SPAM Volume Doubles

Vancouver, BC--According to a new study jointly conducted by Ipsos-Reid and Forge Marketing, the volume of email that Canadian Internet users¹ receive has grown to startling levels, driven by spam and unsolicited commercial email. The study "Email Marketing 2004: Being Heard Above the Noise" found that, on average, Canadian Internet users currently receive 197 emails each week, an increase of 60% over last year. Almost seven-in-ten (68%) of these emails are spam. The average Canadian Internet user receives 134 unsolicited emails per week, meaning that over the course of a year, online Canadians are flooded with an average of 6,968 junk emails.

Canadians Encouraging the Proliferation of Spam

While two-thirds of Canadians adamantly refuse to open unsolicited emails, those who continue to open these emails perpetuate spamming practices. Despite the bad reputation of spam, over one-third (35%) of online Canadians say they have opened spam in the past week. The average number of spam emails opened in a typical week has increased from five in 2002 to seven this past year. Spam openers cite "curiosity" (60%), "thought it was a legitimate email" (40%), and "wanting to know more about the product or service" (37%) as the top reasons for opening these emails.

"Despite the negative publicity and public condemnation of spam, the actions of one-third of Canadian online consumers are sufficient to provide spammers with the incentive to continue," says Steve Mossop, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Ipsos-Reid. "Too many are opening unsolicited email, and their willingness to provide email addresses to companies has not wavered. Despite the best intentions of legislation, lawsuits, and anti-spamming publicity, the most effective control of spam is to ignore it. Until that happens, its proliferation will continue."

Permission-Based Email Marketing Successful

Legitimate forms of email are also on the rise. Permission-based email marketing continues to enjoy popularity, with over three-quarters (77%) of Canadian Internet users saying they have registered with a website to receive email. Those who sign up to receive email register with an average of 8.1 sites, up from 7.1 sites last year, with entertainment, news and information, hobby, and e-commerce sites being the most popular. More striking, however, is the success of this approach - more than half of those who have ever registered to receive an email say they have then gone on to enter an advertiser's contest (60%) or visited the advertiser's web page (53%).

"The fact that Canadian Internet users are subscribing to more email communications than in previous years is not surprising, as more companies are vying for their attention," says Carrie Harrison, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Vancouver-based email marketing firm Forge Marketing. "What we are seeing in the industry, however, is that Canadians are being more selective than ever in terms of who earns their email address, and are quick to unsubscribe if the first email they receive does not resonate with them."

Swarm of Email Causing Us to be Less Efficient

While Canadians do not yet appear to be ready to live without email, concerns are becoming apparent. Many feel the swarm of email is beginning to impact their effectiveness. In 2002, the majority (85%) of online Canadians agreed that email made them more efficient at work. This year, only 54% feel this way, indicating a shift in attitudes concerning the merits of email in the workplace. A further 46% frequently or occasionally receive emails from colleagues that they consider irrelevant (same proportion as last year), and an increasing number (48% this year vs. 35% last year) wish people would pick up the phone more often than send them an email. There is also a significant minority (34% vs. 42% last year) who actually dread going on vacation or taking days off because of the amount of email they will receive when they return.

"The increase in email volume - both solicited and unsolicited - is overwhelming many people and making the job of legitimate email communications more difficult," says Mossop. "Email etiquette and solid communications and marketing strategies are essential to ensuring that email remains an effective external and internal communication channel for businesses."

¹Defined as a Canadian adult with Internet access who uses the Internet for at least one hour per week. Three-in-four Canadian adults have Internet access (73%), and 80% of those use the Internet for at least one hour per week, which is equivalent to 58% of all Canadian adults.

Methodology

The Canadian Inter@ctive Reid Report is the largest, most comprehensive and authoritative source of its kind about quarterly Internet trends in Canada. The results are based on two separate data collection instruments. In the first, 1,000 web users from Ipsos-Reid's Canadian Internet Panel are surveyed online. Panelists are chosen through random telephone surveys conducted on an ongoing basis across Canada. Results are complemented by a further 1,000 interviews via telephone with Canadian adults in order to verify results of the panel, and track issues among non-Internet users. Telephone interviews for this release were conducted between January 2 and 7, 2004 while the online data was collected between January 6 and 8, 2004. These data are statistically weighted to reflect the population proportions of regular online users by online expertise and regional distribution. Our panelists represent approximately 14.4 million Canadian adult Internet users who are online for one hour a week or more (there are a total of 17.9 million adults who have Internet access).

With a national sample of 1,000 (for each component), one can say with 95% certainty that the overall results are within a maximum of 1773.1 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire population of Canada's regular online users been surveyed. The margin of error will be larger for sub-groupings of the survey population.

For more information on this press release, please contact:

Steve Mossop
Senior Vice President
Ipsos Reid
(604) 257-3200
[email protected]

Carrie Harrison
Vice-President, Sales & Marketing
Forge Marketing
604.215.2500
[email protected]
www.forgemarketing.com

About Ipsos-Reid

Ipsos-Reid is Canada's leading marketing research and public affairs company in Canada, both in terms of size and reputation. It operates in seven cities and employs more than 300 researchers and support staff in Canada. It has the biggest network of telephone call centres, as well as the largest pre-recruited household and on-line panels in Canada. Its Canadian marketing research and public affairs practices are staffed with seasoned research consultants with extensive industry-specific backgrounds offering the premier suite of research vehicles in Canada, including the Ipsos Trend Report, the leading source of public opinion in the country. Ipsos-Reid is a member of the Ipsos Group, a leading global survey-based market research group.

To learn more, visit: www.ipsos-reid.com.

About Ipsos

Ipsos is a leading global survey-based market research group, with revenues of 569.7 million euros in 2003. It offers a full suite of research services, guided by industry experts and bolstered by advanced analytics and methodologies in advertising, marketing, public opinion and customer loyalty research, as well as forecasting and modeling. Member companies also offer a full line of custom, syndicated, omnibus, panel, and online research products and services.

To learn more, visit: www.ipsos.com.

Ipsos is listed on the Euronext Paris Premier Marchй, and is part of the SBF 120 and Next Prime Indices as well as eligible to the Deferred Settlement System (SRD). Euroclear code 7329, Reuters ISOS.LN, Bloomberg IPS FP