Potential e-marketing money-spinner panned as unworkable

NEWS But the plan has been blasted as old hat, unworkable on this side of the Atlantic and is liable to be banned by imminent European and UK directives. Jupiter is proposing that ISPs run a complex four-tier system with as many mailboxes for customers and charge premium rates for carrying promotional emails to them. Christopher Todd, analyst at Jupiter, said: "On the consumer side, this could be the end of spam as we know it. Consumer email users will adopt and accept new delivery tiers as they realise increased efficacy within their primary inbox." James Roper, CEO of the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), said: "It's fatuous. I'm surprised that Jupiter's proposed it - their quality is generally high. It's another one of those get-rich-quick schemes that are plaguing the development of ecommerce. "We're moving into a world where the customer is in charge, and I don't think that this will wash. Email is of limited value in getting the information across. There are newer and better methods coming along." At the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA), they'd heard it all before and seen all the drawbacks. Nick Lanson, secretary general of ISPA, said: "This isn't very new. Most ISPs see spam as a problem that they have to pay to carry and that their customers have to pay to receive. And it's likely that this won't be possible under directives coming through in Brussels and the UK on both distance selling and data protection." He added: "It's likely that there will be some sort of requirement for a clear opt-in process for receiving promotional material. This will limit things but will probably be an opportunity for better marketing.