Re: Spamming the Wrong Message

Indeed. Recently, DoubleClick reported that clickthrough rates on
> e-mail were still at about 8 percent.

Is he saying 8% of spam recipients respond and send money in response? I find that hard to believe. I am curious as to who actually responds to spam and why. Are people that stupid, greedy, or desperate?

He asks: "Do people trust TV less because of infomercials? Or mail > less because of annoying mortgage offers that disguise themselves as > bills? My guess is that these things annoy people, but they have > learned to compartmentalize their impact -- the mediums still > deliver value, so consumers are willing to put up with some > annoyances for the real benefits." Think about that the next time > you return from vacation and have to spend an hour deleting spam.

Well, I for one have changed my habits. I immediately throw out mail that looks like an ad, and I have destroyed legitimate mail as a result. In one situation, when I called to get a replacement letter, the company acknowledged that their external printing on the envelope caused many people to do just as I did and they had to send out many replacements. So they can push this stuff, but only to a point and consumers will rebel.

I rarely watch TV when it's broadcast because of heavy and annoying commercials. I tape everything then watch it later so I can fast fwd through the commercials. There are some shows, especially on cable TV, that are so commercial loaded I just don't bother watching them at all, indeed, I'm rethinking about my paying $60 a month for "basic" cable TV when I watch so little of it.

I use email and e-commerce extremely sparingly solely because of spam and fraud. If it weren't for them, I'd freely give out my email address; today I just tell people I don't have one.

In other words, the medium no longer delivers that "value" to justify putting up with the annoyances. There is a tipping point and consumers are reaching it.