Yesmail
Encyclopedia
Yesmail, an email marketing solutions provider, is headquartered in Portland
, Oregon
and has offices in San Francisco, New York
, Chicago
, Atlanta, Omaha
, Toronto
, and London
.
Yesmail and Walter Karl are the interactive division of Infogroup, a $700 million public company and include sister companies Onesource, infoUK, and Opinion Research. Yesmail’s clients come from a variety of sectors including consumer products, retail, publishing, travel and finance.
in 1995 and was later named Starting Point Directory
in 1997, the company became one of the top 10 most visited sites on the web
. The company was created after its initial business, WebPromote, Inc. and its founders, Ken Wruk, Kevin Manley, John Weiss, and Keith Speer merged with a new firm founded by Mike Santer, Alex Hern and executives David Tolmie (CEO) and Peder Jungck (CTO) in early 1999. The new firm was named Yesmail.com and built a rapidly growing email marketing business with many large clients. The business grew based on its ability to use technology
to manage its database
of millions of e-mail addresses. Yesmail’s growth led to a $37 million IPO in the fall of 1999, and was acquired by CMGI
in 2000 for $520 million. Yesmail was later acquired by infoUSA in 2003.
In November, 2006, Yesmail agreed to pay a $50,717 civil penalty
to settle Federal Trade Commission
charges that it violated the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
by sending unsolicited commercial e-mails after consumers asked it to stop doing so. The FTC
charged Yesmail, doing business as @Once at the time of the violation in 2004, with sending e-mail
messages on behalf of its clients more than 10 business days after recipients had opted out. Citing the problem as one of the minor technical issues allowed under the Act, and not a violation of federal law
, Yesmail deemed the charges too costly to fight, and agreed to settle.
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and has offices in San Francisco, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Atlanta, Omaha
Omaha
Omaha may refer to:*Omaha , a Native American tribe that currently resides in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Nebraska-Places:United States* Omaha, Nebraska* Omaha, Arkansas* Omaha, Georgia* Omaha, Illinois* Omaha, Texas...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Yesmail and Walter Karl are the interactive division of Infogroup, a $700 million public company and include sister companies Onesource, infoUK, and Opinion Research. Yesmail’s clients come from a variety of sectors including consumer products, retail, publishing, travel and finance.
History
Yesmail first started as a Web directoryWeb directory
A web directory or link directory is a directory on the World Wide Web. It specializes in linking to other web sites and categorizing those links....
in 1995 and was later named Starting Point Directory
Starting Point Directory
Starting Point Directory is a human edited general web directory that provides websites organized by topic.It was founded in 1995 by an early Internet pioneer Frank Addante as a search engine and a directory. The Starting Point Directory was unusual in 1995 in that sites that were listed in the...
in 1997, the company became one of the top 10 most visited sites on the web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
. The company was created after its initial business, WebPromote, Inc. and its founders, Ken Wruk, Kevin Manley, John Weiss, and Keith Speer merged with a new firm founded by Mike Santer, Alex Hern and executives David Tolmie (CEO) and Peder Jungck (CTO) in early 1999. The new firm was named Yesmail.com and built a rapidly growing email marketing business with many large clients. The business grew based on its ability to use technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
to manage its database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
of millions of e-mail addresses. Yesmail’s growth led to a $37 million IPO in the fall of 1999, and was acquired by CMGI
CMGI
ModusLink Global Solutions, formerly CMGI Inc., is an American technology and venture capital company, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. The company supplies a range of internet and communications services, mostly to computer companies, its biggest customer being Hewlett-Packard Company...
in 2000 for $520 million. Yesmail was later acquired by infoUSA in 2003.
In November, 2006, Yesmail agreed to pay a $50,717 civil penalty
Civil penalty
A civil penalty or civil fine is a term used to describe when a state entity, government agency, or private party seeks monetary relief against an individual as restitution for wrongdoing by the individual. The wrongdoing is typically defined by a codification of legislation, regulations, and decrees...
to settle Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
charges that it violated the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 , signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 16, 2003, establishes the United States' first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail and requires the Federal Trade Commission to enforce its provisions...
by sending unsolicited commercial e-mails after consumers asked it to stop doing so. The FTC
FTC
FTC may refer to:- Organizations :* Federal Trade Commission, a US agency for consumer protection* Ferencvárosi TC, a Hungarian sports club* Financial Training Center Limited, a training institution in Tanzania...
charged Yesmail, doing business as @Once at the time of the violation in 2004, with sending e-mail
E-mail
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...
messages on behalf of its clients more than 10 business days after recipients had opted out. Citing the problem as one of the minor technical issues allowed under the Act, and not a violation of federal law
Federal law
Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join together in a federation, surrendering their individual sovereignty and many powers to the central government while...
, Yesmail deemed the charges too costly to fight, and agreed to settle.
Products
Yesmail develops multi-channel marketing technology for small, mid-level, and large businesses.- Yesmail Enterprise: A multi-channel marketing platform with solutions for e-mail campaign management, database information management, social mediaSocial mediaThe term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
and mobile marketingMobile MarketingMobile marketing can refer to one of two categories of interest. First, and relatively new, is meant to describe marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a cell phone using SMS Marketing....
, integrated data analysisData analysisAnalysis of data is a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of highlighting useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision making...
, and media solutions for large enterprises. - Yesmail Express: A self-service email marketing solution geared to assist mid-sized businesses.
- Yesmail Direct: A small business online marketing portal including email marketing, direct marketingDirect marketingDirect marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional...
and customer acquisition. - Yesmail Professional Services: Consulting services for interactive marketing strategy, deep analyticsAnalyticsAnalytics is the application of computer technology, operational research, and statistics to solve problems in business and industry. Analytics is carried out within an information system: while, in the past, statistics and mathematics could be studied without computers and software, analytics has...
analysis and program assessments - Yesmail Media: Acquisition solutions including data append, email update, co-registration and list and media management
- Yesmail Data Boost: A product module that allows clients to fill in the holes of their subscriber data mart.
- Yesmail Prospector: A product module that allows clients to build their subscriber base with new targeted vertical customers through opt-in the campaigns
Awards and recognitions
- Internet Retailer: Top Three Email Marketing Vendor
- 2008 Best Email Newsletter for Marketing Purposes
- The Forrester Wave: Email Marketing Service Providers