Email advertising has become a very important part of the marketing mix. Almost every seller has recognized the reach that email advertising has. Every kind of company, from real estate to banks to travel agencies, is using this method to attract customers attention.

Advertisements through email have the tendency to irritate the viewers sometimes, because they may clutter the inbox of the recipient. They also take up valuable Internet time and other resources related to it. This is the reason why email advertisements, especially unsolicited messages, have been termed as spam. Spam mails are unsolicited messages which are sent to people without their asking for it. The law now bans spam mails.

No company can use a persons email address to send advertisements if the recipient hasnt provided the address for the specific purpose of receiving the advertisements. As per The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations Act of 2003, a person shall neither transmit, nor instigate the transmission of, unsolicited communications for the purposes of direct marketing by means of electronic mail unless the recipient of the electronic mail has previously notified the sender that he consents for the time being to such communications being sent by, or at the instigation of, the sender.

However, email advertisements can be sent if: a) the company has obtained the contact details of the recipient of that electronic mail in the course of the sale or negotiations for the sale of a product or service to that recipient; b) the direct marketing is in regards to that companys similar products and services only; and c) the recipient has been given a simple means of refusing (free of charge except for the costs of the transmission of the refusal) the use of his contact details for the purposes of such direct marketing, at the time that the details were initially collected, and, where he did not initially refuse the use of the details, at the time of each subsequent communication.

One way to get email advertisements across is to send only opt-in advertisements. These are also known as permission-based advertising. These can be sent only if the recipient has personally opted to receive the advertisements sometime in the past. This could have been while browsing through the companys sites or while signing up for some other offer, or while buying some of the companys products. Companies collect the addresses of the people who have opted to receive the ads from their own sites and databases.

Companies can also obtain the addresses of people who have opted in from some other agencies or broker companies that collect such addresses. These companies have millions of email addresses, with the customers categorized on the basis of the products they are interested in. These are categorized on the basis of topics, demographics, geographical locations and so on. Lists that contain the addresses of interested recipients may be more expensive, but they are more effective.

One major advantage of using opt-in email advertising is that the response rate is likely to be higher, as the customers have requested that information. The response rate is expected to be anywhere from 5% to 15% for opt-in email advertisements, as compared to less than 1% for spam mails and banner ads. Thus, the ROI is also likely to be more. It is also more cost-effective, as the number of emails sent would be limited. There is also no chance of being termed a spammer. Another advancement is the use of the double opt-in system for more credibility. By this, the recipient not only solicits the list but also confirms the solicitation through email or any other tool.