Consumers plagued by opt-in marketing spam

Over half of all opt-in marketing emails are irrelevant, inappropriate and little better than spam, according to a recent poll of internet users.

One in six of all spam messages received by UK internet users is junk sent by businesses to consumers who have signed up to receive news and special offers.

But the survey, conducted by customer-profiling software firm NCorp, found that seven out of 10 of the 500 consumers questioned would have "little hesitation" in transferring their business to another company if they were consistently sent 'second degree spam' after signing up to an electronic mailing list.

Two out of five respondents said they found marketing as annoying as double-glazing salespeople. Only one in five marketing emails contains content tailored to a recipient's preferences and interests.

And an overwhelming majority - 96.5 per cent - of the survey's respondents said companies should have a duty of care to only send out marketing information and offers by email that they know will be relevant and of interest to the recipient.

"Sending spam is completely socially unacceptable, whatever form it takes," said Martin Blackburn, managing director of NCorp.

Consumers feel extremely let down when they are consistently sent irrelevant and inappropriate content after giving a company their permission to be emailed, he added.

But he warned that the problem of second degree spam was set to worsen as new UK and EU legislation effectively banned unsolicited communications.

"Hardcore spammers will therefore seek to cover themselves by using opt-in mailing lists. This means honest businesses will have to work even harder to win over the trust and confidence of consumers," he said.