Text Messaging Pricing Shift & What if it Happened to Email?

I read this weekend that Verizon Wireless Plans to Charge Companies Sending Text Messages. While this may not seem like huge news it does change the dynamics of a not even close to mature marketing channel with huge potential. BrightWave Marketing, as part of our soon to be announced new offerings, does provide text messaging services for clients, so it is something we will be keeping a close eye on.

Companies that send out text messages will be charged a fee of 3 cents for each message by Verizon it delivers to the phones of its subscribers. This will immediately eliminate much of the marketing efforts done on this platform, due to the change in economics.

So what if Yahoo announced it was going to do the same for email marketing? Obviously, this would have a far reaching impact on the email marketing landscape.

However, one thing I would predict that would come out of such a change in the email marketing universe, if such a plan happened (and I am not suggested it will or should), would be marketers taking more care of their email programs. You would find more strategy, more analysis, better creative and other things you find in marketing programs that have higher/specific costs associated with them. That being said, just because email marketing has a perceived low delivery cost associated with it, doesn't mean it should not have the same kind of resources, planning and execution that an "expensive" marketing channel has.

Something to ponder.