Opt-In/Opt-Out Marketing

ALSO CALLED: Opt-in E-mail, Opt-In/Opt-Out
DEFINITION: Opt-in email is a Web marketing term for email that recipients have previously requested bysigning up at a Web site or special ad banner.Typically, Web users are invited to sign up for promotional information about one or morecategories of products or services. Those who sign up have thus "opted in." Anyone sending thememail as a result hopes that the message will not be perceived as unwanted spam.Several  … 
Definition continues below.

OPT-IN/OPT-OUT MARKETING DEFINITION (continued): …  companies gather sign-ups at their own site or through specially-designed banner ads andthen sell marketers mailing lists of those who have signed up in various interest categories. Themarketer sending opt-in email may remind the recipient that they have previously indicated theywere interested in receiving such email and that this is not spam. The recipient is given anopportunity to be removed from the mailing list if they so choose. The distribution model ofsending unsolicited email (spam) and allowing the recipient to request removal is sometimesreferred to as "opt-out."Opt-in email has been …