Difference between Email Marketing and SPAM

SPAM

Spam is mass emailing of advertisements to recipients who did not agree to receive those ads. The main point is that the person did not agree to receive such messages. Spammers usually acquire email addresses by questionable means; they buy lists of addresses, use grabbers (for example, Email Extractor) to search for email addresses on different websites, make software for automatic filling of website forms, etc.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is mass emailing to users who agreed to receive such messages. Users can give consent to receiving email messages in different ways; for example, they can subscribe to a mailing list on a website, fill a website registration form and agree with the registration terms, enter their email address in a paper form, and so on.

How to differ spam from email marketing?

Here’s what is typical for email marketing:

• The user can unsubscribe;
• Issues are sent with a moderate frequency;
• Information is useful and of high quality;
• The sender addresses the recipient by name;

Here’s what is typical for spam:

• The user cannot unsubscribe;
• The sender’s address is falsified;
• Issues are sent very frequently and to a great number of addresses;
• Information is useless;
• Email lists are huge (and often count millions of addresses);
• Phishing may be used; that is, the spammer may try to coax message recipients into telling him their credit card numbers or passwords for accessing online payment systems. Such a message often looks just like an official message from the recipient’s bank. The email may say that unless the recipient confirms some personal information, his (or her) account will be frozen; in this case, the message may contain a link to some website form to be filled (actually, that’s the fraudster’s — not the bank’s — website). Some of the data requested will be used by the fraudster if the phishing attempt succeeds. The malicious site may fully imitate the bank’s site, so the victim might not suspect that something is wrong.
• Counteradvertising may be used; that is, the spammer may send messages discrediting competitors or their products.
• The spammer may advertise “nasty” products, such as pornographic content, illegal drugs, or pirated software.