Time-Tested Email

Magazine's marketers improve email response rate with 'trusted' class of email that bypasses ISP spam filters

1 Min Read
Dark Reading logo in a gray background | Dark Reading

Okay, so now there's good spam and bad spam.

Time Consumer Marketing Inc. this week completed a test of a new "trusted" email certification service that lets advertisers bypass Internet service providers' spam filters for a fee.

In a three-month test, Time used Goodmail Systems' CertifiedEmail service, in which accredited senders with good email practices can choose to send their marketing messages with a cryptographically-secure "token." The token enables the messages to be delivered directly to the service provider customer's mailbox intact, without being filtered or stripped of key content by anti-phishing tools.

Eventually, CertifiedEmail might become a "class of service" that enterprises can purchase on a per-message basis to help ensure the intact delivery of their marketing materials.

Interestingly, Time executives said they did not see much difference in the rate of successful delivery via the Goodmail service during the trial. However, the customers who received the Goodmail messages, which are marked with a "certified" tag, were about 30 percent more likely to click on them and follow the links inside.

"CertifedEmail messages resulted in higher click-throughs and improved response rates," said Ernie Vickroy, a marketing director at Time Consumer Marketing.

Proponents of "Net neutrality," however, cited the service as another example in which senders with deep pockets will enjoy different treatment of their Internet traffic than everyday senders. A spokesman from MoveOn.org Civic Action said his organization opposes the new service.

— Tim Wilson, Site Editor, Dark Reading

  • Goodmail Systems Inc.

About the Author

Tim Wilson, Editor in Chief, Dark Reading

Contributor

Tim Wilson is Editor in Chief and co-founder of Dark Reading.com, UBM Tech's online community for information security professionals. He is responsible for managing the site, assigning and editing content, and writing breaking news stories. Wilson has been recognized as one of the top cyber security journalists in the US in voting among his peers, conducted by the SANS Institute. In 2011 he was named one of the 50 Most Powerful Voices in Security by SYS-CON Media.

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