'Report Spam' Button Broken According to Consumer Email Survey From Q Interactive and MarketingSherpa

CHICAGO, March 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Q Interactive (http://www.qinteractive.com), a leading online marketing services provider, today announced the results of its "Spam Complainers Survey" jointly conducted with marketing research firm, MarketingSherpa.

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The mission of the survey was to uncover consumers' perceptions of what they consider to be spam, why they report emails as spam and what they think happens when the "report spam" button is clicked.

Spam Definition Changes from Unsolicited to Unwanted

Among the most striking findings of the study is the fact that the definition of spam has effectively changed from the permission-based regulatory definition of "unsolicited commercial email" to a perception-based definition centered on consumer dissatisfaction. Over half of the participants, 56 percent, consider marketing messages from known senders to be spam if the message is "just not interesting to me", while 50 percent of respondents consider "too frequent emails from companies I know" to be spam and 31 percent cite "emails that were once useful but aren't relevant anymore". (Respondents could select more than one answer for multiple questions in the survey.)

When it comes to utilizing the 'report spam' button -- the primary tool Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide consumers to counter the problem -- nearly half of respondents (48 percent) provided a reason other than "did not sign up for email" for why they reported an email as spam. In fact, underscoring consumers' varying definitions of spam, respondents cited a variety of non-permission-based reasons for hitting the spam button, including "the email was not of interest to me" (41 percent); "I receive too much email from the sender" (25 percent); and "I receive too much email from all senders" (20 percent).

Consequences Unclear When Reporting Spam

There is a pervasive confusion among consumers regarding what they believe will happen as a result of clicking the "report spam" button. Over half of respondents, 56 percent, reported it will "filter all email from that sender" while 21 percent believe it will notify the sender that the recipient did not find that specific email useful so the sender will "do a better job of mailing me" in the future. Even more indicative of the lack of understanding, 47 percent believe they will be unsubscribed from the list by clicking "report spam" while 53 percent do not believe the button is a method to unsubscribe.

Not surprisingly, accompanying this confusion is the frequent misuse of the "report spam" button. The survey found a large number of consumers, 43 percent, forgo advertiser-supplied unsubscribe links in email and simply use the ISP's "report spam" button to unsubscribe from an advertiser's list -- regardless of whether or not the email fits the consumer's definition of spam. Moreover, a full one in five consumers (21 percent) use the "report spam" button to unsubscribe from email they specifically do not consider spam.

A Call to Fix a Broken System

"As an email marketing partner for many Fortune 500 brands, we constantly seek to understand email deliverability and consumers' perception of online marketing messages," said Matt Wise, president and chief executive officer of Q Interactive. "What this survey uncovered is a major disconnect in consumers' understanding and use of the 'report spam' button, as well as consumers' definition of spam from 'I didn't sign up for it' to 'I don't like it' -- all of which signal that the current system of email spam filtering is a broken process."

"Spam complaints are the primary metric that ISPs use to determine email delivery. This study shows that consumers don't really understand how the complaint system works and that emailers don't understand how consumers define spam," commented Stefan Tornquist, research director, MarketingSherpa.

To address this problem, Q Interactive calls for ISPs, marketers, advertisers and publishers to come together with industry associations such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau to agree on a solution that is beneficial to consumers and all interested parties. To begin the dialogue, Q Interactive suggests two points for discussion:

    -- Replace the broken 'report spam' button with buttons that more clearly
       indicate consumers' intentions such as an 'unsubscribe' button and an
       'undesired' button.
    -- ISPs should categorize email senders based on their practices to
       identify and reward senders who follow best practices in transparency
       and permission.

"As an industry we need to recognize that we share a common consumer and that we all have a vested interest in improving the system to deliver the best possible consumer experience," added Wise. "Working together as an industry and with associations like the Interactive Advertising Bureau, I am confident we can find a solution that will ensure email remains a valuable medium for consumers and the industry alike."

About Q Interactive

Q Interactive is an online marketing services provider for advertisers and publishers. Using a unique combination of demographic, behavioral and transactional data in a proprietary targeting engine, Q Interactive is fundamentally improving the relevancy of advertising on the Internet. Every year, more than 1,500 leading brands rely on Q Interactive to generate quality results, including nearly half of the nation's top 100 advertisers as ranked by Advertising Age, such as Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo. Q Interactive operates an extensive advertising network with hundreds of high traffic partner sites, including Weather.com and About.com, as well as its own branded Web properties, including http://www.CoolSavings.com.

Q Interactive's services include Online Lead Generation and Email.

Formerly CoolSavings, Inc., Q Interactive was founded in 1995 and is a unit of Landmark Interactive, a division of Landmark Communications, Inc.