Newsletter Subject

Things We All Hate: Junk Mail and Spam

From

ozy.com

Email Address

info@daily.ozy.com

Sent On

Mon, Feb 28, 2022 07:20 PM

Email Preheader Text

www.ozy.com Your World. Bold & Bright Things We All Hate is the weekly newsletter from OZY that expl

www.ozy.com [OZY]() Your World. Bold & Bright Things We All Hate is the weekly newsletter from OZY that explores how our shared dislikes can help bring us together in hard times. Feb 28, 2022 THINGS WE ALL HATE The trip to your mailbox is not what it used to be. With personal correspondence and billing now largely online, what awaits you in the good ole snail mail is mostly just an assortment of marketing materials, coupon books, and official-looking, nondescript envelopes hoping to cajole you into refinancing your mortgage. Some mailings even contain pleas and veiled threats of “dated material inside” or “important information about your account.” Scammers, snake oil salesmen, and direct marketers have used the postal service for decades to harvest their bounties from a vulnerable public. And in recent years, the action has moved online as well as our Inboxes increasingly fill with bizarre, ungrammatical, and occasionally irresistible, spam emails and ads. In this week’s edition of Things We All Hate, we dive deep into the accumulating and unopened questions around the public nuisance created by junk mail and spam. Why Are Junk Mail and Spam Such a Pain? It fills your mailbox… According to the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) own numbers, [63 percent of all mail]( delivered in the U.S. in 2019 was junk mail. And not by accident: the USPS brought in [more than $16 billion]( in revenue from marketing mail that year. Most items of junk mail do not find a receptive audience. About [25 percent is discarded]( right away, and 50 percent looked at by the recipient before also being thrown away. …and your Inbox Junk mail is of course now digital as well. Nearly 300 billion emails are sent and received every day, and spam messages accounted for more than 45 percent of email traffic in March 2021, according to [Statista](. Which country is most responsible for invading your inbox without permission? Russia, where nearly 25 percent of unsolicited emails originated. Actual malice Most spam emails are benign if annoying, but a growing number of variants include spyware, trojans, ransomware, and other malicious agents designed to damage systems or compromise recipients’ personal information. It was a so-called [“phishing” expedition]( by Russian hackers that famously led to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s emails in 2016 when a fake “account reset” claiming to be from Google sent to Clinton campaign manager John Podesta was opened. Big Phish get fried too Even large technology titans like Google and Facebook fall victim to phishing scams, including one fake invoicing scheme perpetrated in 2013 by a [Lithuanian hacker]( who tricked both companies into paying out more than $100 million to him. SHARE: What types of junk mail or spam tactics do you find most annoying? Join the conversation and share with us on [FB](, [IG](, [Twitter]( with the hashtag #ThingsWeAllHate #OZY How Did We Get Here? Getting addicted to junk mail Junk mail has been around just about as long as regular mail, including back in the [mid-19th century]( when small town postmasters were tasked by advertisers to pass along their mailers to relevant targets in their communities. But it wasn’t until the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, which required the USPS to pay for itself without government subsidies, that things really exploded. As a result, [marketing mail surged]( with each U.S. household going from receiving 4.5 pieces of junk mail a week in 1975 to four per day in 2015. Paying with your annoyance When you think about it, getting junk mail is not too different from watching advertisements before YouTube videos or other online content: American taxpayers pay by giving their time and attention to unsolicited advertisements before getting to enjoy a free product. You’ve got Spam! It is believed that the first spam message came from a marketer at Digital Equipment Corporation named Gary Thuerk, who in 1978 sent out messages advertising the company’s newest computer system to over 400 subscribers to ARPANET, an early online network. Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam… Junk email was not the first spam. Hormel Foods introduced a [tinned lunch meat]( called Spam (from a shortening of “spiced ham”) in 1937, and decades later watched in horror as their brand name became synonymous with unwanted messages sent over the internet. The term originated in early online communities as a reference to a zany [Monty Python comedy sketch]( in which a café serves mostly Spam. Fun and Frustrating Facts Uncle Sam’s mail campaign Given a small budget for advertising by Congress, the U.S. Treasury turned to the postal service and direct mail during the 1930s in order to advertise [its first savings bonds]( to Americans during the Great Depression. A tale as old as time Almost everyone has heard of the famous Nigerian Prince email scam. But such a con—in which a desperate, wealthy foreigner makes escalating requests for help in broken English—dates back centuries, including the eerily similar [“Spanish Prisoner” scam]( of the late 19th century. Spam may be annoying but it works According to [one study](, spammers generate around $200 million per year, which comes at a cost of about $20 billion to U.S. individuals and businesses. Things are improving It may not feel like it but the amount of junk mail sent in the U.S. has declined by 38 percent [since 2007](. Similarly, the global email spam rate has dropped around 20 percent [since 2012](. CATCH THE NEWEST EPISODES OF [The Carlos Watson Show, Season 4]( Could Junk Mail and Spam Suck Less? Strategies to reduce junk mail… There are some actions you can take in the U.S. to reduce the volume of direct mail you receive. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provides guidance [on its website]( on how to stop credit card and insurance offers and receive less direct mail from marketers. …and filter spam Anti-spam software is getting increasingly sophisticated but remains mostly the proprietary work of companies like Google (Gmail) and Microsoft (Outlook, Hotmail). The FTC also [provides information]( on how to get fewer spam emails and also report unwanted or fraudulent ones. An arms race with AI and Blockchain As technology improves so do the methods deployed by spammers and anti-spammers. Expect [future spam]( to use advanced AI and move into the virtual world through deep-fake video and images targeting recipients, and future blocking strategies to include blockchain and other technologies to authenticate users and protect systems from attack. SHARE: How would you reduce the volume of junk mail or spam we receive? Join the conversation and share with us on [FB](, [IG](, [Twitter]( with the hashtag #ThingsWeAllHate #OZY This Will Make You Feel Better… Kramer Quits the Mail “I want out,” [Kramer famously proclaims]( at the USPS counter in “The Junk Mail” episode of the hit television comedy Seinfeld. “Permanently.” But after encountering resistance, and a staged intervention from no less than Wilford Brimley as the Postmaster General (with the emphasis on “General”), Kramer relents and agrees to accept his junk mail with the rest of us. COMMUNITY CORNER How do you deal with junk mail? Share with us at OzyCommunity@Ozy.com. ABOUT OZY OZY is a diverse, global and forward-looking media and entertainment company focused on “the New and the Next.” OZY creates space for fresh perspectives, and offers new takes on everything from news and culture to technology, business, learning and entertainment. [www.ozy.com]( / #OZY Curiosity. Enthusiasm. Action. That’s OZY! [TV]( | [PODCASTS]( | [NEWS]( | [FESTIVALS]( A Modern Media Company OZY Media, 800 West El Camino Mountain View, California 94040 This email was sent to {EMAIL} [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Read Online](

