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Friday 23 March 2012
Thursday 22 March 2012
The State of Spam in 2012: and what you can do about it
Over the years, spam has evolved from consisting of annoying but otherwise harmless advertisements, to becoming a carrier of viruses and malware that can damage your computer and make you vulnerable to identity theft (a.k.a. “phising”).
Email marketing services are very aware that even today, despite major developments in the area of anti-spam software and measures such as filters, blocks and blacklists for bad senders; the negative effects of spam are still being felt by individuals and businesses alike.
How spam affects your bottom line
Spam is more than just a minor rash. According to a study by the Radicati Research Group, spam costs businesses $20.5 billion annually in decreased productivity as well as in technical expenses. Nucleus Research estimates that the average loss per employee annually due to spam is about $1934.
Predictions for the future costs of spam don’t look any brighter. It is estimated that 58 billion junk emails will be sent every day within the next four years, a figure that will balloon to cost businesses some $198 billion annually, if spam continues to flourish at its current rate.
With billions of dollars being poured into dealing with the Spam problem, many governments have stepped up to the plate to address the issue by passing anti-spam laws and enacting directives to help prevent the issue.
What you can do about spam
There are some steps that anyone can take to reduce the amount of junk emails making it to the inbox, both for themselves and for others.
While users may be in the habit of using various preventive or removal techniques that are available for dealing with spam, they should take the responsibility to report spam so that those behind it can be better identified, and eventually stopped.
There have been many instances when authorities have caught and penalized spammers, making them compensate users for the damages wrought on computer systems. Though it might take some time for the benefits to emerge, reporting spam is the best thing that anyone can do the help curb it in the long run, and help better differentiate legitimate email marketing campaigns from spam.
Shaun Swanepoel, Systems Administrator for GraphicMail says: “Unfortunately, we will never be totally rid of junk email. With that said we can all contribute by reporting spam and protect ourselves by using up-to-date anti-spam software.”
Article originally published on Memeburn.
Email marketing services are very aware that even today, despite major developments in the area of anti-spam software and measures such as filters, blocks and blacklists for bad senders; the negative effects of spam are still being felt by individuals and businesses alike.
How spam affects your bottom line
Spam is more than just a minor rash. According to a study by the Radicati Research Group, spam costs businesses $20.5 billion annually in decreased productivity as well as in technical expenses. Nucleus Research estimates that the average loss per employee annually due to spam is about $1934.
Predictions for the future costs of spam don’t look any brighter. It is estimated that 58 billion junk emails will be sent every day within the next four years, a figure that will balloon to cost businesses some $198 billion annually, if spam continues to flourish at its current rate.
With billions of dollars being poured into dealing with the Spam problem, many governments have stepped up to the plate to address the issue by passing anti-spam laws and enacting directives to help prevent the issue.
What you can do about spam
There are some steps that anyone can take to reduce the amount of junk emails making it to the inbox, both for themselves and for others.
While users may be in the habit of using various preventive or removal techniques that are available for dealing with spam, they should take the responsibility to report spam so that those behind it can be better identified, and eventually stopped.
There have been many instances when authorities have caught and penalized spammers, making them compensate users for the damages wrought on computer systems. Though it might take some time for the benefits to emerge, reporting spam is the best thing that anyone can do the help curb it in the long run, and help better differentiate legitimate email marketing campaigns from spam.
Shaun Swanepoel, Systems Administrator for GraphicMail says: “Unfortunately, we will never be totally rid of junk email. With that said we can all contribute by reporting spam and protect ourselves by using up-to-date anti-spam software.”
Article originally published on Memeburn.
Monday 19 March 2012
March 2012 Newsletter of the Month
We've selected this beautiful email from LayerCake as our GraphicMail newsletter of the month for March.
What we like about this example is how the expert use of images immediately and completely draws attention to their call to action.
Special mention should also go to their well-written footer text, which clearly indicates the procedure for opting out and politely communicates their apologies to anyone who might've received this email newsletter without giving their explicit consent.
Congratulations on a job well done!
You can see some of our other award-winning newsletters and keep up with new winners by following us on our GraphicMail Facebook Wall of Fame.
Email Image-use Best Practices
One thing to be careful of in a case like this is the sending of a single image / page screenshot.
In terms of deliverability, it's not quite ideal since it could make the mailer "too heavy" (in terms of file size) and thus often doesn't make it to the recipient's inbox.
Also keep in mind that many email clients now refuse by default to display images, so the recipient could spend all day reading the email, but an open is never recorded as the image is not being tracked.
Additionally, mobile newsletter subscribers might be even more unresponsive, because of the longer image load time usually needed on the hand-held platform.
These are some of the dangers of excessive image-reliance in one's email newsletters. The effects can be lessened though, by ensuring that your images are formatted for a low (quick-loading) file size, and that you embed any images that you'd want to track.
One thing to be careful of in a case like this is the sending of a single image / page screenshot.
In terms of deliverability, it's not quite ideal since it could make the mailer "too heavy" (in terms of file size) and thus often doesn't make it to the recipient's inbox.
Also keep in mind that many email clients now refuse by default to display images, so the recipient could spend all day reading the email, but an open is never recorded as the image is not being tracked.
Additionally, mobile newsletter subscribers might be even more unresponsive, because of the longer image load time usually needed on the hand-held platform.
These are some of the dangers of excessive image-reliance in one's email newsletters. The effects can be lessened though, by ensuring that your images are formatted for a low (quick-loading) file size, and that you embed any images that you'd want to track.
Public Holiday break for GraphicMailers
GraphicMail SA will be on a 24-hour hiatus for Wednesday the 21st of March, to celebrate national Human Rights Day.
Please note that our local offices will be closed, and that any support issues will need to be submitted via email tickets, which will be addressed as soon as our team is back in the front lines on the 22nd.
We appreciate your patience and understanding, and we hope that you have a relaxed and meaningful mid-week break.
Enjoy your day!
The GraphicMail Team
We appreciate your patience and understanding, and we hope that you have a relaxed and meaningful mid-week break.
Enjoy your day!
The GraphicMail Team
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