We all have come across spam at some time or the other when we login to our email accounts. Spam is so prevalent that email users almost expect to find some kind of spam in their email accounts each time they check their mail. So much so that we have almost become immune to the presence of unsolicited emails in our accounts. But as immune as we might be to there existence, we have all, at one time or the other, wished that junk mail did not appear in our email accounts so very often.

Spam can be any email message that arrives at your email account without your interest or permission. At any given time there are hundreds and hundreds of junk emails floating around on the Internet and the unfortunate thing is that while they make their way to uninterested recipients they are also taking up a lot of space and bandwidth on the Net.

It is obvious that spam has an effect on online marketing. Email is one of the most basic ways in which online retailers communicate with their customers. Imagine how distressing it would be for online marketers when they try to communicate with their existing and potential customers only find that their path is blocked by heaps of spam. At the very least, this experience is frustrating.

The most evident negative influence that spam has on online marketing is that it chokes up the path that genuine Internet marketers want to use to get to their clients. When someone’s email account is flooded with spam everyday, how does a legitimate Internet marketer stand out from the crowd and get the consumer’s attention?

Often email users are at a loss of how spam arrives into their accounts. There are many ways in which your email addresses can be found on the Internet by spammers. Sometimes when you sign up for a newsletter, ezine or some other kind of mailing list, you will also receive mails other than what you signed up for. It is not uncommon for sites to leave the box next to a newsletter or mailing list ticked. In these cases, if you are not careful you will be receiving mails that you actually are not interested in. You also should read the privacy policy on websites when you submit your email address there as that will give you an idea of how your email address and other details with be protected (or used) from there.

You will find that most spam mails won’t tell you how you can unsubscribe from their mailing list. Even if you do find a link to unsubscribe it would be a very good idea to not respond to spam emails. By responding to spam you are actually confirming that your email address exists. You will only be bombarded with more unwanted emails once you have confirmed the authenticity of your email address.

Spam has not really reduced the use of email by Internet users, but these users are definitely more careful. Internet users say that they do not stop or reduce getting online and using email but they are more cautious about where they put their email address.

From an online retailers point of view, the problem makes it more difficult for them to convince customers to share personal details with the retailers. Internet users are often worried that their details will be sold off and they will be targeted with more spam than they are already receiving. The best way to overcome this is to state very clearly in your privacy policy that their information will not be shared. That does not completely take care of the problem but customers might be slightly more trusting when they see the words in black and white.

The other thing that legitimate Internet marketers need to do is to stand out from the crowd of spam. This is an extremely difficult task because Internet users are now logging into their email accounts with the intention of paying no attention to mails that they do not recognize. You should definitely limit the frequency of your emails so that your clients learn over time that you only send a message when there is something important to communicate. This reduces the chances of them deleting your email thinking it is some mundane information even if they had opted in on the mailing list. Basically, you do not want to do anything that spammers do.

From an Internet marketing point of view, spam is real bad news. It reduces customers’ attentiveness and interests in messages that they are getting via there email. You need to think carefully about whom you send your messages to and ensure that the messages are valid and necessary ones.


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