Q: Authentication plays a key role in e-mail deliverability. What is the landscape of authentication today?
A: Authentication has obviously really taken off and come a long way. I think that when you look at e-mail, you have to understand that authentication is one piece of many components, such as the security in a message, sending patterns, and all the way down to things like trust marketing, for example. We have the ability to detect instantaneously if someone is sending volumes that seem atypical. We are very supportive of all of the authentication things that are happening out there.
Q: How does Goodmail fit into e-mail deliverability?
A: Over the past couple of years, Goodmail has two major accomplishments. The first is certifying good e-mail for delivery. The second thing is building a coalition across b-to-c senders, ESPs and ISPs that enables us to deliver e-mail to 65%-70% of consumer mailboxes in the US. So now we are really starting to see volume move through this system — 1.3 billion messages in March and 1.6 billion messages in April — and rising quite quickly.
Q: In this landscape, what is your goal for your new position?
A: The goal is to establish CertifiedEmail as a standard within the market from a consumer standpoint, where not only do consumers trust CertifiedEmail, but expect it. Another goal is senders viewing CertifiedEmail as a way that their messages are actually getting delivered with images intact. We are looking for broad acceptance of CertifiedEmail, then we will start to add some advertising products on top of that, including things like video and enabling Javascript within e-mail, which now triggers spam filters. There are a lot of great things that can be done for marketers if you can ensure that the e-mail will be delivered.
Q: Do you think that e-mail delivery is becoming more difficult?
A: The industry is broken into many dimensions right now. Most of it begins with consumer trust. Something like 55% of consumers won’t open an e-mail from their bank because they are so afraid of phishing and spam, and 86% of consumers will delete e-mail without opening it. So this is a very fundamental issue. I was speaking to someone recently who told me that 25% of their e-mails end up in spam filters, and this is affecting their ability to grow their business. We believe that Goodmail is one credible solution to this deliverability and trust problem.
Q: Are consumers becoming more educated about certification in e-mails?
A: That is on our to-do list. Right now we are working with the ISPs that represent a majority of consumer mailboxes. I have an AOL account and I get a couple CertifiedEmails a day. We are just now starting to bubble up, and the goal over the next year is to grow our share of mailbox to the point where people are seeing a lot of messages with our blue ribbon logo.
