A report over at eMarketer.com begins with a statement and a chart of data that seems a little shocking. (I certainly filter much more than 20% spam!) After a brief glimpse at the chart, it appears that the conclusion being drawn is laughably unsupported.

Check it out: rather than interpreting the Number of messages received versus the type of email received as an average of their surveyed audience, they are drawing conclusions as if the x-axis represented the age of the recipient, and the data the percentage of their inbox. Doing a little math with their paradigm, it appears that people aged 0 are getting 7% business-related material, and a total of only 44% of their mail (what’s up with the missing 56%?) People aged 11-30 (again, with their reasoning) are receiving 158% of their mail. (Maybe they’re stealing from the 0-year-olds)

The scary thing is that this site sells this report as part of a bigger package, and they charge $695 for it! Yes, $695 for flawed conclusions! What it should say is that 41% of people receive 50+ spam emails every week, or something actually supported by the data shown.

I’ve seen typos and other snafus on this site before, but this really takes the cake. Way to go, eMarketer, way to go.

Screenshot here