What is bulk email?

Bulk email, also known as "spam", is an email marketing technique where a large number of emails are sent to people who have NOT requested to receive email promotions. There are a number of difficulties involved with this type of marketing, beginning with complaints from the annoyed recipients, up to and including the emailer losing their hosting account. Most bulk emailers will lose hosting within a week of sending a spam campaign. Those who do it from their home or office will have their account closed by their internet access provider. *Global Business Solutions does NOT do bulk emailing.

What is opt-in email?

Opt-in email is a marketing technique that sends promotional emails to people who have agreed to receive emails of this nature. They can unsubscribe, or "opt-out", at any time. A responsible user of opt-in lists will make sure that the subscribers do not receive an excessive amount of email, or receive repeated email offers from the same source, and that the email offers they do receive are appropriate and of good quality -- that way, they will stay on the list for a longer time period. *Global Business Solutions uses only opt-in lists.

How can I build an email list of my own?

Although some people will build their lists through their websites, it is frequently done separately through something known as co-registration opt-out email campaigns. Co-registration means that the subscription to your email list is attached to another subscription that the person is interested in. They will sign up for your list as well, unless they uncheck the box to "opt-out". The danger in this method is that about one-third of the subscribers are there because they did not notice the opt-out box, so you do need to confirm each subscription to avoid accidentally spamming someone.

Glossary

Bulk eMail - Large amounts of promotional email delivered without permission.
Co-Registration - An extra offer attached to a registration (e.g. "Click here to receive our newsletter")
CPA - Cost Per Acquisition. Marketing term meaning the cost of making a sale or getting a lead.
CPM - Cost Per Thousand.
CTR - Click-Through Ratio. How many people visit the website that is being promoted.
HTML - Hyper Text Mark-Up Language. A type of programming language that formats a page. This includes formatting the text (font, color, size, etc.), adding images, and creating links to other pages and sites. Most email campaigns will use an HTML based email, because they tend to be more attractive than text-based emails, and also more successful.
Opt-In - To sign up for a service.
Opt-In eMail - Promotional emails sent to a group of people who have agreed to receive emails of that nature.
Opt-Out (a) - To unsubscribe from an existing service, or to specify that you do not wish to join a new one.
Recipient - The person who receives the promotional email.
Registration - The process of opting in to a list or service.
Targeting - Using information provided to create a list for a specific product or service, based on age, background, etc.
Text - A "words-only" email, which might contain a link to a website.