Goodmail from the User Perspective

I've found Goodmail is one of those companies/topics that tends to polarize marketers and technologists alike. In one camp, you have the "Apathetics" who don't feel enough information is available to draw any conclusions about the service or they're otherwise skeptical. They may believe that their current deliverability rates and sender reputation are "good enough" and that's it's not necessary to pay for having premium delivery status. In the other corner, you have the "Evangelists" who are constantly looking to push the envelope in terms of trying any perceived "latest-and-greatest" technology or service. In some cases, they are desperate to get into the inbox and are willing to try any mousetrap holding this promise. Regardless of what side of the argument you might fall, the one thing that hasn't been widely discussed is the Goodmail experience from the recipient perspective.

If you speak to anyone from Goodmail, one of the value propositions they'll mention is that messages signed with CertifiedEmail tokens stand out from other mail in the inbox. Here's what the recipient sees:





Note the blue envelope to the left of the From: name. I would have to agree with Goodmail on this point, though I'm not sure if this is in a positive or negative way. You'll also notice that Yahoo adds some explanatory verbiage if one clicks on a tokenized mailing. Though the recipient is invited to click through to get a more detailed description of what Goodmail is and why such messages are safer than other e-mail, I believe some recipients will actually be freaked out by the icon and will write the message off as just another elaborate phishing attempt made on securing some personal information.

However, as you also see at the bottom of the screenshot, a highly-viable benefit to the marketer is that images are enabled by default even if only viewing using the preview pane.

So, as new advancements like Goodmail continue to be made to help increase trust in the e-mail channel and improve overall deliverability (oh no, the "d" word again), you should also be mindful as to how your subscribers will react to these breakthroughs. Stay vigilant with your comparative testing processes and keep in tune with your audience as you introduce new technologies like Goodmail to your e-mail efforts.