Goodmail Certified Email Update

Goodmail announced some important developments today surrounding their Certified Email Program. Verizon & Mail.com have added the Certified Email program and will now accept tokens. This addition extends the reach of the Certified Mail Program to include AOL, AT&T, BT, Comcast, MySpace, Road Runner & Telus. In addition to the new ISPs Goodmail has published a new case study with The Territory Ahead.

Although the new ISPs are an exciting development in the reach and depth of the Goodmail product offering it came to light today that Yahoo! (and the domains under the Yahoo! email umbrella), as of February 1st, will have a reduction of privelages for Certified Email. According to Goodmail's blog they are working hard in reestablishing this service and believe that the original vision that helped make Yahoo! one of the early adopters of the vision will prevail and Certified Email will once again be a part of Yahoo!'s service offering.

The short term loss of Yahoo! appears as a transitory blow to the established program. However, rumor has it that Microsoft (Hotmail, Windows Live Mail, MSN), a top tier domain, will be the next addition and partner to the Certified Email Program and that the addition is closer than we may think (in the next quarter or two). Historically, Microsoft has been a long time holdout until now. Embedding Certified Email into the Microsoft offering will offer marketers a wealth of perks for those that have struggled with Hotmail/Windows Live Mail delivery for a variety of reasons.