Spam is obviously a large obstacle, but is this a step in the right direction for the future of email marketing? I don’t think so. That’s not to say this will fail to serve as a short-term solution and we as an email marketing provider will not look into taking advantage of this on behalf of our clients, but I don’t see this as a long term solution for increasing deliverability. I view this more as a band-aid cure. There’s no easy or immediate solution for the issues with spam, so it’s a viable option for now, but not the ultimate answer.
By charging senders for assured delivery we are not addressing the problem, which is spam. AOL and Yahoo obviously have self-interest in this as it increases their revenues from email, but what about email marketers? What happens when many ISPs implement a similar strategy? Will only the email marketers who can afford it receive the highest deliverability rates? This doesn’t sound like the best solution.
As long as ISPs continue their whitelist programs I don’t see this greatly impacting the future of email marketing. I believe ISPs will continue to use whitelists, which will continue to serve as a viable alternative for email marketers. Ultimately, the future of email marketing lies not in charging for deliverability, but in finding a solution to further dampen the sending of unsolicited email.
-Brandon Milford, Director of Marketing
Broadwick Corp.
As a founding member of the Email Sender and Provider Coalition (established in 2003), Constant Contact continues to play a leading role in finding workable solutions to today’s spam and email deliverability problems, and in protecting the integrity of email as a communications tool. While we support any initiative that helps preserve and improve email delivery, we also believe that businesses and organizations of all types and sizes should have access to any new standards or programs.
Small businesses are a key driver of economic growth in the United States, generating more than 50 percent of the non-farm private GDP. In addition, small businesses represent 99.7 percent of employer firms and create three-quarters of all new net jobs in the U.S. today. With small businesses having such an important role in the economy and a reliance on email, any new pilot program for email should be made available and affordable to all businesses, regardless of their size.
It is too early to tell how the Goodmail pay for email model with affect the future of email marketing, due to its relative infancy and small sample size. However, as it develops, it will be important that all business levels are taken into consideration for, and have access to, any new programs or accreditation services. Small businesses and non-profits will need any accreditation and reputation system to have low barriers to entry, including price, process, and technology implementation.
Email marketing has grown exponentially over the past few years, as all types of small and medium sized businesses and organizations have come to realize the benefits that email communication can have in their marketing strategy and business growth. They have also seen cost-effectiveness of email as a marketing and communications vehicle. It's important that email remain an affordable means of communication to audiences, while also ensuring that delivery levels remain high and its integrity protected.
-Gail Goodman, CEO,
Constant Contact
