Habeas identifies and certifies email marketers who comply with a set of standards and a code of conduct relevant to the European market. This reduces the time Internet Service Providers (ISPs) spend determining if the sender should be included on a whitelist.

The partnership extends Habeas whitelist services into the European Union’s largest Internet economy and allows German email marketers to reach local audiences and other geographical markets more effectively.

"Email reputation is one of the most important issues facing senders today because it ensures their messages reach the inbox and are read by customers," said Sven Karge, head of the content department at eco.

"Through our partnership with Habeas, we are working to increase the legitimacy of the messages people receive, thereby increasing their trust in the senders."
 

Not All Goodmail Partners Have A Whitelist

Microsoft has yet to join the program, a deal that would boost that number to 85 percent. Bulk email senders wanting to bypass the spam filters at Yahoo, AOL, Time Warner Road Runner, Comcast, and Cox, can now do so for a quarter of a cent per email.

Or, as Goodmail competitor and third-party reputation service Habeas’ CEO Des Cahill puts it, at a cost of $2.50 CPM.

Goodmail unveiled its CertifiedEmail product last year amid a storm of controversy when AOL appeared to be forgoing its email whitelists (free sender reputation lists) in favor of fee-based Goodmail.

The press was quick to take note, calling the arrangement an email tax, or a kind of postage that could derail small online businesses and non-profit organizations that depended on bulk email. AOL decided to keep its whitelists after significant public pressure. Yahoo joined up shortly after AOL.

So news a year later that Goodmail is to be put into use at nearly all the major email service providers in the US (except Microsoft and GMail, which announced last year they had no plans to institute a third-party authentication program), sent déjà vu levels to new heights.

The most important question was: Do these email service providers have free whitelists and will they keep them? Or is Goodmail now the only option for bulk emailers looking to reach inboxes with images and links in tact? 

Spokespersons with both Verizon and Time Warner have told WebProNews that they will continue to offer whitelisting and have no plans to phase out the free offering. Cox and Comcast, however, may be a different story.

"Cox does not have a white list," Cox Communications Director of Public Relations Susan Leepson told WebProNews. "All email must go through our spam and virus scanning."

That includes email Cox sends its own subscribers, continues David Deliman, Product Communications Manager for Cox. Deliman clarifies that Goodmail is not a postage-type company, accepting payment to bypass filters.

"Goodmail performs a strict background check on all senders," he said, "and their CertifiedEmail is only available to legitimate organizations whose customers have already opted-in to receive e-mail from the company."

That doesn’t necessarily mean that bulk emailers can have their messages delivered with images and links in-tact. 

Comcast did not return request for comments regarding whitelists and whether or not bulk emailers would have a choice beyond Goodmail.

Though representatives for Goodmail and the ISPs that responded are heavy on the end-user benefit talking points (Goodmail’s Vice President of Marketing David Atlas was reluctant to speak to the sender-side of the issue at all), Cahill thinks there the monetary benefits shouldn’t be ignored.

"I think what Goodmail has proved is that ISPs want to make money off of email," he said.

The ISPs involved wouldn’t speak to the financial arrangements between them and Goodmail Systems, but Atlas says they have a 50/50 split in revenue.

While these arrangements may be beneficial to the end-user (a recent study by the ESPC showed over half of respondents were open to authenticated email), and definitely beneficial to Goodmail and the ISPs in terms of revenue, what of bulk senders?

Atlas says non-profit organizations like the Red Cross, who needs protection from spoofing, can get up to an 85 percent discount. Small businesses, however, are not eligible.

"They haven’t proved that senders can afford to pay Goodmail and the ISPs," said Cahill, who believes the phishing problem can be better addressed via the refinement of industry standards, which is what quarterly-held Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group looks to do.   

Reputation is the backbone to providing longevity for any business. Rarely is a company judged on its own marketing, but rather on the praises (or disillusionments) of customers who have had experience with its particular products and services.

When it comes to online business, the same rule applies. Particularly in e-mail marketing campaigns, there is a thin line between good promotion and spamming inboxes with irrelevant, tacky content. Being relegated to any e-mail client’s spam folder is the kiss of death to any company looking to engage in e-commerce.

