USA.NET Classified Advertising E-Mail Service

USA.NET, a provider of email and messaging services, launched a new email service called USA.NET Ad Mail that integrates email with traditional classified advertising.

The Ad Mail service enables newspapers to add a temporary email address to each classified advertisement, giving advertisers an interactive method for receiving responses without revealing personal contact information. USA.NET said it has signed strategic marketing agreements with three classified advertising software vendors that serve more than 60 percent of the top 100 newspapers in the country.

“USA.NET Ad Mail spearheads the next generation of interactive, Web-based classified advertising,” said John Gerdelman, company president and CEO. “Ad Mail enables readers to respond to classified ads, anywhere, anytime, which helps increase reader response rates. At the same time, the new service offers newspapers a vehicle for increasing advertising revenues without the investment of time, money and resources to set up and maintain an in-house email system.”

The strategic marketing agreements are with Atex Media Solutions, Advanced Technical Solutions and Ctext. Each has agreed to develop an interface between their advertising system and USA.NET. The interface will allow newspapers to offer temporary, Web-based email addresses to their classified advertisers through Ad Mail.

“USA.NET Ad Mail enables our newspaper customers to add significant value to their classified packages, without incurring additional administrative costs,” said Ron Stephens, vice president, North American sales at Atex Media Solutions. “It also providers them the ability to offer a secure, confidential response mechanism.”

USA.NET manages more than 10 million consumer and business mailboxes a day and operates the consumer service Net@ddress.