• by Masha Geller , July 29, 2003

BURST! Media recently surveyed over 3,300 web users with the purpose of better understanding their email habits and their experience with "spam." The study focused on the public's reaction to "spam" and their opinion of marketers who send unsolicited commercial emails, and found that one out of two (50.2%) respondents say they use a "spam" filter or some other type of filter process to automatically block or delete unwanted/unsolicited commercial email messages. BURST found that another 18.7% say they plan on using one in the near future.

Specifically, among age segments, respondents 25-34 years were more likely than any other age segment to be currently using a "spam" filter.

According to the data, 77.1% respondents say "spam" is a nuisance - and fully one-half (54.1%) call it a "major nuisance." Moreover, the perception of "spam" as a "major nuisance" increases with respondents' income; in fact, fully three out of five respondents with household income of $75,000 or more say "spam" is a "major nuisance."

Additionally, respondents who spend 20 hours or more per week online are much more likely than respondents spending less time online to view "spam" as a "major nuisance" - 62.9% to 52.0% respectfully.

The problem of "spam" has become so pervasive that some estimates label 45% of all email sent as "spam" - and that number is growing! Nearly three trillion "spam" messages are sent each year; that's 13 times the total snail mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. Moreover, the average email user is hit with nearly 2,200 "spam" messages annually - an extraordinary number considering Internet Service Providers are filtering out 80-90 percent of "spam" messages sent.

What's most detrimental, the BURST! survey confirmed that "Spam" does have a negative impact on respondents' opinion of an advertiser. A significant 70.7% of respondents would not purchase a product advertised in "spam" email. In fact, over half (53.5%) say they have a less favorable opinion of a company, product or service they recognize advertised in "spam." This finding also is slightly more noticeable among higher income segments - where three-quarters say they would never purchase a product advertised in "spam".

As a results, BURST recommends that when planning a marketing campaign, marketers choose their online media outlets wisely. "For email campaigns, understand the processes list providers have in place to ensure your advertising message is being delivered to a willing and receptive audience. Insist on lists that include addresses of people who have voluntarily opted-in - and been verified (double opt-in)."