SPAM: Seeing People Avoid Marketers

[By Sarah Faglio]

When e-mail first started being used by the public, it was seen as a convenience by many who wanted to stay in touch with people, whether it be business or personal.  It was favored over direct mailing since it was free and the message was instantly sent to someone's inbox. This new means of sending messages allowed companies to share updates or sales to customers instantaneously as well as not having to spend money on postage and paper for direct mailings.  Customers would opt-in to these company e-mails by willingly providing their e-mail addresses.  However, many companies send unsolicited e-mail messages to consumers, better known as SPAM.

The first SPAM e-mail was sent on ARPAnet (or the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, the network of government and university computers that preceded the Internet) on May 3, 1978 by Gary Thuerk to all 600 ARPAnet members.  He was a marketing manager for Digital Equipment Corp. that wanted to publicize open houses that would be unveiling the company's latest computers.  More spammers have arisen since 1978, clogging users' e-mails with messages that they are uninterested in.  According to the Message Anti-Abuse Working Group, the amount of SPAM e-mail was between 88-92% of e-mail messages sent in the first half of 2010.

There are a number of ways that people avoid SPAM mail, in addition to filters put into place by e-mail administrators.  E-mail accounts now have mail filters that not only allow users to organize incoming mail into different folders but directs all SPAM mail to a designated folder separate from the inbox.  These users may automatically delete a marketing message or avoid them completely by unsubscribing to them - blocking any further e-mail messages.

Despite its annoyance, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 declared SPAM to be legal as long as it adhered to certain specifications.  The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act required the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to stand by rules that prohibited the sending of unwanted commercial e-mail messages (messages whose primary purpose is to advertise or promote a commercial product or service).  These detailed rules also restricted the sending of unwanted commercial e-mail messages to computers.  It prevents states from enacting stronger anti-spam protections and prohibits individuals from suing spammers.  However, in the same month that the act went into effect, less than 1% of spam e-mails sent to U.S. users' inboxes actually adhered to the rules of the CAN-SPAM Act.

 Spammers collect people's e-mail addresses without them knowing or voluntarily providing it. They get e-mail addresses from chatrooms, websites, customer lists, newsgroups and viruses that harvest users' address books and are sold to other spammers.  When consumers voluntarily provide their e-mail addresses, this shows that they are both interested in your company and will therefore not delete your messages since it is wanted and anticipated.  By focusing your e-mail campaign to a targeted audience, you are preventing wasteful mass sending of SPAM e-mail to uninterested users.