Bulk Email Service Providers

The bulk email method is generally determined by the number of emails and the number of recipients. For a single bulk email being sent to less than 100 recipients, a personal or business email account may suffice. For example, Microsoft Outlook allows a user to create a “group” alias with which the user can associate a number of email addresses. Sending an email to the group alias will distribute the email to all recipients noted as belonging to the group. Typically, a company seeks to email many thousands of people and requires a more robust solution. Datran Media published the, “2008 Annual Marketing & Media Survey Results,” in which it surveyed 2,000 marketers.

For large companies, an email service provider (ESP) may be the best choice as it often provides the greatest level of customization. In addition to the functionality provided by bulk email software, an email service provider may provide specialized design services to further tailor the look and feel of a bulk email. An email service provider will generally send the bulk emails using their own ISP on a company’s behalf. Bulk email software can be purchased that will manage a database of contacts, create bulk email message templates, send bulk emails periodically,

Broadly defined as a company providing email services, an email service provider (ESP) offers email marketing or bulk email services. Neither of these terms are intended to be synonymous with spam or the sending of unwanted or unsolicited bulk email of a marketing or otherwise offensive nature.

An ESP may provide tracking information showing the status of email sent to each member of an address list. ESPs also often provide the ability to segment an address list into interest groups or categories, allowing the user to send targeted information to people who they believe will value the correspondence.