Advertiser

This is the siteowner or merchant -- you.

List Owner

Usually the company that owns the website where opt-in e-mails addresses are collected. List owners seldom manage their own lists, but contract with a list manager to do this.

List Manager

Employed by the list owner to represent and manage the list. Some list managers have aggregated many lists into a network of 20 million or more e-mail addresses that can be sliced and diced by demographic and interest characteristics.

List Broker

Works for the advertiser to find appropriate lists in which to advertise, and coordinates the process of procuring the lists from list managers and getting the e-mail message approved and sent out.

E-Mail Service Provider

If the list manager doesn't have in-house e-mail broadcasting software and hardware, the list manger will usually specify an exclusive e-mail company who will send out the e-mails. Also removes duplicate e-mail addresses from multiple lists (called "merge and purge" and "deduping") so the final mail-out will not include duplicates.

Copywriter

Writes the "creative" or e-mail message text. Good copywriting can make the difference between a great campaign and a bomb.

Designer

Takes the text copy and turns it into HTML with appropriate layout and images. Builds in tracking codes for the URLs.