Is your mailbox invaded by unrequested messages? This should be a spam. Some simple rules protect you from undesirable messages. What exactly is a spam? How can we stop receiving them?
Spam definition
A spam represents a prospection technique consisting of massively sending automated emails. Unsolicited by the receiver, these emails are generally advertisements.
Spam can be also be encountered on blogs and socials even though they mostly target mailboxes. Studies show that this form of electronic communication represents 90% of today’s email traffic. Furthermore, they have environmental repercussions given the electric consumption they imply.
Who are the spammers?
Spams are mostly used by online retail websites and social media. This technique is indeed used by e-merchants to make their products known. If you shop regularly online, you are more susceptible to receive multiple offers daily. Social medias are also big spammers, especially Facebook and Twitter.
For example, a spam can come from a simple particular who wishes to promote his website or an illegal market network like those selling pharmaceutical products.
Multiple criteria distinguish a spam from a newsletter. These allow your mailbox to characterise and sort the emails. The differences are:
- The number of receivers. The spam emails make their way to hundreds of mailboxes at the same time, solicited or unsolicited. Newsletters on the other hand are set up based on the receiver’s needs. Indeed, the senders use lists of actual or future consumers.
- The frequency and the sending moment. While hundreds of individuals can receive spams at any given time every week, newsletters are only sent a few times per week on specific days and time.
- The email’s average weight. Most of time, spams sent via automated lists from the same sender usually have the same weight and content. On the other hand, newsletters are always different because they are created depending on the commercial objective and the receiver
If consumers also consider newsletters as unsolicited messages, the main difference still lies in the fact that it is possible to unsubscribe from this type of email.
The different kinds of spam
A spam can appear under different forms such as:
- A spam exclusively for advertising purposes
- Scam spams (email asking for help by sending funds for example)
- Phishing spams sent in order to extract personal information (Username, credit card number, etc.) from a victim
Besides, some spam may contain contaminated files or hyperlinks that install malevolent softwares.
How can we stop receiving spam emails?
In order to stop being spammed, you should set up a filter for your mailbox. Furthermore, some simple gestures can help you build an efficient anti-advertising protection:
- Remove the selection of facultative choice selected by default when subscribing to online services.
- Avoid following links or answering to spam emails. This will only help their sender confirm your email address validity.
- Unsubscribe from unsolicited advertising emails and block messages coming from incessant senders by blacklisting them.
- Create a specific email address to shop online in order to spare your main mailbox.
How can we block spams with a software?
An anti-spam tool is efficient when blocking undesirable emails. Moreover, such a tool allows you to automatically delete all the spams in your mailbox. Some are not free (McAfee, Postbox, etc.) while some others are (Spamhilator, SpamCombat, etc.)
Only spams are intercepted by these softwares. You will still continue receiving newsletters. If you also wish to get rid of those you have no interest in, you should resort to Cleanfox.
Our tool allows you to unsubscribe from newsletters and advertising emails in a single click and for any mailbox (Yahoo, Outlook, Gmail, etc.) This entirely free software differentiates itself with its ease of use.
It garanties the effective cleaning of your mailbox while reducing your carbon footprint. Indeed, sending a newsletter generates close to 10 grams of CO2 but 90% of these emails are never opened. To delete them is the equivalent of an ecological action.
