Doesn't everyone want their e-mail list to be larger? It's not uncommon, however, to find companies that have not checked off the basic steps. Have you?

The rampant merger and acquisition activity in our industry over the past 18 months has led to competing predictions about where we're headed.

What's a brand? Seems like an easy question: the brand is what is being sold. But in the world of e-mail this question is not that cut-and-dried.

I've heard from readers that they want to see case studies and results. The reason you don't see more of them in this and other columns is that clients are not eager to share their hard-won knowledge with the outside world, particularly their competitors. But fear not, there are ways to get around this obstacle.

Last week I discussed the value of an e-mail address to your business. This week, with the help of one of my guru analysts, I will share an elegant formula to help you establish the financial value of an e-mail subscriber over a given period.

This week I interviewed Richard Gingras, CEO of Goodmail, about his company's joint announcement with AOL and what it means for the industry. Gingras describes himself as a product guy--so being thrown into a fire storm of controversy is not a role he is accustomed to.

On the verge of writing yet another article about the AOL/Goodmail issue, I was wondering whether readers have heard enough on this topic... or perhaps too much.

How do you write a weekly column about e-mail? There are only so many trends to report on, only so many educational things to explain, and only so many industry happenings that aren't already covered in-depth by everyone else.

The big news this week was the announcement by Goodmail that it had struck a deal with AOL and Yahoo! to begin charging and collecting "postage" for guaranteed delivery to the inbox. The announcement precipitated a lot of agita among technology companies that compete with Goodmail, and raised more questions than it answered.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a company that spammed me to announce its e-mail accreditation agreements. I just have to tell you: the company that spammed me is none other than Goodmail, the company that will soon be charging you for assured e-mail delivery.