How Many Spam Or Unsolicted Emails Do You Receive?

Last week I attended a networking event. The next day I received three emails from three different women whom I had exchanged cards with that had taken the liberty of putting me on their standard newsletter email. I did not receive any permission based opt-in. One even sent a canned video message telling me (and everyone) that she really enjoyed meeting us. Her email didn't ask a thing about me. You could tell she had copied and pasted and it was all about her and her services.

Now perhaps I am interested in receiving the newsletter, but perhaps I am not. That should be my decision. So here's an article I found on Hubspot's blog this morning about spam. So, what do you think and how has this affected you? How many spam or unsolicited emails do you receive every day? How long does it take you to go through your emails? What do you do?

An Inbound Marketer's Guide to SPAM, SPAM, SPAM!

Be happy that you are not Bill Gates. 

In 2007, he received about four million emails (that’s approximately 11 thousand each day), most of which were spam.  For us mere mortals, toiling in our cubicles, how would you feel about receiving over 9,000 email advertising messages per year?   That’s 25 marketing messages in your Inbox every day, and, according to recent research, nine of every 10 emails are categorized as spam.   And, just a few years ago, only half of our emails were considered spam. 

The View From Washington

But, what can stop this onslaught?  In December 2003, President George W. Bush signed the CAN-SPAM Act into legislation. Specifically designed to target the absolute worst offenders , the“Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing” outlined and standardized the requirements for commercial emails.  It also detailed the penalties for sending spam, something that was previously governed on a state-by-state basis. 

Ethan Arenson, CAN-SPAM Coordinator at the Federal Trade Commission, offered the following in response to our questions regarding the legislation, “Overall, the CAN-SPAM Act is a very effective tool against those legitimate companies that step over the line.  It’s very difficult to target the worst offenders (scams, malicious, criminal behavior) because those businesses are often based overseas and beyond our reach.”

Arenson continued, “In the FTC's opinion, the compliance with legitimate marketers is good to very good.  Of course, in the immediate wake of implementation, there was a learning curve but CAN-SPAM is not that difficult to comply with.”  

Another excerpt of what your organization can do:

Overall, the best marketing practices for CAN-SPAM compliance is fairly simple.  Here are the five main points in the legislation:

1.     Create and maintain a “Do Not Email” (DNE) list

2.     Make your opt-out process “uncomplicated”

3.     Add your company name and address to your email messages

4.     Allow opt-out by any means mentioned in an email (hotlink, reply to, Web-based unsubscribe requests)

5.     Train your customer service staff to capture and process any non-Web-based unsubscribe requests within the 10 business days deadline

Read the rest of the story at: 

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5163/An-Inbound-Marketer-s-Guide-to-SPAM-SPAM-SPAM.aspx

via blog.hubspot.com