Best Practices for Email Marketing: The Three Levels of Consent

We’re all familiar with the term “best practice.” But, we all also know that the phrase can mean different things to different people, and in many cases is now synonymous with “mediocrity.” That’s why I want to make it clear that the best best practice is one that serves all who are involved in what is happening. In email marketing, the best best practice should serve the end user (the person receiving the email), the ISP or domain who has to receive the mail on the end user’s behalf, the ESP or entity sending the mail on behalf of the sender/marketer and, finally, the sender/marketer. Each of these parties has its own expectation of how email marketing should be performed. But does one have more priority than another?