• by Paul Gough , October 14, 2003

Mars and Venus seem to have different views of spam, too.

Tucked away in DoubleClick Inc.'s fourth annual study of consumer attitudes toward e-mail is what might be the first look at the way men and women view e- mail. The study, which was conducted by Beyond Interactive, surveyed 900,000 consumers, split between men and women with an average age of 42.7.

Men seem to take a harder line in defining spam, which could come as a shock to marketers who stake part of their business on so-called "permission-based email." Even if they've done business with a company, men are more likely than women to consider e-mail from that company to be spam. Sixty-five percent of men said spam included e-mail from a company they've done business with "but comes too often," compared to only 55 percent of women. When the survey factored in "permission-based e-mail" the results were similar: 61 percent of men thought that was spam, compared to 56 percent of women.

"Men were more frustrated, offended, by e-mails from companies they may have done business with but haven't given permission" for e-mail, said Scott Knoll, vice president of marketing solutions at New York-based DoubleClick.

And even if they do give permission, men react strongly to getting too many e- mails from companies.

Men tended to think being flooded by legitimate companies was more offensive to their sensibilities than receiving pornographic spam. The sheer quantity of legitimate but unwanted e-mail is turning men off to this marketing channel, Knoll said.

"Now they're getting tons of offers, and it's really bothering them," Knoll said. Women are more concerned about offensive material or anything deceptive in email.

While Knoll declines to generalize, he said the research seems to suggest that women seem to take legitimate e-mail marketing in stride. As primary shoppers in many households, DoubleClick said women seem to be more tolerant of email marketing.

"They're used to that and more apt to take action and or be less bothered by it," Knoll said.

-- Paul Gough