Even without shady tactics, however, it’s estimated that the spam filters snag twenty percent of e-mail marketing messages before potential customers even have the opportunity to look them over. It’s one thing to earn a reputation for being a spam company, it’s quite another to have it thrust upon you.

That’s where Habeas comes in, a company specializing in reputation management for e-commerce.

Habeas provides its customers with an e-mail monitoring service designed to proactively manage their message reputations. Habeas monitors more than fifty email blocklists, alerts customers when changes in compliance rules occur and recommends actions on how to address reputation issues.

“E-commerce isn’t the future, it’s now. Today, successful email marketing campaigns are vital to businesses, and a good email reputation is vital to email marketing,” said Habeas CEO Des Cahill.

“Habeas’ email reputation management services help businesses reach their customers and avoid unnecessary spam filters. Reputable vendors reaching their targets results in increased returns.”

Direct marketing can be an effective tool, but only if it actually makes it into the hands of the target demographic. Habeas is a service geared toward making sure that’s exactly what happens.

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Joe is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

Collecting email traffic information from some 140,000 servers, the company runs the IP addresses and domains it collects through the Habeas Reputation Engine, a set of automated tests that calculate and update information about each email sender.

Senders are then assigned to one of three lists: the SafeList, the AcceptList, or the BlockList.

Habeas SafeList represents the IP addresses which pass all of the Habeas Reputation Engine tests. Senders on this list have also passed the Habeas Certify email accreditation program – an email practices validation and compliance program that ensures compliant senders send legitimate email. Habeas says receivers can bypass filtering for emails identified by this list and deliver such email directly to recipient inboxes.

Habeas BlockList represents IP addresses which fail the bulk of the Habeas Reputation Engine tests. As these are IP addresses which fail all (or nearly all) the tests, it is highly likely that these senders are undesirable (i.e., these IP addresses appear to be spammers or phishers).

“With SenderIndex, a sender’s reputation goes beyond black and white lists and relies more on the specific data that enables receivers to make informed decisions on effectively managing inbound email,” said Habeas CEO Des Cahill.

AOL told DM News, “We hope that people will slowly come off the enhanced whitelist and sign up with Goodmail.”

That statement is proof that the Goodmail decision by AOL has absolutely nothing to do with spam and everything to do with money. The AOL whitelist is handpicked by their email support staff and consists entirely of double opt-in publishers. If AOL has determined that these emailers are not spamming why is AOL encouraging them to sign up with Goodmail? Of course, the answer is money.

So over the weekend AOL began feeling the pressure from publishers and competing email certification providers such as Habeas. Can you imagine the outcry from paying AOL subscribers if 99% of their email newsletters, Amazon specials, and banking statements arrived with dead images and links? What would AOL tell their subscribers … that the emailer didn’t pay us to send to them?

So in effect, AOL email would be in a class by itself … a lower class where only metered mail could get through without alteration.

My guess is that AOL will soon reverse course entirely and leave it up to the government to someday tax email.

Read my previous article on this subject …

Rich Ord is the CEO of iEntry, Inc. which publishes over 200 websites and email newsletters.

Rich also publishes his blog WebProBlog which focuses on internet business and marketing trends.

Billed by some as a “protection money scam,” in reality, Habeas simply offers one more assurance that your email will reach its intended audience. Is it a program for everyone? Certainly not. But, those of you with larger lists who frequently send messages that may trigger filters may want to look into their licensing programs.

Unfortunately, Habeas still isn’t a perfect solution for the recipient. That’s because, according to Ms. Mitchell, Habeas doesn’t review email messages sent on a regular basis. That means a publisher could, conceivably, develop a double opt-in list on the premise that each newsletter would be about dog care and instead send list members advertisements from mortgage lenders.

Drawbacks aside, Habeas does present one possible solution to what is a growing problem: the blocking of legitimate email. And now, on to the interview.

Jessica: Anne, thank you for agreeing to this interview! Can you tell me a little bit about your personal vision for Habeas?

Anne: To provide the ultimate solution to deliver deliverability for people who send legitimate email, and to identify the email which recipients want.

Jessica: And you do that using your haiku system, right. Where did the idea for the haikus come from?

