These are the suckers that are born every minute

Posted on February 16, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Via Ginger: About four percent of online adults, representing some five million people, have purchased a product or service via spam. I am at a loss for words.

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5 Responses to These are the suckers that are born every minute

  1. Charles Hixon says:
    February 16, 2005 at 12:39 pm

    Given the current world birth rate times 4% there are approximately 7 suckers born every minute. I suspect P.T. Barnum was not being sarcastic but drew his conclusion from direct observation and a little math, and developed a business plan around it.

  2. 'stina says:
    February 16, 2005 at 1:12 pm

    I wonder if they’re counting unsolicited e-mail from places where we’ve shopped before as spam? I’ll get notices from time to time that the Gap or Amazon or west elm is having a sale or a product that their data miner thinks I might like. I’ll go sometimes ahead and buy whatever it is that they’re selling.

  3. William Hughes says:
    February 16, 2005 at 2:16 pm

    I tend to agree that they are counting data miner E-mail as spam, however, I found it interesting that 4% actually bought a product via such E-mail. My understanding is that about 20% of all spam is actually read, so 4% of that is still enough of a percentage (4*.2 = 0.8) for spammers to persue.

    Personally, if I don’t know you, I delete your E-mail.

  4. Patrick says:
    February 16, 2005 at 2:24 pm

    I’d expect that birth rate to increase as the effects of the herbal viagra are seen. Fortunately housing should be plentiful and cheap with all those low interest mortgate rates available.

  5. Mathwiz says:
    February 16, 2005 at 3:52 pm

    I found it interesting that 4% actually bought a product via such E-mail. My understanding is that about 20% of all spam is actually read, so 4% of that is still enough of a percentage (4*.2 = 0.8) for spammers to persue.

    No, it’s not 4% of all spams that are read that result in a sale; it’s 4% of all people who have email who recall having responded to spam at some time. You’re trying to combine apples and oranges.

    I suspect the response rate is way less than 0.8%. But as long as spam is so cheap to send, the response rate can be pretty dismal and spam is nevertheless profitable.

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