Canadians in the Grip of Spam

Canadians who continue to furnish their e-mail ids to organizations are perhaps responsible for the escalating spam volumes in their mailboxes, revealed a recent research by Ipsos Reid.

According to the study, although 66% Canadians choose to communicate via e-mail than any other method, 44% admit they find it extremely difficult to cope up with the increased volume of e-mail they get containing bulk of spam mails.

Canadians trust that if they register with sites that only allow permission-based e-mails, then they will be spared of spam mails, said Steve Mossop, president of Ipsos Market Research in Western Canada. Echannelline published this in news on July 18, 2007.

However, after signing up for permission-based e-mails, spam messages reaching Canadians have increased to 51% or an average of 130 spam mails in a week. The research conducted a survey in which 25% of those surveyed said they read on average three spam messages every week basically to satisfy their curiosity or eagerness to learn extensively about the service or product the spam mails promote.

Since 2003, there has been a consistent decline in the average number of e-mails reaching Canadian inboxes. But after that, the figure rose and it is continuously rising. Canadians report that they get on average 206 e-mails in a week. That estimate has jumped by 26% from 2006 and increased from a peak of 197 e-mails in 2003. Spam occupies a significant proportion of inboxes in Canada. 76% of Canadians who use the Internet said they receive a minimum of one unsolicited commercial e-mail in a single week. The average amount of junk e-mails in the country has sharply risen from 86 in 2005 to 130 in the current year.

E-mail marketers could keep the flame of interest burning in people and stop them from deregistering provided they send relevant messages and not at frequent intervals. But, suggested Mossop, Canadians need to stop opening spam mails if they really want to prevent spam from striking their inboxes. Clicking through spam messages is the main factor causing spam to perpetuate, Mossop said.

Related article: Canadian Retailer Faces Security Breach of Customer Credit Numbers

» SPAMfighter News - 8/2/2007