Marketers to lose $419 million from e-mail blocked as spam, says Jupiter

Permission-based e-mail erroneously blocked as spam will cost e-mail marketers an estimated $419 million in 2008, ballooning from the estimated figure of $230 million in 2003, according to new findings from Jupiter Research.

Through improved sender authentication systems and tighter scrutiny by ISPs, the percentage of permission-based e-mail erroneously blocked is actually expected to drop during that time, from about 17% today to 10% in 2008. However, total spending on retention and sponsored e-mails will increase enough to account for the rising cost of e-mail that never gets opened by consumers.

"The increase in e-mail volume and the fact that consumers are spending less time in their inboxes is creating a consumer attention deficit to permission-based e-mail marketing," says research director David Daniels of Jupiter Research. "Despite the year-over-year increase in permission e-mail, consumers only perceive an increase in spam."

Jupiter recommends that e-mail marketers use identity-based trusted and bonded sender programs as cost-effective measures to assist in message delivery. The largest e-mail marketers that frequently trip ISPs’ spam alarms in error will be the first organizations to pay additional fees to ensure e-mail delivery, Jupiter says.