Enter certified email. It's the online version of the postal concept in which the sender pays a fee to ensure that mail is delivered to the proper address. For email, companies pay a fee to have a special label affixed to their communications that signals the consumer that a third party has inspected the item for authenticity.
Two companies are making certified email a reality. CertifiedMail has already executed several campaigns and appears to have Microsoft's blessing to work within Outlook. Later this month the first mass market applications of certified email will launch on Yahoo! and AOL via an agreement struck between the ISPs and GoodMail.
According to Jupiter Research, the average consumer received 3,253 spam emails in 2005. If you're using email as a marketing and communication tool, that's 3,253 too many.
Read more (subscription reqd.)
thro' Peppers & Rogers Group