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{"id":885,"date":"2014-10-30T18:12:34","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T18:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icaruspressblog.wordpress.com\/?p=885"},"modified":"2019-04-17T10:26:25","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T10:26:25","slug":"they-said-what-more-americans-admit-to-liking-spam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hidefideas.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/30\/they-said-what-more-americans-admit-to-liking-spam\/","title":{"rendered":"They Said WHAT? More Americans Admit to Liking Spam"},"content":{"rendered":"

$\"double-facepalm\"$
\nDon\u2019t scramble to check your calendar. You haven\u2019t missed the opportunity to punk that coworker that you love to punk every year. It\u2019s not April 1^{st<\/sup>.We actually had to double-check ourselves, because that headline isn\u2019t satirical. More Americans are admitting that they like email spam, and if you\u2019re as confused as we are, then it\u2019s safe to say you\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n}

Spam sucks. And it doesn\u2019t just suck; it sucks like the worst possible things you can imagine. Root canal. Waterboarding. The Kardashians. Justin Bieber. Okay, root canal\u2019s not bad enough to be on that list, but spam is, and while the rest of us have been fighting it for years, something\u2019s happened to American consumers, and, as another recent study indicated, UK consumers, too.<\/p>\n

First, let\u2019s be clear. No one would blame you if you heard that a report stating more people like spam and you instantly assumed that the report came from the Nigerian Association of 419 Commerce. But this is the real deal. The US research comes from Forrester, so it\u2019s probably got some validity. It\u2019s called \u201cForrester\u2019s American Consumer Technographics Online Benchmark Survey,\u201d and according to Forbes<\/a>, the report, is \u201ca graphical analysis of a range of topics about consumers and technology and serves as a benchmark for understanding how consumers have changed over the years.\u201d According to Business Insider<\/a>, \u201cResearchers at Forrester have found that attitudes to emails from brands are actually becoming more positive, despite the fact that most people tend to write them off as annoying \u2018spam.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The study reveals that, in 2010, almost half (49%) of American online consumers stated that they received too many email offers and promotions. It\u2019s surprising that the number was only 49%, but today, that number has dropped a full ten points to 39%.<\/p>\n

One in five respondents (19%) actually stated that they read every email newsletter received, to see if there are any special offers they can benefit from. And if that\u2019s surprising to you, Forrester also reports that fewer people are deleting marketing emails without taking a look first. 42% of the respondents stated that they delete marketing spam without taking a boo first, and that\u2019s down from 59% four years ago.<\/p>\n

So what the heck is going on here? Why are these numbers dropping? Have the marketing spammers finally managed to cast their spell on consumers, using some sort of email hocus pocus to ensnare their unsuspecting victims? That\u2019s what one would kind of wish, because for those of us who revile the stuff, there are little or no redeeming qualities to marketing spam. But according to Tim Elkington, chief strategy officer at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in the UK, who spoke with Business Insider, \u201cThe always-on culture of smartphone users means that people are more accepting and responsive to emails. Whether it\u2019s filling 20 minutes on the train when commuting to work or checking emails quickly before meeting a friend for a coffee, people are using this dead time to read emails and interact with brands.\u201d<\/p>\n

So they\u2019re BORED? They want to \u2018INTERACT\u2019 with brands? While the IAB may be dancing for joy, it\u2019s hardly a promising outlook for the future of modern culture if people who carry the full sum knowledge of the entirety of humankind in their pockets eschew reading a book in favor of finding out how much they can save on their next pair of Skechers. When one steps back and thinks about it, the results of Forrseter\u2019s research is alarming yet perfectly understandable. Handheld devices have become an extension of our bodies, an appendage and an appliance, and for so many, smartphones have become an indispensible tool that has changed their lives in ways they cannot even begin to comprehend. If you need some context, pick one of your favorite TV shows from 2000 and watch it. Notice how, even a mere 14 years ago, our lives weren\u2019t dominated by the technology that in some ways threatens to rip apart the fabric of our society today. Heck, pop in a show from 2004, when Facebook was simply a zygote awaiting insemination. Ten years, folks.<\/p>\n

BI<\/em> goes as far as suggesting that the reason for these survey results may also be because \u201cover time, marketers have gotten their act together. The spam you’re receiving is probably more highly targeted and relevant than before, and you probably requested it from your favorite companies. Added to that, email services are becoming more sophisticated and filtering out the worst of the spam for us, Forrester suggests.\u201d Maybe, but meh. Spam is still spam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"