A Realistic Look At Spam

Last Updated: 8 November 2006


Spam email is a hot topic at the moment. As a business that receives a lot of spam, we discuss how to cope with it.

First, our position. South West eCommerce Strategies is anti-spam. Spam email gives online marketing, and the Internet in general, a bad name. The Internet and email are great business tools, but their attractiveness can be damaged by some people's abuse of them.

However, even though we are anti-spam, we do believe that some people over-generalise some types of email as spam and have unrealistic expectations relating to unwanted email.

As an example, we recently contacted a local business via email. We introduced ourselves and told them about some of the things we could offer them. We chose to make the initial contact via email and they were not on any sort of mailing list, nor were they in any danger of receiving further emails from us. The business complained about spam, on the basis that our email to them was not asked for.

We felt that this was going a little too far. Had we telephoned the business, or wrote them a letter, everything would have been fine. But because it was via email, this was for some reason unacceptable, and we then needed to justify that they had not been "spammed".






Spam is generally defined as mass unsolicited commercial email, particularly when you can't unsubscribe from it. Many people are extending that to mean any email from someone you don't know is spam, which we think is taking it too far.

Just like the post box or the telephone, your Inbox will always be subject to unwanted email. Just as you receive junk mail in the post box, or sales calls from time to time, so you will occasionally receive them in electronic form. At least with email, you can simply press delete and it's gone. You can also take steps to prevent further emails from a source that keeps on sending you things you don't want.

Here are two basic steps you can take to reduce the amount of unsolicited email in your Inbox:

  • First of all, if you receive a one-off unsolicited email, it's probably best to do nothing. This is especially true if you don't know the sender and have no idea what sort of business they are (eg. obscure overseas businesses). Sometimes, in the case of true spammers, by replying to them you are telling them that your email address is active, which they may use to send more mail or sell on to other people. If it continues, however, you should contact them and ask them to stop.

  • Secondly, check to see if there is an unsubscribe link in the email. By clicking on this you should receive no further emails. Although it is true that some systems can check your email this way too, this is rare.

These two steps will reduce your amount of repeat unsolicited email from your Inbox. We receive a lot of spam, and this strategy has worked well for us.

Very occasionally you may be truly "spammed", where you know you are on a mailing list but you are unable to unsubscribe. In these worst of cases, contact your ISP. Each ISP will have different ways to help you reduce spam, and these can include some sort of filtering software on your email, through to tracing the email's origin and reporting them to their ISP. A very good product we have used in the past is SpamArrest, which will stop 99% of spam.

Some people ask us how to stop getting spam in the first place. You can only do so much. Some organisations have software that can scan web sites and other Internet sites to get email addresses. They then sell these emails. A recent ad we saw offered 200 million emails for around US$50. The fact is that if you have an email address, you will eventually receive "junk email".

So, with a little precaution and common sense, we can keep the Internet as a sensible tool that helps us communicate with other people. It's important we don't abuse it and turn everyone away from using it.


Contact us for further information about this topic.


Disclaimer: This page is designed to provide information only and is not a substitute for advice that is specific to your business. Before acting on any of the information above it is important you seek further advice from a professional who has taken into consideration the nature and circumstances of your business.

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