Email maybe the most talked about form of spam and spam may officially (wikificially) refer to electronic messaging systems, but throughout our everyday life we encounter many types of spam that are all uninvited interruptions.

Here are some examples of the ones that affect us most in no particular order...

1) Phone Spam

First on the list with no particular order is phone spam. This type of spam is the most confronting of all, demanding instant responses from the recipient directly to the person at the other end of the line (wherever that may be).  These calls are very repetitive and pretty easy to identify, though it can still be uncomfortable cutting the salesperson off mid stride to end the call. A form of rudeness that you don’t want to practice too often otherwise it will seep into your everyday life.

As an IT business the main calls we get are related to “offshore development” (we don’t outsource, please take us off the list), “what type of printer do you have?” (we have enough ink and shops to get more, please take us off the list) and “I’m calling from Telstra and would like to save you money on your bills – how much are you paying?” (we don’t think you are otherwise you would know, please take us off the list). Though I think it may be safe to assume that a lot of businesses receive the same calls, judging by how busy the call centre sounds.

The opposite side of the coin is the one-in-a-hundred call that is quite interesting – such as the one received yesterday for a new CMS being developed in Australia that they’d like us to have a look at. In the call they demonstrated some research they had done about Zeroseven and why their product is relevant to us, which demonstrated that they had been selective in whom they called. Given the option, I would far rather lose all the calls than keep them for the one-in-a-hundred.

2) Fax Spam

I hope I’m correct in saying this: ‘This type of spam has never led to a sale in our office’ as it probably provides the least targeted offers of all the types of spam coming our way.

It is the type that has the most direct calculable costs, which could also make it the cheekiest type as they are using our fax, paper, electricity and ink to provide the message.  To give this ironic relevance would be to use it as the platform for advertising your replacement fax ink cartridge shop.

3) Direct Mail Spam

In these days of environmental awareness is this form of spam really still allowed? This medium is probably one of the most targeted and therefore conversion-rate effective, due to the costs involved in production, but I still get irked when I take a DM piece from the postbox, glance my eye over it to check it’s not important and then throw it away, knowing that I am one of the thousands/hundreds of thousands/millions that have received it and am contributing to what should have been left as the 20th century anti-tree era.

This one has an uncertain future with cheaper and measurable digital alternatives being utilised more and more. I’m not up-to-date on the legislation, but with the volume sent out by all levels of government, I don’t think they are in a hurry to make changes here.  My prediction for the future is that only the most targeted campaigns will continue.

One of the guys here recently received a ‘this house, similar to yours, has just sold in your area, would you like a free sale evaluation’ letter through the door. Clearly there is a reasonable level of targeting and relevance that can be appreciated to this. There was one detail missed by the Real Estate agent though, as unfortunately the picture was of his house!

4) Email Spam

This is one of the proper meanings for the term ‘spam’ and probably worthy of the top spot in this list with no particular order.  It has been a part of our lives for so long now, that thinking about it brings no emotion from me and I’m not going to deliberate on it here.  I think the answer is simple in theory, yet extremely tricky in practice: emails should cost 1c each. As the business bill payer, I’d be ok with that – the time savings would far outweigh the cost.

5) Billboard Spam

Of the many forms of legitimate advertising, this one is an anomaly. What do adverts in magazines, newspapers, websites, television programs, on bus shelters, race cars and hot air balloons all have in common? The answer is they help fund/pay for the medium itself. Newspapers would be unfeasible without advertising. Therefore we in some way benefit from that advertising.

As far as I know, billboards generally don’t subsidise anything – they are their own entity and looking at them does not benefit you or your pocket.  When driving your car, there is very little option but to look at them and receive interference to your day, therefore they definitely qualify as spam.

OK dinner is ready, so time has run out on this post without me adding ‘noisy street corner preacher spam’, ‘confusing SMS message spam’, ‘Google results spam’, ‘My business is great Facebook spam’ or ‘Have you got five minutes to answer some questions, street spam’, all of which are unsolicited distractions to your day.

To sum this up is simple: If I have requested the message or it benefits me through product subsidy then I am (and I think we all are) ok with it. If it is very accurately targeted using manual research to select few then I’m ok with it. If I have not requested it, it is not subsidising my life and doesn’t relate to me, then it is spam.

CT

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