Online Marketing: Spamming | What is Spam? | Statistics About Spam | How to Avoid Spam Emails

Spamming

Return to the index of frequently asked questions about online marketing. View more about New Zealand's anti-spam legislation.

What is Spam?

Spam... What does spam mean to you? Well, let's clarify things. I'm not talking about the gelatinous gloop, the 'Hawaiian steak' that is pre-cooked shoulder of ham in a can, I'm talking about junk email. Junk email or spam is the term given to unsolicited emails, typically of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to mailing lists, individual and corporate email addresses and newsgroups.

Spam Leaves A Very Bad Taste

Although statistics vary on how big a problem spam is, the fact is that spam wastes a huge amount of time and money for email users throughout the world. Here are a few spam-stats for starters:

  • Spam averages 78% of all e-mail sent.
  • The amount of spam email was between 88-92% of all email messages sent in the first half of 2010.
  • As of August 2010, the amount of spam was estimated to be around 200 billion spam messages sent per day.
  • The average PC user receives between 6-10 spam emails a day.
  • During one year, the average PC user can receive over 2,000 spam emails.
  • Spam costs non-business Internet users approximately US$255 million every year.
  • 16% of email address changes were due to spam.
  • Between 2006 and 2007, spam was expected to increase by about 63%.
  • About 28% of people respond to spam emails.
  • 25% of spam is product related.
  • Over 85% of email addresses posted on websites receive spam.

Sources: www.spam-o-meter.com, www.marshal8e6.com, www.time.com, www.maawg.org

How to Avoid Being Spammed

View easy-to-action tips on how to avoid email spam.

Glossary

If these terms sound like a foreign language to you, please don't stew about it. You can refer to the (easy-to-understand) glossary of terms for more information.

Store Them Away

If you want to keep any pages tucked away in your online pantry of goodies, simply bookmark the relevant page in your browser by clicking:

  • 'Favourites' (if you're using Internet Explorer/IE)
  • 'Bookmarks' (if you're using Firefox).

"Easy-to-understand information about spamming and how to avoid spam emails supplied by Stephanie Kendall, search engine marketer, writer and editor."