People Prefer Direct Mail Over Spam

As per a recent study by researchers from the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication showed that most of the people favored junk mail over spam, when asked to choose the lesser wicked of the two.

Mariko Morimoto, professor, advertising, University of Georgia and research's lead author informed that spam was regarded as more troublesome, irking and disturbing than conventional mail.

In a press release, Morimoto said that this was their hypothesis. He added that the team (research) also wanted to know the cause of spam being more disturbing.

The research team conducted survey on college students and asked them to rate their levels of irritation and trouble regarding spam and direct mail. On a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 is intrusive and 7 is non-intrusive, respondents ranked spam at 1.93 as against 4.24 for conventional mail. As far as irritation is concerned, spam was rated at 2.46 and direct mail at 3.87.

As per the investigations of researchers, people disliked spam as it jammed their e-mail boxes, making it tough to filter through and look for legitimate mails.

For people, conventional mails are less intrusive than spams because spam makes it difficult to find wanted and legitimate messages. Also, while spam is often full of adult or other inappropriate content, direct mails often contain useful items like sales promotion and coupons. On the other hand, e-mailed coupons have to be printed first, which further makes the consumers reluctant to accept these offers.

The task force advised the consumers to install and regularly update their anti-virus programs.

These days, People are more dependent on Internet for personal as well as professional work. Spam tends to disturb them in their normal functioning. Hence, the task force recommends users to keep one e-mail account for personal and business works and one for other activities. Also, people should not respond to spam but delete it from inboxes.

Related article: Paypal – Web Hosting Services Need To Work Hard To Tackle Phishing

» SPAMfighter News - 09-11-2006

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