• by September 19, 2002

Americans who use the Internet appreciate the benefits of receiving legitimate email marketing messages and are clearly able to distinguish between legitimate email marketing and spam, according to the results of a poll released today.

The survey found that 86% of the respondents have requested to receive legitimate email marketing messages, and 71% have made purchases based on email marketing. Also, 59% define email marketing as information on products or services that they have requested to receive. Additionally, 79% of the respondents have a neutral-to-positive impression of legitimate email marketing.

The poll was conducted by Harris Interactive, and commissioned by Digital Impact, Inc., the provider of online direct marketing solutions for enterprises.

"Consumers value and appreciate email marketing and can clearly distinguish between legitimate messages and spam. The survey validates the power of email as a marketing medium. We hope this helps people to stop confusing legitimate, permission-based email marketing with spam," said David Kleinberg, senior vice president of marketing of Digital Impact.

Detailed results of the survey will be available on the Digital Impact website at on Monday, September 23rd, 2002.