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It seems that in our ever-technical society we increasingly use a technical term to describe something, except that term doesn't really mean much except as a way for engineers to spot other technical types in a crowd or in a conversation. This report reviews exactly such a circumstance in email processing markets.

False-positive is a statistical term (also known as Type I or alpha error) to explain those circumstances when a test on the subject generates one of two inappropriate results - when the test says yes the subject is infected when in fact they are not. (The other inappropriate result, the beta-error or Type II error is that the test fails, but the subject is infected).

Technical terms aside, in email security markets, the industry uses false-positive to describe those circumstances when the filtering software identifies a good email as junk.

This report uses the results of a study of 204 business user and seeks to begin the industry transition to TRAPPED EMAIL as a more appropriate synonym for false-positive email.

First Contact is the sales process milestone where the potential customer acknowledges their interest and identifies themselves. Most commonly, this could be through an email, a telephone call or some automated form on the website. Prior to the Internet, this had to be done before buyer education; since the emergence of the Internet, users value anonymous self-education. For most, the moment of First Contact is often a highly qualified opportunity.

For the large company, defined in this report as those organizations employing more than 2,500 employees, email is the First Contact method of choice. This is consistent for larger firms too and is due largely to the great time-shifting convenience of email: I send at my convenience, and you send at yours.

Of course, if the First Contact email were to be intercepted by the anti-spam technology, the users' experience will be greatly affected and the customer will think less of the potential vendor who may never know that they had lost an opportunity, or even why. In this case, ignorance may be bliss, but it sure is a waste of resource.

Respondents did report 2.3 x greater frustration with their emails being trapped than being challenged. Earlier Brockmann & Company reports showed that challenge-response technologies are responsible for much higher levels of user satisfaction with email, and in First Contact circumstances.

First Contact is the sales process milestone where the potential customer acknowledges their interest and identifies themselves. Most commonly, this could be through an email, a telephone call or some automated form on the website.

For the small business, defined in this report as those organizations employing less than 100 employees, email is the First Contact method of choice. This is consistent for larger firms too and is due largely to the great time-shifting convenience of email: I send at my convenience, and you send at yours.

Of course, if the First Contact email were to be intercepted by the anti-spam technology, the users' experience will be greatly affected and the customer will think less of the potential vendor who may never know that they had lost an opportunity, or even why. In this case, ignorance may be bliss, but it sure is a waste of resource.

Respondents did report greater frustration with their emails being trapped than being challenged. Earlier Brockmann & Company reports showed that challenge-response technologies are responsible for much higher levels of user satisfaction with email, and in First Contact circumstances.