With so many of us marketers doing all we can to avoid looking like spammers, it's very disheartening to learn that some consumers willingly click on spam!

In fact, nearly half (43%) of email users in North America and Western Europe say they have knowingly opened or accessed spam, including clicking on links or opening unknown and potentially dangerous attachments, according to a new global consumer survey from the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG).  Of those who open spam, about half (46%) did so intentionally---to unsubscribe, out of curiosity or out of genuine interest in the products being offered.  This is consistent with findings from the same study’s 2009 report, but not an increase in such behavior.

The  2010 MAAWG "Email Security Awareness and Usage Report" was released March 24, 2010.   Consumers were surveyed in North America and across Western Europe with a variety of questions from computer expertise and savvy, to their preferences of email.

Several of the findings are both shocking and disturbing.  Consumers seem generally unaware of the consequences of their actions, and a painful percentage continue to click on spam instead of deleting it immediately. Such actions help explain the gargantuan increase in both botnets and zombie’d computers, which continue to steal millions of bits of personal and confidential business information as a result.

Users continue to react to spam by clicking the report spam button (39%) or by moving spam to their junk folder (44%).   One in five say they report the message to the sender, if it’s recognized as a legitimate company.   These findings are pretty consistent between North America and Western Europe.  Younger users both consider themselves more experienced in terms of email security, but also more likely to engage in risky behavior like clicking on spam.

Marketers know full well the pressure on response rates from the excess clutter in the inbox.   However, users who responded to the survey say that they use the senders’ name (73%) and the subject line (67%) to identify spam in the inbox.   Respondents also say that unusual language, the content of the email, the “from” name or address, and spelling mistakes, and poor grammar are signs that an email may be spam.  This is true in all six countries included in the survey, although respondents in Spain and France are less likely to rely on these factors.

Clearly, we, as an industry, have an opportunity to do more education for end users of email.  I think the buck stops with all of us in the email industry, including marketers.  The study found that less than half of users around the world think that stopping the spread of viruses and spam is their own responsibility.  They put this job back on us, mailbox providers, anti-virus software companies and, to a lesser degree, senders of email messages.  Certainly, we all have at least one shared goal:  to ensure that valued messages reach the inbox and unwelcome messages (especially dangerous ones) do not.   Marketers, publishers, email service and technology providers, mailbox providers and security vendors all share this goal.

Several of us here at Return Path will continue to be involved at MAAWG and through other industry associations to develop programs that we hope can be embraced by marketers as well as mailbox providers and anti-spam professionals.  We'll keep you posted on opportunities to participate, or email me if you'd like to be involved (stephanie[dot]miller@returnpath[dot]net).

I encourage you to read the full study, and please add your thoughts, reactions and comments below.