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Is Free Really a Four-Letter Word?

January 26, 2009 by Loren McDonald

I'm not a big fan of the word "free" in email marketing, but not for the reason Chad Horenheldt outlined in his recent blog post, reposted by Dennis Dayman on this blog.

As Stephanie Miller commented, "free" in a subject line isn't likely to get your email blocked. Although some recipients might set personal email rules that junk emails with "free," that word alone won't trip spam blocks at major ISPs.

In fact, many marketers use "free" in the subject line because it works, not because they're ignorant. So, it's pretty clear that emails promoting free shipping, buy-one-get-one-free, etc., are getting delivered – just look at this screenshot of my Gmail inbox.

Yes, SpamAssassin and similar rules-based spam filters might penalize your email a fraction of a point when it detects "free" in your email. It won't trigger a block, however, unless your message already commits a number of other point-assessing felonies. That said, tactics such as using "free" in upper case with an exclamation point in the subject line will likely get your message junked by Outlook’s default junk-filter rules. It also simply looks spammy and is unnecessary.

So, use of "free" might cause a very small percentage of email recipients to junk your email because they associate it with spam, but, for many marketers, "free" is still the most powerful and revenue-generating word in their copywriting arsenal.

Why You Should Think Twice about 'Free'

The overuse of "free" can, however, be a negative because it can erase your competitive differential. If all of your competitors send emails promoting free shipping, free trials, free this or that, what sets you apart?

Further, you're training your customers and prospects to buy only when you offer huge discounts, free shipping, etc. You could be diminishing the value and perception of your company's brand.

Ultimately, using "free" in your email message becomes a business decision, not a content decision. You need to test your offers, subject lines, message content, etc., to see what delivers the highest ROI compared to other approaches. Then, determine if any negatives resulting from the use of "free" (spam complaints, unsubscribes, decreased delivery, etc.) outweigh the increase in your short-term conversions and revenue.

Simply using "free" in your subject line is not a slam-dunk bad idea. It might, however, mask some deeper problems created by a reliance on using costly incentives to push clicks and conversions.