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

Distribution/broadcasting
Sending the approved e-mail out to the approved mailing list.

Bounce
An email that is returned and did not reach the targeted recipient. This can happen for several reasons. The server that holds the address was down, the e-mail was entered incorrectly, it was no longer valid or an auto-responder was in effect. (the person had an automatic response to any incoming e-mails.) Soft bounces are messages that could be sent and the recipients inbox was full or the server was down. Hard bounces usually indicate that the e-mail address is no longer valid.

Open Rate
The percentage or quantity indicating how many e-mails were opened for that campaign release. Some list distribution houses only track the .html versions that were sent. Keep this in mind when determining the success.

Click-Through
The percentage or quantity of messages that retained a link clicked by the viewer. This can be done either by clicking a URL to go to a web site for more information.

Unsubscribed
The percentage or quantity of viewers who decided to OPT-OUT of the list. These would need to be culled from future distribution lists and prevent complaints.

HTML/AOL/TEXT
There are three primary formats that e-mail campaigns are mailed in. Most distribution houses should be able to distribute all three so that the viewer recieves the appropriate version.