Junk emails, or Spam are emails sent to you without consent by people or businesses with which you have no relationship. Receiving Junk email can cause significant problems for your business as it can clog up your email system and often carries viruses or spyware.
The problems of junk email
You may wonder why it is so important that Junk email is managed. Here are just a few reasons:
- If you are constantly receiving Spam email it will use up your internet bandwidth (effectively costing you money) and important messages can be delayed or blocked.
- Spam is often sent with the intention of spreading viruses or spyware. Opening Spam emails could infect your PCs.
- Many junk emails messages are inappropriate and contain material that could offend people in your company.
- Even relatively harmless spam can distract staff and waste their time as they check the content and follow links to irrelevant web sites.
How to stop spam
The easiest and most obvious way to avoid junk emails is to stop spammers getting hold of your email address in the first place, but this is hard to control. However, there are also easy steps you can take to keep the amount you receive to a minimum:
- Use a separate address for company enquiries, and put that on your website. Spammers scan websites for email addresses, so avoid putting on personal/individual email addresses in the public domain.
- Many sites require you to register for full access. Only do this on sites you trust. Consider using a separate address to keep spam out of your main inbox.
- Check web site privacy policies and marketing opt-outs carefully. Ensure that you are not subscribed to any unwanted sites.
- Avoid responding to spam emails. Replying indicates that your email address is live. You should not reply to emails unless you know and trust the sender. This includes making sure that you refuse any read acknowledgements going back to the spam sender’s address.
Using spam filters
The other way to reduce the amount of junk email you receiving is be using a spam filter. These filters are software programs that analyse incoming messages and can assess which are junk email.
Filters are an important way to fight spam, but they take some time to set up. Initially, you may find that legitimate messages get blocked, or some junk email doesn’t get caught, but it’s often worth persevering.
It can be sometimes difficult to get the balance right between not filtering out legitimate messages and blocking all junk email. Using intelligent spam filters that allow your employees to report mistakenly-identified spam can help. Over time, they learn how to stop spam more effectively.
Seek advice from an IT expert to find the best way to fight spam in your business. Combine this with training and advice to help your employees identify and deal with junk email. For more information on how your business can reduce unwanted emails call us on 0845 2233116.