More than 20% of internet users admit to clicking the “report as spam” button and sending messages that may not technically qualify as spam directly to the junk folder.

Abuse Of The “Report As Spam Button”

Almost 40% of email users admit that they click on the “report as spam” button either “often” or “very often”. Over 25% of users say that they use the “report to spam” option as a way of unsubscribing to marketing emails that they no longer wish to receive.

Email service providers like Gmail, AOL and Yahoo all use the percentage of customers who use the “report to spam” option for a certain sender as a primary method of determining to deliver incoming messages to the inbox or the junk mail folder.

What is Spam

So, what is spam to you? Chances are that your definition is slightly different from the next guy’s and both of your opinions may be different from what the law defines as spam. It is extremely important that you are fully aware of the law as it applies to email marketing and spam. It is equally important that you are aware of what your prospects and customers may consider as spam.

A recent study found that 50% of email subscribers receive emails from marketers with whom they are familiar too often and therefore classify such messages as spam. In addition, 56% of people surveyed said that they automatically send email marketing newsletters to the junk folder if they do not find them personally interesting.

This is why it is vital to stay on top of your email marketing campaigns to ensure that all of the content that you send is fresh, relevant and interesting to the people on your subscriber lists.

For more information on spam and effective emailing, please visit Email Marketing is Not Spam