Industry finally begins to can the spam

JupiterResearch forecasts that the average active email consumer will see a drop from 3,253 pieces of spam in 2005 to 1,640 pieces of spam in 2010. It further estimates that email marketing spending will grow from $885 million in 2005 to $1.1 billion by 2010, with overall growth marked by a growth in spending on retention, acquisition and transactional email.

"ISPs are wise to improve spam filtering, and ensure that permission emails are not erroneously marked as spam," said David Daniels, research director at JupiterResearch. "Consumers have a plethora of providers to choose from and will stray from those who do not effectively filter messages," he said.

A report by the company also found that email delivery rates have stabilized at an average of approximately 88 percent and are expected to surpass 90 percent over the next few years. By 2010, the cost of incorrectly blocked email will drop to $92 million from a high of $107 million in 2006, the analyst expects.

"The next five years will see a more organized email marketing arena," said David Schatsky, senior vice president of research at JupiterResearch. "Delivery rates will rise because of marketers' efforts to improve list management practices. And the greater control by ISPs over spam will mean a lot less waste."