They say curiosity killed the cat. Apparently, no one is saying that loudly enough to stop consumers around the globe from clicking on spam.
Nearly half (43%) of email users in North America and Western Europe say they have knowingly opened or accessed spam – including clicking on links or opening unknown and potentially dangerous attachments, according to a new global consumer survey from the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG). Of those who open spam, about half (46%) did so intentionally – to unsubscribe, out of curiosity or out of genuine interest in the products being offered. This is consistent with findings from the same study’s 2009, but not an increase in such behavior.
The 2010 MAAWG ‘Email Security Awareness and Usage Report’ was released yesterday (March 24, 2010). Consumers were surveyed in North America and across Western Europe with a variety of questions from computer expertise and savvy, to their preferences of email.
Several of the findings are both shocking and disturbing. Consumers seem generally unaware of the consequences of their actions, and a painful percentage continue to click on spam, knowingly, instead of deleting it immediately. Such actions help explain the gargantuan increase in botnet presence on the Internet and zombie’d computers continue to steal millions of bits of personal and confidential business information as a result.
Clearly, we as an industry have an opportunity to do more education for end users of email. Several of us at Return Path will be working with the good folks at MAAWG and other industry associations to develop programs that we hope can be embraced by marketers as well as mailbox providers and anti-spam professionals. We'll keep everyone informed of ways to participate.
In other findings, four out of ten users responding to the survey do click the report spam button (39%) or move spam to their junk folder (44%). One in five say they report the message to the sender, if it’s recognized as a legitimate company. These findings are pretty consistent between North America and Western Europe. Younger users both consider themselves more experienced in terms of email security, but also more likely to engage in risky behavior like clicking on spam.
Marketers know full well the pressure on response rates from the excess clutter in the inbox. However, users who responded to the survey say that they use the senders’ name (73%) and the subject line (67%) to identify spam in the inbox. Respondents also say that unusual language, the content of the email, the “from” name or address, and spelling mistakes and poor grammar are signs that an email may be spam. This is true in all six countries included in the survey, although respondents in Spain and France are less likely to rely on these factors.
Email marketing is still a great opportunity and users surveyed do find marketing messages valuable. They are just not as welcome as other kinds of personal email. When asked about what various types of email they prefer, one-to-one communications still rule the roost. Messages from friends and family were ranked as ‘extremely or very important’ to 82% of respondents, but marketing email was only rated similarly by 15% of those surveyed. Another 32% did view marketing mail as ‘somewhat important’.
Consider these findings in context with our shared goals: To ensure that valued messages reach the inbox and unwelcome messages – especially the dangerous ones – do not. Marketers, email service and technology providers, mailbox providers and security vendors all share this goal.
Please take a look at the full survey, and share your reactions and thoughts in the comments section below.
(Thanks to Neil Schwartzman of Return Path for his co-authorship of this post!)
Last 5 posts by Stephanie Miller
- Are You Ready for the Ultra Managed Inbox? - August 30th, 2010
- Privacy Updates & Regulation Ahead for Digital Marketers - June 4th, 2010
- The Importance of Inbox Placement Data - February 14th, 2010
- What Will It Take To Get You to Authenticate - August 4th, 2009
- Email Marketing Learnings from the Road - July 6th, 2009
