*Report Says Online Marketers Will Pay to Send E-Mail
During the next two years, large Internet portals, Internet service providers and Web mail providers will begin charging online marketers for the large volume of e-mail being sent across the Web, according to a report from Jupiter Research.In 2005, advertisers will send 268 billion e-mail messages, 22 times the number of messages sent last year, Jupiter Research said. ISPs and e-mail service providers will see nearly 5.6 billion e-mail messages cross their networks for each 1 million subscribers.
"As they restrict access to a user's primary inbox and monetize the delivery of promotional e-mail, advertisers looking to reach consumers online must prepare to pay a premium," said Christopher Todd, an analyst at Jupiter Research.
He also said that as e-mail marketing increases, the business of sending promotional e-mails will likely evolve into a "tier-based" system, with marketers paying more for premium services.
For example, first-tier e-mail would be sent to targeted users' primary inboxes at the time of day when they are most likely to be online. Second-tier messages would be delivered with enhanced fonts and icons to make them stand out from other messages. Standard text messages would be considered third-tier messages and would be sent by standard delivery methods.
Jupiter Research advised marketers to begin factoring the costs of promotional e-mail delivery into their upcoming budgets. The firm also suggested that they consider establishing partnerships with major e-mail providers.
