E-Mail Fees Could Change the E-Commerce Landscape

[Kristijntje]

Companies will soon have to buy the electronic equivalent of a postage stamp if they want to be certain that their e-mail will be delivered to many of their customers.

America Online and Yahoo, two of the world's largest providers of e-mail accounts, are about to start using a system that gives preferential treatment to messages from companies that pay from 1/4 of a cent to a penny each to have them delivered. The senders must promise to contact only people who have agreed to receive their messages, or risk being blocked entirely.

full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/techno....html?_r=2&hp&ex=1139115600&en=adc81ef8bbdf0746&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[mandy]

Another article on this topic:

The news that AOL and Yahoo are planning to roll out a certified e-mail delivery service based on partner company Goodmail Systems' CertifiedEmail methodology is leading some e-mail marketers and related providers of e-commerce  services to conclude that a sea-change -- largely unwelcome -- is underway in their industry.

Paying for premium access to e-mail recipients could have just as large an impact as the "net neutrality" issue...

Net neutrality" is the controversial idea that telecom providers should charge additional fees to companies that send large files -- music or videos or consumer VoIP services -- to their clients over the Internet. "These two movements could change the economies of Internet commerce, so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out,"...

full article: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/48705.html

[mandy]

America Online on Wednesday apparently began blocking e-mail on its servers containing the Web address of a petition against the company's upcoming certified-mail program, an issue the company called a "glitch."

Dearaol.com is a coalition of companies and individuals against AOL's adoption of GoodMail's CertifiedEmail, an antispam program that requires marketers to pay to ensure delivery of their e-mail messages and circumvent spam filters. The Web site contains an open letter and a petition that calls on people to protest what it calls an "e-mail tax" that would inhibit the Internet's inherent free flow of information and create a two-tiered system....

The e-mail tax, which could amount to a penny per e-mail sent, would essentially line AOL's pockets for ensuring delivery for affluent mass mailers...

full article: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6061089.html

[accentnepal]

My Yahoo spam filter has been grabbing legit mail for a few months now - sometimes individual notes from employees addressed to me.

So that is the plan - turn the spam filter way up and then charge companies to avoid it -- bet the outcome is lots more spam for you and me.

[bargainbloodhound]

So that is the plan - turn the spam filter way up and then charge companies to avoid it -- bet the outcome is lots more spam for you and me.

Umm, yeah, I think that's the general consensus.  AOL's plan (and Yahoo's) will do little, if anything, to fight spam but will provide a nice revenue boost for both companies.

[thentavius]

America Online on Wednesday apparently began blocking e-mail on its servers containing the Web address of a petition against the company's upcoming certified-mail program, an issue the company called a "glitch."

Freedom at its finest.

[regic]

Freedom at its finest.

As long as AOL tells their users they believe in freedom nobody will notice that their actions say otherwise.  Look at the government's words about believing in freedom versus their actions in actively repressing constitutionally guaranteed freedoms (freedom of speech, privacy rights, etc.) this decade to see a perfect example of this strategy in action.

[Kristijntje]

Update: initial testing of the Goodmail system by Time Inc showed increased click rates, but the system wasn't any more effective than regular email in making it past spam filters.

E-mail marketers at Time saw a significant increase in the effectiveness of their campaigns when testing a delivery system that certifies the origin of electronic messages.

The system, Goodmail, is designed to create a trusted class of bulk e-mail that won't be hampered by spam filters imposed by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). For inclusion in that class, bulk mailers would pay Goodmail on a per message basis.

In the Time experiment, which targeted the company's magazine subscribers who are AOL members, Goodmail marketing pieces generated click-through rates that were 30 percent higher than messages without the technology; recipients logging into Time Web sites from the messages were 28 percent higher; and customers choosing a service option after viewing the mail were 27 percent higher...

full article: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/PVNB...Test.xhtml