175. Email Marketing › history 7.3 history Email is probably ubiquitous to you, but there was a time when there was no email! Email actually predates the Internet, and was first used as a way for users of the same computer to leave messages for each other all the way back in 1961. Ray Tomlinson is credited with creating the first network email application in 1971. He initiated the use of the @ sign and the address structure that we use today (username@hostname) (Crocker). Email was used to send messages to computers on the same network, and is still used for this purpose. It was only in 1993 that large network service providers, such as America Online and Delphi, started to connect their proprietary email systems to the Internet. This began the large scale adoption of Internet email as a global standard. Coupled with standards created in the preceding twenty years, the Internet allowed users on different networks to send each other messages. The first email spam dates back to 1978. Spam is defined as unsolicited commercial or bulk email, and today is said to account for 80 to 85% of all email (Waters 2008). Direct marketing has long played an integral part of marketing campaigns, but the high cost meant that only large companies were able to pursue this. However, with the growth of the Internet, and the use of email to market directly to consumers, marketers have found these costs dropping, and the effectiveness increasing. 7.4 how it works If you consider marketing as communicating with current and potential customers, you will see that every email sent from your organisation should be considered part of your email marketing plan. Think about all the ways a company could make contact with you. Transaction emails: when you request a quote, submit a contact form or seek financial advice there will be a number of emails you may receive. Should you need to communicate with a brand, you will no doubt need to send an email back. Newsletters: these are emails sent to provide information and keep customers informed. They do not necessarily carry an overt promotion, but instead ensure that a customer is in regular contact with the brand.172