• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, December 18, 2019

Email, that beloved channel, is the main vehicle for unwanted spam and scams, according to a study by Zipwhip, a text message service provider.

Of consumers polled, 70% report they often receive spam messages. Only 7% rarely get them, and 2% never do, the study says, as reported in a Tuesday blog post. 

In contrast, 51% often get phone messages, and 32% get them somewhat often. But 15% rarely get them, and 2% say they never do. 

We strongly disagree with the study’s definition of spam — i.e.,  that it’s unsolicited marketing from a legitimate business. We view spam as email sent by bad actors, for the purpose of fraud or malware delivery.

That’s how Zipwhip defines scam emails — as “messages designed to trick you into giving money or sharing personal information that can be used to steal money or your identity.” 

Email also leads in the delivery of these unwanted messages, although it’s much closer, with 46% often receiving fake offers and 30% receiving them somewhat often. A mere 6% never get them, and 18% get them rarely.

Scam phone messages are often made to 43%, and 29% somewhat often.

But here’s the apparent point of this study: only 18% of the people surveyed get spam text messages, 27% are hit with them somewhat often. But 41% rarely get them, and 14% never.

It’s similar with scam offers: 17% frequently get them by text, and 22% are hit with them somewhat often. Yet 40% rarely get them and 22% never. 

Of all these channels, the phone seems the most out of control: 35% of the respondents have reported a robocall to the FCC, FTC or their network carrier. And, in general, an all-time high of 5.7 billion robocalls were made in October. 

But email marketers hardly get a pass: spam messages (as defined by Zipwhip) made up 56% of all global email traffic.

What’s more, 42% find it difficult to unsubscribe from emails, and 54% use a separate email address to avoid spam. 

In contrast, 2.8% of all text messages, according to an FCC statistic quoted in the study. The conclusion? That texting “remains a trustworthy communication medium.”

The study further asserts that “if texts had been classified as a telecommunication service like phone calls, carriers would have had little control over malicious messages and our text inboxes might look like our email inboxes today.” 

Tut tut. As we’ve reported from numerous surveys, email is a robust medium, driving massive revenue in both the B2C and B2B sectors. 

Zipwhip surveyed 529 U.S. consumers via SurveyMonkey.