SPAM – Is it just ‘normal’ ?

Some clients get 15-20 a day and say it’s ‘Too Much!” … we get 500 plus… hmmm…

We really have no idea how much spam is “average” or “normal” but as the vast majority of email is spam, the real question is how much of it gets eliminated on its way to you and/or how to deal with it. As noted above we receive well over 500 spam emails each day through our 5 email accounts. If you’re seeing 10-15 in your inbox I firstly envy you  🙂 … But seriously, you could change your SPAM filtering settings to increase how it handles SPAM. This is available through your online-webmail access and/or by logging into your website hosting cPanel. If you are not using the free email associated with your website hosting you have a distinct advantage. Dedicated email servers such as those used with GSuite (Google) or Microsoft Exchange (Office 365) have their own SPAM settings. Not only are these dedicated servers much more robust but we do recommend clients use these more so that the free ones that come with most hosting. They are just plain more dependable and give you MORE.

Let’s discover a few things about SPAM avoidance.

  • Changing your email addresses will reduce spam, but realistically, it will just start again.
  • You can reduce the SPAM risk by not publishing your addresses on the web, and by not replying to spammers or any other emails that look questionable.
  • Be careful who you give your email address to.
  • Always check the box saying don’t contact me with marketing emails and promotion and also the box about not consenting to your email address being shared with third-party firms.
  • Mark each spam message as junk/spam within your email program. Future emails should hopefully be directed to the spam folder.
  • Once your email address is added to a SPAMMERs list, you’re bound to get more and more… If you are on loads of spammers lists, the only way to stop this may be through either changing your email address or dramatically increasing your SPAM filter settings… which can possibly affect legitimate emails as well… it’s a very fine line.
  • Another alternative is to use anti-spam software. We suggest speaking to a local IT company for this. If you’re located in the Calgary area please ask us and we can refer you to a great one.
  • Lastly, when you receive SPAM just delete it. Do not click on anything, do not ‘unsubscribe’ (as they will not only ignore this but will use your reply as a notice that the email is active and send more….), just delete it and move on.

Unfortunately, SPAM is a way of life. If you have an online presence and/or email you WILL get SPAM. Many countries do not have anti-spam laws and, therefore, sending unsolicited ads and SPAM is actually a way of life for some people, it’s how they pay their bills. We don’t like it any more than our clients do but if we take the steps above we can at least limit our exposure to it.