So says an e-mail-management survey released by the E-Mail Sender and Provider Coalition (ESPC) in conjunction with market research firm Ipsos. The implications could spell headaches for legitimate e-mail marketers.

More than 80 percent of the 2,200 online users surveyed said they report spam or use unsubscribe options, but about 90 percent would still like to see an unsubscribe tool in their e-mail applications. What's more, about 80 percent said they wanted a "report fraud" button in their e-mail clients to earmark suspicious messages.

E-Mail Marketers

ESPC Executive Director Trevor Hughes said the report provides actionable information for both the sending and receiving community.

"Today's consumer is educated about e-mail and, according to the results, very willing to use the functions available to them to manage their e-mail and to provide feedback about how they manage unwanted e-mail," he said in a statement. "The industry as a whole should listen to their needs to ensure e-mail is viewed with trust and acceptance."

The survey results have implications for both e-mail senders and receivers, but could mean new practices for e-mail marketers, especially with IronPort reporting that spam has increased more than 100 percent since October 2005, and worldwide spam volumes are now estimated at 63 billion messages each day.

The ESPC report suggested that senders should ensure recipients recognize them by the information in both the "From" and "Subject" lines of the e-mails. ESPC also discovered that 53 percent of survey respondents would be more likely to open and read e-mail if the sending company displayed a certified icon in the e-mail program.

Reputation Factor

"These survey results validate the fact that e-mail senders must constantly monitor both unsubscribe and complaint rates in order to carefully manage their reputation with recipients and ISPs," Ben Isaacson, privacy and compliance leader for CheetahMail, said in a statement.

John Levine, cochair of the Internet Research Task Force's antispam research group, and author of "Internet For Dummies," said the enormous volumes of spam have made recipients skeptical of any message that arrives via e-mail.

"Spam hasn't completely poisoned e-mail, but legitimate advertisers do have to try harder to make it clear that not only is this the e-mail you asked for but this is the e-mail you want," Levine said.

He also noted that e-mail marketers who use sweepstakes and contests as a means to get e-mail addresses that they can share with partners might find a blight on their reputation.