Anne: The original Habeas concept was the brainchild of our chairman, Dan Kohn, as was the idea for the Habeas haiku. Dan and I together developed the haiku as it is today.

The reason for the haiku is to provide us with copyright as well as trademark protection. For something to be copyrightable, it has to be creative, and not functional, in nature.

Jessica: So it’s both interesting and functional. That’s great. Now, tell me, why do you think there’s a need for Habeas?

Anne: On the sending side, as receiving systems draw their spam filters ever tighter in an effort to stem the flow of spam, senders need a way to demonstrate that the email they are sending is not spam, and should not be accidentally or improperly tagged, blocked, or bounced as spam, no matter how “spammy” it may look.

On the receiving side, receiving systems need a way to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff – to be able to instantly recognize “this email is definitely not spam, so it should be delivered, and not blocked, and resources need not be expended to try to determine whether it is spam.”

Jessica: So, this is a way for newsletter publishers to avoid worries about filters. How does Habeas affect the average company newsletter publisher with an opt-in list?

Anne: As it stands today, because of content filtering and other sorts of anti-spam solutions, even the cleanest of mailing lists is experiencing problems with deliverability. I recently received a newsletter containing an article about Habeas, wondering why an online marketer or publisher should need to sign up for Habeas, and in that very article the author had intentionally misspelled the word “bulk” as “b^lk” in order to avoid being blocked by spam filters! And *that* is how this affects the average online business owner, and why they need a service like Habeas.

Jessica: Do you see Habeas becoming *the* spam solution, or would you like to see other solutions as well?

Anne: I see us as *a* solution. I don’t think that there will ever be one be-all and end-all solution. But as solutions go, we’re a darned good one!

Jessica: What’s your vision of the future of spam protection and email marketing?

Anne: I think that there will always be spammers who will find ways around even the most rigorous of spam detection systems, and so long as that is the case, legitimate email from legitimate online marketers is going to get caught in the crossfire. The most effective way to avoid that effect is to manage your mailings to the highest standards – we allow marketers to identify their email which meets those standards, so that receiving sites won’t be afraid to accept it and deliver it.

Jessica: And what about you, Anne, how much spam do you find in your inbox on a daily basis?

Anne: I can’t filter out spam, because I need to monitor the spam which is reported to us. I probably get between 100 and 200 pieces a day across all of my accounts. However, I know people who get quite literally thousands of pieces a day.

Jessica: Anne, thank you for spending so much time with me today! I, for one, can’t wait to see if Habeas really makes a difference in inboxes everywhere.

As President and CEO of Habeas, Inc., Anne P. Mitchell, Esq., actively works to help legitimate opt-in email marketers reach their target audience without falling prey to filters. To find out more about Habeas, visit http://www.habeas.com.

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I’m sick of it, too. Believe me, I’d love to be writing about something that’s going to make us all richer, happier, and better off. First, however, we need to deal with securing OUR online freedom. Oh, come on, you say, it’s not all that. Things will work themselves out for the best eventually. Yes, things will work themselves out, I agree, but do you know who it’s going to work out the best for? Those that stand up and make their positions KNOWN!!!

Some of you hate unsolicited email. Fine, I understand. I make fun of some of the stupid emails I get from time to time as well. I hear that ISPs often get used by bulk mailers without their permission, too. I hear that this unregulated bulk mail makes up a large portion of the total volume ISPs handle and that it causes problems. But guess what? If the ISPs can’t control this problem, they will start putting the burden on those of us they can control. That’s where you and I will pay. Up until now the Internet has been a free media. Email has not been restricted. However, if ISPs cannot handle the burden due to unlawful use of their servers, they will be forced to regulate that use by instituting some kind of ‘pay-per-email’ system. We’ve already seen the first of this with the Habeas company. ( Learn more about Habeas in these two articles from the I-cop Whistle Blower http://www.i-cop.org/habeas/part1.htm http://www.i-cop.org/habeas/part2.htm, )

Now, I’m not here to put down Habeas. I don’t like their idea, but they are free to market a product just as anyone else is. However, if we as independent business owners expect to compete in the email marketing arena, even permission based, we are going to have to stand up and be heard. None of the larger corporations, more successful Internet entrepreneurs, or so called ‘big boys’ are going to care about any of this either. All a ‘pay-per-email’ system will do for them, since they can afford it, is shut out their smaller competitors and free more of the market for themselves. Read that again if you didn’t get it.

