There was a very important news story a few weeks ago that was not covered on most news bulletins - but it certainly should have been.
In fact, this story could mark the beginning of the end of Email as we currently know it.
Here's what happened.....
AOL and Yahoo quietly announced that they want to charge businesses for delivering their emails.
That's right ..... if AOL and Yahoo get their way, when you send an email to your customers in the future, they'll be sending you a bill.
It amounts to the launch of 'Email Stamps.' In the same way that you buy stamps at the moment for normal mail, you and I could have to buy 'Email Stamps' to send emails to our customers.
It'll be a lot cheaper than normal stamps, probably less than one cent per person - but the implications are obviously significant.
The first thing that strikes me about this announcement is that it is so disarmingly obvious and simple - it's bound to take off.... just like the day some bright spark had the idea of putting ads on search engine results.
At the moment, when you or I send an email to our list, the companies that our customers have email accounts with deliver our messages - and it's all included in their hosting or email package.
The new concept is very simple. Those companies want to start charging you and I for the emails we send to their customers.
Their justification is that it will help combat spam. It probably will. Of course, it will also make AOL and Yahoo (and others who are bound to follow) an absolute fortune.
They're going to roll this out over the next few months. They won't force you to pay for email delivery but if you do, your messages will be guaranteed to go directly to the customer and by-pass spam filters. If you don't pay, your messages will join what will probably become a very long queue. (AOL recently took five days to deliver an announcement about one of my Telephone Seminars to AOL users.)
I don't view things like this as good or bad. As the Dalai Lama says: "What is, is." All that matters as business professionals is that we're up to date with what's going on - and most importantly - we're prepared. There could well be an upside to all of this. If people are receiving more targeted emails, yours may have more impact. Plus, if you're smart at Marketing, you and I may need to just adjust to allocating some funds to email, which your competitors may feel they can't afford.
Anyway, the purpose of this message is to just keep you updated. No one is sure yet how this is going to develop. I'll be monitoring it and I'll keep you posted.
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