• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, September 30, 2001

Spam Growth

In a recent report by eMarketer’s Jonathan Jackson, he says that it appears that spammers have been taking advantage of the terrorist attacks on the United States to con money out of sympathetic people. EMarketer reports also show that the number of unsolicited messages will rise to 75.6 billion by 2003.

Unsolicited eMail Messages in the US (billions)

  +-------+--------+  | 1999  |  38.6  |  | 2000  |  53.6  |  | 2001  |  62.3  |  | 2002  |  68.9  |  | 2003  |  75.6  |  +-------+--------+  

source: eMarketer

Although the absolute number of unsolicited messages will increase over the forecast period, it will decline as a percent of commercial messages and total e-mail received. Technology, consumer backlash, peer pressure from the ISP and business communities, and regulatory and legal developments will all serve to constrain spam activity, as will the increasing availability of legitimate opt-in vehicles.

Unsolicited eMails in the US

  +-------+------------+---------+  |       |  As  % of  | As % of |  |       | Commercial |  Total  |
+-------+------------+---------+  | 1999  |    49.2    |   9.8   |  | 2000  |    45.7    |  10.0   |  | 2001  |    38.2    |   9.2   |  | 2002  |    30.3    |   8.2   |  | 2003  |    25.0    |   7.3
|  +-------+------------+---------+  

source:eMarketer

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) supports ideas such as outlawing phony return addresses and forbidding companies to keep sending mail to individuals who have asked to be removed from lists -- but says it worries about creating too restrictive an environment for marketers. It should be noted that 91% of DMA members responding to a survey said they do not send commercial e-mail and, in fact, 63% report that they have not even considered doing so.

Learn more about this here.