E-mail marketers and industry-watchers were scheduled to meet last night in person and by telephone at the New York offices of NetCreations in an effort to determine if the two separate groups with the shared goal of establishing voluntary e-mail standards could form a single umbrella organization.
The expected meeting sought to bring together the two groups — the E-mail Standards Working Group and the Responsible Electronic Communications Alliance — for the second time in less than a month. The last meeting occurred on August 16th in New York and was attended by over 40 people representing firms such as NetCreations, Yesmail.com, 24/7 Media and DoubleClick and watchdogs like Mail Abuse Prevention Service LLC and Junkbusters.
At that time, the participants spoke briefly about the establishment of special councils that concentrate on different components of the e-mail industry, including customer retention, customer acquisition and others. The bulk of the meeting, however, focused on weighing the reasons why or why not the separate groups should join forces. When it ended the two main groups agreed to go back to their full membership and gauge their interest teaming up.
At last night’s scheduled gathering, the two main groups were supposed to report on whether or not such a union could take place. Another potential topic of discussion was how the council might actually enforce any standards it develops.
