News & Press Releases

EmailLabs Outlines Framework for `Trust-Based' Email Marketing

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (June 1, 2004) - Emphasizing that email marketing must go beyond the federal CAN-SPAM law to earn trust and build brand awareness among consumers, EmailLabs, a leading provider of email marketing automation solutions, today called upon marketers to adopt a "trust-based" email marketing framework.

A trust-based approach is not only good policy -- it enhances the bottom line through improved delivery and response rates, and stronger and more loyal customer relationships, according to Loren McDonald, EmailLabs vice president of marketing, and Kirill Popov, the company's director of ISP relations and delivery. The two executives outlined the framework during a recent webinar entitled, "Beyond CAN-SPAM: Building a Trust-Based Email Marketing Program."

The archived webinar can be viewed at http://events.raindance.com/icc/attendee/login?username=guest&password=guest&oldurl=/atc/replay?flighturl=/flights/5283165/Beyond_the_Can_Spam_Act.itm ; the PowerPoint presentation downloaded at http://www.emaillabs.com/raindance.html ; and an article based on the webinar is available at http://www.emaillabs.com/email_marketing_articles/article_beyondCANSPAM.html

With passage of the CAN-SPAM Act earlier this year, email recipients have entered a new era of "customer control" -- thanks to such technologies as spam filters, block lists, ISP feedback, the ability to change email addresses easily, and challenge response systems, McDonald and Popov noted. The building blocks of a trust-based framework include "best practice" approaches to permission, privacy, reputation, consumer preferences, expectation management and full regulatory compliance.

"By sending email messages, companies are effectively 'playing in the recipient's sandbox,' and they must assure customers that they understand their rights and are adhering to the rules of proper email etiquette," said Popov. "Focusing on this privacy and trust-centric approach will result in higher ROI and increased deliverability. But beyond that, it's simply the right thing to do. If legitimate email marketers will voluntarily embrace a higher standard of transparency, we will elevate the entire industry and further distinguish ourselves from those who spam."

"There is lingering confusion and uncertainty about the CAN-SPAM requirements, and how to structure an e-mail marketing strategy that instills trust," said McDonald. "A trust-based initiative is the next logical step for the industry. We now have an opportunity to be proactive in shaping a standard that will be embraced by all legitimate, permission-based email marketers."

EmailLabs recently announced its own "trust-based" initiative -- a new administrative utility that is designed to ease CAN-SPAM compliance and even go beyond the federal requirements by facilitating open communication between email marketers and recipients.

Its new administrative utility takes the form of a predictable area of information and links in every email marketing message where the recipient knows he or she can find certain components of CAN-SPAM-compliant emails -- for example, the mandated postal mailing address and opt-out areas -- and such best practices elements as format preference, change email address feature, privacy policy link and more.

"It's in the best interest of everyone involved -- marketers, recipients and the industry as a whole -- to adopt a trust-based initiative," said McDonald.

As part of the online event, participants were surveyed on both the level of CAN-SPAM compliance and overall email marketing quality within their organizations. Nearly three-fourths said that they believed or were "pretty certain" that their companies were in compliance with the federal anti-spam law. While a third of respondents characterized their companies' e-mail marketing programs in terms of privacy, permission and trust-based practices as only "fair" or "poor," a substantial majority expressed overall satisfaction. "Clearly, there is still work to be done," McDonald said, "but with CAN-SPAM has come the opportunity to raise these fundamental issues about how email marketing is being done -- and how it should be done."

About EmailLabs
EmailLabs is a leading provider of high-performance email marketing solutions to agencies, publishers and marketing departments of middle-market and Global 2000 companies. The EmailLabs email marketing platform is provided as an ASP (Web-based) service, and is easily integrated with a company's Web site, sales force automation and CRM technologies through EmailLabs' application programming interface (API). For the fourth consecutive year, EmailLabs has been recognized by ASPnews.com as one of the Top 50 ASPs worldwide and as a Top 25 Service Provider for the Software-as-a Service (SaaS) and Business Service Provider category. The company provides email marketing solutions to more than 550 companies, including Nokia, Agilent, PalmSource and Jupitermedia. Headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., EmailLabs was founded in 1999 and is a subsidiary of Lyris, Inc. (OTCBB:JLHY). For more information, visit www.EmailLabs.com.