(Deliverability) Pay to play at AOL (NEW UPDATE)
Latest posts | Feed | | By Mark Brownlow
Last week, it was reported that AOL were phasing out their enhanced whitelisting system and replacing it with a for-fee certified email system run by Goodmail.
This is no longer the case. According to this report, the enhanced whitelist remains in place for 2006 at least, albeit in a more restrictive form.
What we do know is that senders with an appropriate certificate from Goodmail are automatically routed to @aol.com inboxes with all links and images displaying normally (the same is true at Yahoo, by the way).
The original suggestion (from AOL) was that this certification would replace the enhanced whitelist, which would cease to exist by June 2006.
Certification guarantees delivery with all links and images intact. However, not being certified does *not* mean non-delivery. You can still get on the basic and enhanced AOL whitelists. And you can still get delivered if you pass AOL's anti-spam mechanisms which can see you filtered out, etc.
The wider issue is whether this switch to a "pay to guarantee delivery" alternative is an exception or the thin edge of a wedge. If the latter, then the economics of email marketing begin to change.
How they change depends on pricing (Goodmail certification costs money on a per email basis) and the benefits of guaranteed deliverability. The NY Times article below has some figures on costs.
Another key issue is how Goodmail's certification process stands up to scrutiny from a consumer perspective.
Here some links to explore...
News reports and articles, usually with quotes from both sides...
>> Background on the whitelist situation
>> NY Times article
>> Direct article (includes quotes from Goodmail)
>> Mediapost report
>> ClickZ report
Commentaries from industry leaders
>> Overview of different commentaries
>> Matt Blumberg (ReturnPath)
>> Follow-up from Matt and another one
>> Bill Nussey (Silverpop)
>> L-Soft (with a different angle - the impacts on large senders who are *not* commercial)
Misc
>> Comment in the Goodmail FAQ
>> Goodmail CertifiedEmail Service
This is no longer the case. According to this report, the enhanced whitelist remains in place for 2006 at least, albeit in a more restrictive form.
What we do know is that senders with an appropriate certificate from Goodmail are automatically routed to @aol.com inboxes with all links and images displaying normally (the same is true at Yahoo, by the way).
The original suggestion (from AOL) was that this certification would replace the enhanced whitelist, which would cease to exist by June 2006.
Certification guarantees delivery with all links and images intact. However, not being certified does *not* mean non-delivery. You can still get on the basic and enhanced AOL whitelists. And you can still get delivered if you pass AOL's anti-spam mechanisms which can see you filtered out, etc.
The wider issue is whether this switch to a "pay to guarantee delivery" alternative is an exception or the thin edge of a wedge. If the latter, then the economics of email marketing begin to change.
How they change depends on pricing (Goodmail certification costs money on a per email basis) and the benefits of guaranteed deliverability. The NY Times article below has some figures on costs.
Another key issue is how Goodmail's certification process stands up to scrutiny from a consumer perspective.
Here some links to explore...
News reports and articles, usually with quotes from both sides...
>> Background on the whitelist situation
>> NY Times article
>> Direct article (includes quotes from Goodmail)
>> Mediapost report
>> ClickZ report
Commentaries from industry leaders
>> Overview of different commentaries
>> Matt Blumberg (ReturnPath)
>> Follow-up from Matt and another one
>> Bill Nussey (Silverpop)
>> L-Soft (with a different angle - the impacts on large senders who are *not* commercial)
Misc
>> Comment in the Goodmail FAQ
>> Goodmail CertifiedEmail Service
[This post brought to you by Campaigner Email Marketing]
Permalink | February 06, 2006 | 0 comment(s) - add yours!
Get posts like this: as an RSS feed | biweekly email | via Twitter
Permalink | February 06, 2006 | 0 comment(s) - add yours!
Get posts like this: as an RSS feed | biweekly email | via Twitter
Sign-up for the Email Marketing Reports NEWSLETTER
Twice a month, free, packed with email marketing advice and all the posts from this blog.
Twice a month, free, packed with email marketing advice and all the posts from this blog.
0 Comments:
