Be relevant or be gone. Consumers are expanding the definition of what they consider spam.

More than one-quarter of consumers in Asia-Pacific believe that promotional e-mail or newsletters that were opt-in—but no longer engage them or address their needs—are spam, according to the Epsilon/Return Path “2008 Consumer E-mail Survey.”

More than four out of 10 respondents said that instead of just unsubscribing, they reported legitimate e-mails to which they had subscribed as spam, using a “Report Spam” button or link.

Consumers in Asia-Pacific were not hostile to all e-mail marketing. More than one-half of respondents said they would use e-mail coupons. More than seven out of 10 had made direct purchases as a result of receiving relevant promotional e-mails.

In fact, two-thirds of respondents said they would divulge personal information in order to get more relevant e-mails.

Get the full story at emarketer.com