But hold on, this is NOT an evil plan. This is business in a competitive market, plain and simple. Think back on history. Farms used to be 40 acres and run by families. Now their corporations spanning miles of fields. Individual miners used to make small claims. Now, large companies, resulting from conglomerations of previous owners, are all that are left. As industries grow, individuals go out of business and the big money takes over. That’s just the way competitive markets run. So, if you have any hopes left of getting a chunk of that BIG money, you’ve got to protect the freedom you need in order to have the opportunity. Let’s forget legal action. Let’s forget feuds between individuals. Let’s concentrate on the ONLY force that REALLY can make a difference. The law of supply and demand in an open market. We CAN control unsolicited email through market forces.

1. Do NOT send any unsolicited email yourself.

2. Under NO circumstances will you buy or even investigate any product, opportunity, or service that you learned about from an unsolicited email.

3. Do NOT whine to larger powers or vigilante groups about unsolicited emails you receive. This only fuels the growth of filters and ‘pay-per-email’ systems. Besides there will always be a way around filters, licensed headers, and the like if there is a profit in bulk email advertising. Take away their profit, though, and the bulk mailings will stop.

4. Consider it an obligation to educate others on following the previous three rules.

Simple solution: If there’s no profit in bulk email advertising, people will quit doing it.

Everyone HATES having their email harvested by automated software and placed on some list. But guess what? You can still purchase email harvesting software, bulk email programs, and even sign on with certain ISPs that will gladly let you do it. Why? If everyone hates this so bad, why are these things still for sale? Because there is still a market for it! Heck, there are still some Internet marketing programs that teach this method of marketing. As long as a market is there, products will be sold. So what do we do about it? I’ll say it again. Kill the profits, and you kill the system. In terms of email filters, we also need to sway the market. Companies market what they believe will earn them the best profit. Therefore, if ISPs are advertising email filtering, it’s because they believe it’s what will make them the most profits. If we prove them wrong by verbally demanding an unrestricted email system, they will have to listen.

1. If your ISP filters your email, let them know you do not want that done. Tell them you are capable of handling it yourself and would prefer freedom of choice.

2. Remind them of how faulty their filtering really is. We all get emails we want filtered out or labeled as junk and have seen unsolicited email get through untouched time and time again. It’s just like radar detectors and radar guns. Each time the cops get new radar guns, we’re offered new radar detectors to combat them. It’s a never ending process. Email filters will turn out the same way — only the honest, independent, small businessman will be left holding the bill.

We don’t have the legal means to fight either bulk mailers or filtering software, and to be quite honest, there’s no ruling legislative body that can cover the entire Internet anyway! We do, however, have the means to protect our freedoms through the simplest, yet most powerful force ever known to mankind — the law of supply and demand. As permission based email marketers, we are stuck in the middle of a nasty situation. Bulk mailers on one side and ‘pay- per-email’ systems and filters on the other. In both cases, however, the same simple truth shines through. Kill the market, and you kill the system. This is honestly what I believe. If you agree, get this article out to everyone you know. Spread the word and let’s turn the market to our favor. Kill the market, and you kill the system. There is NO better way we can come together to solve these two growing problems.

If you want email to remain a free media, whether you market through it or not, you’ve got to stand up and be heard. It doesn’t take a shouting voice, just consistent action that tells everyone on BOTH sides of the problem one simple thing… Enough. Don’t disrespect my privacy and don’t take away my freedom of choice. If we don’t stand up now, though, we’ll soon find ourselves without either. It’s time to make a choice and make a stand. Raging debates aside, your vote will be tallied according to what you DO.

And it’s time to do it NOW.

Written by Joe Bingham of the NetPlay Marketer

Joe has written many articles, both informational and humorous,
with the intent of helping others gain a better understanding of
Internet marketing concepts. His ‘tell it like it is’ approach has
many offering the NetPlay Marketer as one of their most favorite
ezines. See for yourself at: http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/