Because of the popularity of the Internet, an increasing number of companies use online advertising. In addition to websites and advertising on search engines, email blasts are a common method of using the Internet for advertising.

Identification

An email blast is an advertisement for a product, service or event sent through email.

Function

The purpose of an email blast is to entice people who receive the email to visit a company's website, call their toll-free number or stop into their store.

Sources of Email Addresses

Many merchants collect the email addresses of customers and use these lists to generate mailing lists for email blasts. In addition, a number of websites and other services furnish email address lead lists for the purposes of email blasts.

Features

Email blasts sometimes contain simple text, but often use more eye-catching features like clip art or photography. Some businesses hire other companies to produce their email blasts and maintain their customer email mailing lists.

Benefits

Once a business has a mailing list established, email blasts are a free way to advertise to a large number of people at one time.

Considerations

The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 places restrictions on email blasts, mandating that the information in the "To," "From" and "Subject" lines must not be misleading and clearly show that the blast is an advertisement. The email must also mention that it is an advertisement and provide a method for recipients to opt-out or request removal from the distribution list.

Source:

Hiero.com: Email Blast Campaigns