Goodmail Systems’ plans for 2007 include a new proof-of-delivery product and a marketing push aimed at educating consumers about Certified Email, said the company’s chief executive Richard Gingras.
Almost exactly a year ago, AOL roiled the e-mail industry and some non-profits by announcing it was phasing out its enhanced whitelist and implementing Goodmail’s Certified Email program under which senders who meet certain standards can pay a quarter cent per e-mail to have their messages guaranteed to reach AOL address holders’ inboxes with graphics and links intact.
The controversy has long since died down, and now, according to Gingras, more than 300 mailers are sending Certified Email to AOL and Yahoo e-mail boxes.
Gingras added that the company is set to announce three more major ISPs under contract in the first half of 2007, and that two more are on the verge of signing. He declined to name any of them.
He said that as a result of the new signings, ISPs implementing Goodmail will account for between 55% and 60% of the typical consumer marketer’s e-mail file.
Gingras added that Goodmail also plans in 2007—probably in the second quarter—to launch a legal proof-of-delivery product so e-mail can be used for official communications.
The product will be a step “toward allowing e-mail to be a medium or record, which it is not today because of the loss of reliability and trust,” he said.
Gingras said the company is still rejecting three quarters of applicants because their e-mail practices don’t meet Goodmail’s standards.
“We have rejected Fortune 100 companies,” he said. “There are things they can do to clean up their act and when they do, they’ll more than likely qualify.”
He added that the company plans to begin educating consumers about Certified Email.
“How extensively and when is something we’re working through, but there’s no question we will be launching efforts to better educate consumers about certified e-mail, particularly as we have more messages going through AOL and Yahoo,” he said.
In November Goodmail announced it secured $12 million in funding in a round led by new investor SoftBank Capital.
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