People receive marketing communications in the form of emails and advertisements, among others. While some are communications people have subscribed to (e.g., emails and notifications), a few others are something people tolerate (e.g., advertisements) most of the time. But a significant percentage of these communications is spam. These are things people don’t subscribe to, don’t give permission for, and don’t tolerate. Yet, they receive a significant amount of spam, and there is little they can do to stop it.
To understand the size of the problem related to spam, Orbit Media Studios partnered with Foundation and QuestionPro and conducted a survey. The study measured the issue across different channels, including email, social media, phone, and cold calls. Here are the insights from the study and a few tips on how marketers can overcome this problem.
More Than One-third of Email Is Junk
Everyone gets email spam or junk email. But just what percentage of emails we get is junk? According to the study, 36% of emails are spam. However, this is less compared to the reports from the email industry. According to SpamlawsOpens a new window , 45% of emails are spam. Some estimates are much higher.
Considering the percentage of email spam reported by the study is less than the industry reports, does it mean that spam filters are working?
According to the study, 63% of respondents used spam filters. While most use the filters provided by the email service provider, some use external tools. That said, spam still gets through. Most people ignore them or delete them. But about 35% of respondents took action by reporting spam and unsubscribing.
How people respond to spam emails
Source: The Spam Report: The State of Unsolicited MarketingOpens a new window
See more: 4 Ways To Improve Email Marketing Campaign DeliverabilityÂ
Tips for marketers
Marketers can do a few things to avoid getting caught by spam filters. Firstly, they should get permission from the end user to contact them. People don’t like intrusions, especially from people they don’t know. Secondly, they should make the messages relevant and valuable to the user.
Jordie van Rijn, email marketing consultanOpens a new window Opens a new window arget=”_blank” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>t, emailmonday, says:
“Even if you as a marketer have gotten permission, customers don’t look at the legal definition when they categorize something as spam or not in their mind. This goes beyond what is relevant and matches their profile. You have to not disappoint. So some things you can do as a marketer is:
- Make the best use of automations to follow up on purchases and send service emails
- Scrub your email listsOpens a new window by taking out unengaged or role-based addresses that can hurt deliverability.Â
- Make even better use of exclusion groups, taking people out of messages that are not for them.â€
Justine Jordan, head of marketing, Postmark, ActiveCampaign, says the followingOpens a new window .
“You only send email to contacts who have given you permission to contact them, the content in your messages is relevant and valuable to the reader, you make unsubscribing easy and obvious, and you use a reputable sending service that takes accountability for the health of their shared IPs. And if you want bonus points to be an extra legit marketer, you’ve verified that your email authentication methodsOpens a new window (like SPF and DKIM) are properly set up.â€Â
She further says that today’s filters are smart and look at the holistic reputation of the sender instead of the content when deciding the way to deliver the email.
Facebook and Instagram Face Significant Spam Problems
Spam is no more limited to emails but has also spread to social media. According to the study, Facebook and Instagram have the highest percentage of social spam. On the other hand, Twitter and LinkedIn see little spam.Â
All social networks where people have seen spam
Source: The Spam Report: The State of Unsolicited MarketingOpens a new window
There are multiple forms of spamming on social networks. While spammy comments are one form, unwanted direct messages (DMs) are another. About 35% of respondents saw spam comments daily, while 20% received spam DMs daily.
Tips for marketers
Social spam is unnecessary. When marketers post optimized valuable content, it is easily visible and can even go viral. Particularly regarding LinkedIn, with less than 5% of members posting and most people needing a content-rich feed when they log in, LinkedIn looks for posts with comments to place in the feeds of people who don’t even follow the professionals. If marketers put out value into the world, they are easily rewarded in the form of people outside the network following and sharing their content.
Text Message Spam Is Insidious
Everyone who owns a mobile phone today would have received spam text messages.
According to SMS marketing statisticsOpens a new window , more than 80% of people will open each and every text they receive. It doesn’t matter if it’s an ad, a friendly hello, or a message from Mom. They will open it and read every message.
According to the study, 82% of people get spam messages, and 24% get them daily. And there isn’t a company that provides external tools to filter spam. The basic facility of blocking unknown users can create other problems for users as they may miss important communication.
That said, text spam is dangerous for a few reasons. The primary reason is that it is one of the common ways fraudsters extract personal information and commit financial crimes.Â
Tips for marketers
Marketers can reinforce brand legitimacy by introducing themselves with a contact card. Contact cards can help build trusted relationships between the brand and the message recipient. Marketers can also embrace a friendly and personalized approach to communicating with the recipients. They should further time their messages to avoid disturbing the recipient during quiet hours. Lastly, they can invest in short codes, which are the hallmark of a respected sender. Short codes are given to only those with proper messaging standards and consent. Senders with short codes are also given priority in terms of message deliverability.
Cold Call Spam Is a Nuisance
Similar to text message spam, everyone with a phone would have got at least one call which can be deemed useless. These calls may include a loan, financial planning, products, or a political survey. About 90% of the survey respondents got such calls, and 39% received such calls daily.Â
Users can block such calls with laws or technology, such as call blockers. About 49% of respondents also just ignored such calls.Â
See more: Retailers Are Rebuilding Customer Trust in the Phone Channel
Tip for marketers
Phone calls work best when they are done in conjunction with other channels and for offering content or something other than sales. According to Tim Riesterer, chief visionary, B2B DecisionLabs, “In a recent field studyOpens a new window , we discovered that more than 75% of sales meetings were created after step six of an outbound cadence. And half of those came after step eleven. Both of those “touches†included a content offer instead of an offer to meet. Lessons for sellers?
- Don’t give up like most sellers after a handful of emails and phone calls — longer cadences with more touches work.
- Offer useful content as an alternative to taking a meeting, and you’ll actually get more meetings.â€
Will Spamming Ever Stop?
According to the study, spamming may not stop as it still works. Though it is not much effective, it is good enough for spammers to continue bombarding people through all possible channels. About 16% of the respondents responded positively to spam.
Spamming undoubtedly hurts a brand’s reputation, customer trust, and in turn, sales. However, spamming doesn’t seem to end anytime soon. And customers may not be able to do much about it except block them in ways they know best. However, brands can take certain measures and have best practices to escape spam filters, build customer trust, and improve revenues.
What steps have you taken to ensure your marketing messages don’t end up as spam? Let us know on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .
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