The Online Advertising Playbook: Proven Strategies and Tested Tactics from The Advertising Research Foundation

Win the In-Box Battle

Nearly universal email access means in-boxes filling up. Consumers receive over 360 email messages per week on average.

Consumers know what spam is: unwanted or irrelevant messages, email from unknown senders, and excessive email from senders to whom they gave permission. Consumers, with the aid of software companies and email services, have developed two sophisticated strategies for tackling spam so that relevant mail from family, friends, and marketers gets through.

The first strategy uses built-in features of email or spam-blocking programs that handle junk mail or let users click a “this is spam” button (After these, most people just zap unwanted mail with the delete key.) (Miller 2006). Spam clicks sent to ISPs may flag legitimate senders as spammers and block their email from being delivered. Because the “this is spam” button is so easy to use, many in-box owners are using it instead of unsubscribing. This impacts deliverability and may degrade consumers’ perception of the affected brands.

Consumers know that spam filters are not foolproof and can catch wanted email. Over half of DoubleClick’s respondents check their junk or bulk mail folders regularly to spot any misclassified mail, and an equal number have found legitimate mail in them.

The second strategy for many internet users is multiple email addresses. Over half the respondents in DoubleClick’s study reported having at least three email addresses, typically a work address, home address, and ...