• by Jess Nelson , June 24, 2016

Consumers are less likely to trust a brand after a phishing attack, according to a study released Thursday by Return Path. 

The email and data solutions provider polled the level of trust in email marketing of more than 220 marketers. It also conducted research on the email inbox placement rates of 71 large brands over a six month period in 2015. The results, released in the report Phishing: The Cost of Doing Nothing for Marketers, reveals that consumers are less likely to trust a brand after a phishing or spoofing attack.

Phishing attacks directly relate to a drop in email engagement according to the report, which suggest email read rates drop 18% among Gmail users and 11% among Yahoo Mail users after a phishing attack.

Yet, 76% of marketers admit they have little to no visibility into email-based attacks on their brand and only 32% of marketers plan to make email security a top priority in 2016 according to Return Path.

“Email security is everyone’s responsibility,” states Estelle Derouet, VP of marketing at Return Path’s Email Fraud Protection product. “As guardians of the brand and owners of the email channel, it’s time for marketers to join the fight against email fraud – and for CMOs to prioritize customer security.”

Email is a keystone of digital communication, yet it still remains a channel fraught with fraud. A recent survey of 1,000 American adults by GoDaddy, a provider of domain names and digital tools for small businesses, shows consumers are wary of email fraud and paying close attention to the legitimacy of emails sent from small businesses.

Three-quarters of respondents said having a domain-based email that matches a website is an extremely important factor when trusting small online retailers according to the GoDaddy report, while only 14% believe company social media accounts are an important component for trusting businesses.

When a small business uses a personal email address as opposed to a legitimate company address, 33% of respondents are more likely to doubt the legitimacy of the seller. In addition, 24% of respondents are less likely to give personal information to a seller that uses a personal email address and 23% of respondents are less likely to give their credit card information to the dubious seller.