# Does Spam EVER Work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942 "2004-06-30T20:38:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/1 "2004-06-30T20:38:23Z")
I’m sure it _must_, or it would shrivel up and die . . . But do you know anyone who even _opens_ obvious spam, let alone refinances their mortgage or enlarges their penis with it? I promptly delete anything not from someone I recognize; sometimes the bastards trick me with a “Hey, read this!” from a name like “Michael” or “David.” Then I curse them and delete before I even read their pitch. Is spam an effective marketing tool? ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/2 "2004-06-30T20:55:08Z")
If say 2 percent of all people who own computers are idiot enough to open spam, then the spammers figure it’s worth it. Unfortunately those 2 percent exist. They also open and send all the glurge and ULs that abound on the net. Most unfortunately, I apparently either know or am kin to 90% of the 2 percent. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Stormtrooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Stormtrooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stormtrooper)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/3 "2004-06-30T20:56:38Z")
Yes, it absolutely does. Depending on targets and product being marketed, advertisers can achieve quite high rates of success. It is a very profitable industry, if one has connections. You won’t see spam stopping any time soon, that is for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/4 "2004-06-30T21:03:19Z")
You bet! I have refinanced my mortgage 846 times, met several hundred nubile young women in my area, and expanded my penis so much that I can’t get out the front door any more. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/5 "2004-06-30T21:07:11Z")
Get [this:](http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0629Spam-ON.html) > [@](#): > > According to a Yahoo! Mail global survey of about 37,000 Internet users in 11 countries, 20 percent of U.S. residents admit buying products from spam purveyors. About 78 percent said they delete spam. 20%?!?!?!? Our penises/mortgage rates/bank accounts should all feel inadequate against this 1/5 brain trust. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/6 "2004-07-01T03:27:18Z")
I wonder if that 20% includes stuff from emails that are basically spam, but come from a company you’ve done business before. I routinely get ‘spam’ from 1-800-FLOWERS. I can imagine someone seeing a good deal for a bouquet on there and clicking on it. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/7 "2004-07-01T03:47:02Z")
There was a story a year or two back about some spammer’s business records briefly becoming freely available on-line due to some kind of programming glitch or something. This was an outfit that was selling a penis-enlargement product of some kind; the real shocker was that their client list included people you’d hope would know better, including the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar company. The news reports were all careful not to reveal the name of his company, presumably because investors would have pulled out (ha ha) faster than Joan Rivers can drop a name. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/8 "2004-07-01T04:15:22Z")
I knew a guy who had his own house, a lamborghini (used I think) and a $1,000 a day income when he was 17 because of spam. This was several years ago but he was never “at the top of his game.” I’m sure there are people even today who’s income dwarfs that. Still, spam isn’t what it used to be and it’s a lot harder for a 15 year old kid to get a few aol accounts and send out a million spams a day (and actually be profitable) than it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/9 "2004-07-01T16:42:29Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > I wonder if that 20% includes stuff from emails that are basically spam, but come from a company you’ve done business before. I routinely get ‘spam’ from 1-800-FLOWERS. I can imagine someone seeing a good deal for a bouquet on there and clicking on it. I don’t think you can call it spam if it is from a company you do buisness with. Spam has to be unsolicited to count IMHO. So emails I get from Depp Discount DVD I don’t consider spam, since they are sent to me as a deep discount dvd customer. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/10 "2004-07-01T17:24:57Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > I don’t think you can call it spam if it is from a company you do buisness with. Spam has to be unsolicited to count IMHO. So emails I get from Depp Discount DVD I don’t consider spam, since they are sent to me as a deep discount dvd customer. I agree. I do tons of shopping on line, and I get stuff from all of them. But my filter doesn’t allow any evil interlopers to invade my computer. I love that. I’m so annoyed by spam that I would purposely NOT buy anything they advertised. Even if I wanted it! It’s the principle. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/11 "2004-07-01T17:45:06Z")
The thing is, **Eve** it doesn’t have to work well at all. If 1% of people respond to a guy’s Spam, and he sends out a million then he just got 10000 responses. I thought the actual numbers were even smaller than 1%. As long as spam is legal, it’s basically all reward and no risk no matter how many people respond. But, it is amazing that anyone at all responds to it. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/12 "2004-07-01T17:45:22Z")
Since this is a question with a factual answer, I’ll move it to **GQ** for you. **Cajun Man** for the SDMB ---
**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/13 "2004-07-01T17:54:56Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > You bet! I have refinanced my mortgage 846 times, met several hundred nubile young women in my area, and expanded my penis so much that I can’t get out the front door any more. It must be hard to live like that… ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/14 "2004-07-01T18:04:07Z")
Well, I know that I “satisfied HER” when I “made more money working at home no risk guaranteed make 2000 a week easy work,” then used that money to “REFINANC MY HOME TO CONSOLIDATE MY B1||S!!!” and now I’ve “En|@rgeD my PE//15.” Life is much better. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/15 "2004-07-01T18:08:33Z")
Those Iraqi most wanted list playing cards sold extremely well via spam. ---
**Author:** ![vertizontal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ad7895/32.png) [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/16 "2004-07-01T18:28:32Z")
Not everything that looks like spam is worthless. Just recently I struck up a potentially profitable relationship with this guy from Nigeria… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aeropl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@aeropl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeropl)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/17 "2004-07-01T19:01:30Z")
[In this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=173146), I couldn’t get anybody to admit to buying from a spam. But if they are sending it out, that means some people are buying. Last week an AOL employee was charged with selling the entire AOL screen name list to Sean Dunaway, a spammer who was also charged. In the [court papers](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0623042aol7.html), he claimed to make $10,000 to $20,000 a day off of spam for an internet gambling site. That’s not a typo, it really says per DAY. Would you send out spam for that kind of money? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/18 "2004-07-01T19:12:44Z")
> [@aeropl](#): > > Would you send out spam for that kind of money? Hell, I’d flay the skin off babies and dip them in balsamic vinegar for that kind of money. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/19 "2004-07-01T19:32:26Z")
I heard a professional spammer interviewed on NPR one day. He mentioned that his response rate ranged from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 1,000,000 depending on how good the ad and the merchandise were. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942/20 "2004-07-01T19:54:49Z")
How someone actually do something as important as a mortgage via spam email, with it’s language and spelling so twisted to get through filters, is almost beyond comprehension. If the bank down the street had big sign saying “mort.gag.es at low raytes!” would you feel comfortable giving them your business? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-spam-ever-work/252942.md?page=2)