Email marketing develops large amounts of traffic through smartphones and tablets. Marketers are researching ways to advertise to more users and to make them view advertising for longer. However, the rate of delivery is still relatively low due to better filtering-out of advertising and users having multiple email accounts for different purposes. Because emails are generated according to the tracked behavior of consumers, it is possible to send advertising which is based on the recipient's behavior. Because of this, modern email marketing is perceived more often as a pull strategy rather than a push strategy.

Marketing emails can be sent to a purchased lead list or a current customer database. The term usually refers to sending email messages with the purpose of enhancing a merchant's relationship with current or previous customers, encouraging customer loyalty and repeat business, acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately, and sharing third-party ads.