E-mail service provider
Encyclopedia
One type of email service provider (ESP) is an organization which provides email servers to send, receive, and store email
for other organizations and/or end users. Such an ESP may provide the service to the general public for personal email (e.g. Yahoo Mail, Hotmail
, Gmail
, AOL Mail, Pobox
and many others) or it may provide the service only to its members (e.g. subscribers, employees of a business, college alumni associations, professional organizations, etc). An ESP may be a division of a much larger organization whose primary function is not email (e.g. Google
owns Gmail) or it may be an email specialist (e.g. Pobox). An Internet Service Provider (ISP) which provides Internet access to end users is almost always an ESP too. An ESP's services are typically paid for by subscription, as part of membership, or through advertising. Users may access their email via webmail, POP3
or IMAP
protocols depending on the policies of the ESP. This type of ESP does not generally condone the sending of bulk email through their servers, plus they frequently employ filters to prevent spam from entering their customers' in-boxes.
The other type of email service provider, a commercial ESP, is a company which offers email marketing or bulk email services. Neither of these terms is intended to be synonymous with spam or the sending of unwanted or unsolicited bulk email of a marketing or otherwise offensive nature.
A commercial ESP may provide tracking information showing the status of email sent to each member of an address list. ESPs also often provide the ability to segment an address list into interest groups or categories, allowing the user to send targeted information to people who they believe will value the correspondence.
A commercial ESP will provide a service which may include the following features:
The level of service provided can be according to the above basic features, or the number of subscribers uploaded, or the frequency of use – or any combination of the above criteria.
ESPs of both types typically have terms and conditions (such as an Acceptable Use Policy
) to prevent abuse by users in order to ensure that no spam
is sent through their systems. This is intended to result in the best possible delivery rates, with no messages blocked as spam. Some ESPs work with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to ensure compliance with legalislation and best practices, through organizations such as the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group.
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
for other organizations and/or end users. Such an ESP may provide the service to the general public for personal email (e.g. Yahoo Mail, Hotmail
Hotmail
Windows Live Hotmail, formerly known as MSN Hotmail and commonly referred to simply as Hotmail, is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group. It was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and launched in July 1996 as "HoTMaiL". It was one of the first...
, Gmail
Gmail
Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...
, AOL Mail, Pobox
Pobox
Pobox.com is a service of IC Group, Inc. Pobox.com is sometimes used to refer to both the service and its parent company. The company and service were founded in 1995 by Meng Weng Wong and Reuven Bell while they were students at the University of Pennsylvania...
and many others) or it may provide the service only to its members (e.g. subscribers, employees of a business, college alumni associations, professional organizations, etc). An ESP may be a division of a much larger organization whose primary function is not email (e.g. Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
owns Gmail) or it may be an email specialist (e.g. Pobox). An Internet Service Provider (ISP) which provides Internet access to end users is almost always an ESP too. An ESP's services are typically paid for by subscription, as part of membership, or through advertising. Users may access their email via webmail, POP3
Post Office Protocol
In computing, the Post Office Protocol is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP and IMAP are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern...
or IMAP
Internet Message Access Protocol
Internet message access protocol is one of the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval, the other being the Post Office Protocol...
protocols depending on the policies of the ESP. This type of ESP does not generally condone the sending of bulk email through their servers, plus they frequently employ filters to prevent spam from entering their customers' in-boxes.
The other type of email service provider, a commercial ESP, is a company which offers email marketing or bulk email services. Neither of these terms is intended to be synonymous with spam or the sending of unwanted or unsolicited bulk email of a marketing or otherwise offensive nature.
A commercial ESP may provide tracking information showing the status of email sent to each member of an address list. ESPs also often provide the ability to segment an address list into interest groups or categories, allowing the user to send targeted information to people who they believe will value the correspondence.
A commercial ESP will provide a service which may include the following features:
- Ability to create templates for sending to contacts and/or the use of templates pre-made
- A subscriber list, which is uploaded by the user for distributing messages. This may be enhanced with custom fields in order to hold additional information for each subscriber for filtering and targeted messaging purposes
- A send engine, which allows users to distribute their message to the subscribers
- Updating of the subscriber list to suppress those requesting to be unsubscribed
- Statistical reviews of each email sent to measure the success rate of the campaigns
- Testing of templates for compatibility with email applications
- Spam testing to gauge the score of the email against known factors that will place the template at risk of being blocked
- The ability to send both html and plain text formats to improve delivery success rates (known as Multi-Part MIME)
The level of service provided can be according to the above basic features, or the number of subscribers uploaded, or the frequency of use – or any combination of the above criteria.
ESPs of both types typically have terms and conditions (such as an Acceptable Use Policy
Acceptable use policy
An acceptable use policy is a set of rules applied by the owner/manager of a network, website or large computer system that restrict the ways in which the network site or system may be used...
) to prevent abuse by users in order to ensure that no spam
Spam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
is sent through their systems. This is intended to result in the best possible delivery rates, with no messages blocked as spam. Some ESPs work with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to ensure compliance with legalislation and best practices, through organizations such as the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group.