oh value-free variables, you warm my heart and make me feel like this crazy old world makes sense after all.
  7. Be creative with the free stuff. Look, anyone can offer an iPod, vacation to Mexico or prepaid phone card. You’re not actually going to send that out to anyone, so think outside of the box! If you want people to open your mail, tell them you’re giving away fields of unicorns! Smurfs! One of the smaller oceans! Which would you rather have the thrill of almost but not quite winning? A Home Depot gift card or a spa vacation on fluffy white clouds where angels fan you with their wings and share their cream cheese? That’s what I thought.

I really hoped you’ve stocked enough of that cheap viagra, because once you implement these tips, that stuff will just be flying off the shelves. Maybe you should get some back up cialis, just in case you run out.

9 Comments to "7 steps to writing better spam email (or, what to do if you’ve got an overstock of viagra)"

  1. James on 31 May, 2007

    I’d click on free Smurfs.

  2. Doug Cress on 31 May, 2007

    Ham McCoy

    He’s a shill, a scientific egan who discomfits colorimeters.

    With his pal Ham McCoy and their adjacent quietus

    They inspire ding domes made up of glyceride chards.

  3. monchito on 1 June, 2007

    lol :) i read on copyblogger once (don’t know the url) that many spam mails are actually good copywriting.. nice contrast :)

  4. SearchCap: The Day In Search, June 1, 2007…

    Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web:……

  5. Owen on 5 June, 2007

    Hey, you forgot to include that they should put the word “SPAM” in the title. That’s guaranteed to get your attention.

  6. Andy Fletcher on 5 June, 2007

    I’m always wondering how much the viagra crowd make. Or are they all new people who bought an eBook from eBay promising them a way to “throw off the shackles and follow the path to Internet millionairedom” who then give up when they realise all they’ve done is waste a few dollars on a .pdf document.

    Love the post Vanessa ;)

  7. jsleonardeml on 5 June, 2007

    I was laughing through this entire blog. I think I have almost one of each of your examples in my inbox right now!!!

  8. [...] 7 steps to writing better Spam Email. [...]

  9. Gerald on 6 December, 2007

    That is very clever and very funny :)I’ll have to show this to be writer wife - she’ll make a fortune writing spam now, rofl!

    Of course you forgot that adding symbols in the middle of words enhances the my**ery.

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