Marketing emails from ozy.com

View More
Sent On

28/02/2023

Sent On

28/02/2023

Sent On

27/02/2023

Sent On

27/02/2023

Sent On

26/02/2023

Sent On

26/02/2023

Email Content Statistics

Subscribe Now

Subject Line Length

Data shows that subject lines with 6 to 10 words generated 21 percent higher open rate.

Subscribe Now

Average in this category

Subscribe Now

Number of Words

The more words in the content, the more time the user will need to spend reading. Get straight to the point with catchy short phrases and interesting photos and graphics.

Subscribe Now

Average in this category

Subscribe Now

Number of Images

More images or large images might cause the email to load slower. Aim for a balance of words and images.

Subscribe Now

Average in this category

Subscribe Now

Time to Read

Longer reading time requires more attention and patience from users. Aim for short phrases and catchy keywords.

Subscribe Now

Average in this category

Subscribe Now

Predicted open rate

Subscribe Now

Spam Score

Spam score is determined by a large number of checks performed on the content of the email. For the best delivery results, it is advised to lower your spam score as much as possible.

Subscribe Now

Flesch reading score

Flesch reading score measures how complex a text is. The lower the score, the more difficult the text is to read. The Flesch readability score uses the average length of your sentences (measured by the number of words) and the average number of syllables per word in an equation to calculate the reading ease. Text with a very high Flesch reading ease score (about 100) is straightforward and easy to read, with short sentences and no words of more than two syllables. Usually, a reading ease score of 60-70 is considered acceptable/normal for web copy.

Subscribe Now

Technologies

What powers this email? Every email we receive is parsed to determine the sending ESP and any additional email technologies used.

Subscribe Now

Email Size (not include images)

Font Used

No. Font Name
Subscribe Now

Copyright © 2019–2025 SimilarMail.