When did email marketing start?

Email marketing became a deliberate practice in the 1990s, when businesses realized email could reach large audiences at very low cost. This was helped by the rise of commercial ESPs and the spread of consumer email accounts.

The true turning point came with Seth Godin's 1999 book "Permission Marketing," which introduced the idea of opt in marketing, sending only to people who explicitly wanted to hear from you. This concept evolved into the double opt in standard used today.

It was the moment senders discovered they could sail a fleet of trusted ships instead of forcing unwanted cargo into every port.