E-mail marketing works, there’s no denying it. Its key advantage over other Internet marketing methods is that it enables you to contact the customer instead of forcing the customer to contact you. This ability is especially useful when something that your customers need to know as soon as possible has happened. Whether you’ve just released a new product or decided to cut your prices by 10%, the fastest way to spread the word is via E-mail.
However, unless you want to give your company a bad name, you can’t simply start sending E-mails to people that haven’t agreed to receive them. The only ethical and reasonable way to advertise via E-mail is to first obtain a permission, or an opt-in request, from the receiver. The trouble is that this can’t be done via E-mail, as it would be similar to asking someone whether you can ask them a question. What’s the point in doing that, when you’ve already done what you wanted them to allow you to do?