Hotmail is in the process of revamping their service. The past year or so, Microsoft had been attempting to move users to the Windows Live brand. It looks like that course has changed, and Hotmail is back in vogue. There are some pretty important changes and features that you should know about if you send email marketing messages. Most senders have a substantial portion of Hotmail addresses in our lists, so when Hotmail does something like this, you should be prepared.
I’ll hit some of the highlights (or lowlights) for you today.
My top concern is the “Sweep” feature. Sweep allows you to get rid of groups of messages from a sender in one swoop. Microsoft defines these messages like this.
We also know you still get a lot of other mail in your inbox that you don’t want. We call this “graymail” – legitimate mail that you signed up to receive or agreed to receive at one point, but you no longer want. The new Hotmail gives you the first and only virtual broom in any inbox out there, letting you sweep the mail you don’t want right out of your inbox – all in just a couple of clicks.
That’s not good news for email marketers. This only highlights the push to send engaging messages. Now more than ever, as a sender you must deliver content that recipients actually want to open and click on. FYI, the “sweep” will also continue to sweep away these messages until the user says stop, and that’s probably never. Lose the customer once, and you may never see them again.
The second addition is the possibility to manage your Gmail, Yahoo!, and AOL email boxes in the same interface. We’re looking at the real possibility of the addresses that make up 75% of most lists being managed and swept away in the Hotmail interface.
There are also enhancements to sharing, photos, and documents that may make the service attractive again. You can also sync up the email from social networking sites. There’s a lot here to take in. I encourage you to read the blog and watch the video. There’s an opportunity here for senders with great messaging to stand out. There’s also an opportunity for a large portion of your messages to be swept away.
