Just because US consumers opt in to e-mail lists does not give marketers license to send endless irrelevant material.
That is the main finding of recently released data from a MarketingSherpa/Q Interactive study fielded last fall. While the top reason that respondents reported e-mail as spam was because they had not opted in to mailings, the second was that the material sent did not interest them. More than four out of 10 e-mail users who hit the "spam" button said they had categorized uninteresting mail as junk.
The researchers noted that inbox overload was creating greater competition among legitimate e-mailers: As filters improved, users would focus less on traditional spam and more on which opt-in material interested them most.
In general, e-mail users have perceived a rise in spam for years. About one-half of adult e-mail users surveyed by Merkle and Harris Interactive during the past four years said they received "somewhat" or "a lot" more spam every year.
Learn how different digital ad formats will fare this year. Read eMarketer's US Online Advertising: Resilient in a Rough Economy report.