It is accepted wisdom that jargon has no place in email marketing. The mantra is to keep your copy simple, keep it clear and keep your email lists full. But it is not that simple.

On a business course a person was asked what SWOT meant and she said: Strengths, weakness and . . . other things. In many ways spot on but it shows the danger of using acronyms. You might confuse. Worse still, you might make your reader think their knowledge is insufficient and stop reading your email. The next step is that horror of email marketing, a click on the unsubscribe button.

But what about RoI, that the most basic business jargon? Should you spell it out and risk patronising or use it and risk losing them in more ways than one? The answer is, of course, it depends.

Successful email marketing depends on you knowing your customers. Your emails lists should not just be a repository of addresses but facts as well. You should know how your customers will respond and write the copy accordingly.

If your customers vary then you have a number of options. You could divide your emails lists into those who are regulars and the beginners. If you can identify those customer who would be irritated by business to business being spelled out and those who would think B2B was a strange chemical formula then your problems are over. Apart from requiring two lots of copy. But what if your information does not go that deep?

Apart from getting more details, you should explain the contraction in the copy. Email marketing depends on being punchy and to the point so the first paragraph should be devoid of both jargon and explanation.

You can put B2B (business to business) or business to business (B2B) depending on which you think would irritate less. The general rule is to go for the former as it makes readers think you have a high opinion of their knowledge level but if you reckon they are ignorant . . .

As with much in email marketing there is no hard and fast rule. Just go the way that you think is best.