A random telephone survey of 1,000 adults by the National Technology Readiness Survey produced by Rockbridge Associates Inc. and the University of Maryland's Center for Excellence in Service revealed that 75 percent of Internet users receive spam daily. The average number of spam messages received per day is 18.5 and the average time spent each day deleting them is 2.8 minutes. The study found that the loss in productivity equals $21.6 billion per year based on average U.S. wages.

According to the study, 14 percent of spam recipients read messages and 4 percent actually purchased something advertised by spam in the past year.