Hotmail will be replaced by Outlook
Microsoft recently announced that the email service Hotmail will be discontinued. It's a decision that affects many, as the service has at least 360 million active users. Many more have at some point registered a free account on what was the first really large global email service. A service that was amongst the first that didn't require you to have a special programme installed on your computer to be able to read email.
Hotmail becomes Outlook
But Hotmail won't disappear. The web service is changing its name to Outlook.com and all old accounts will continue to function as before. On Microsoft's website, you can read more about the transition and what it means for you who have a Hotmail account.
Everyone using the new service will see major differences on the website used to read email. There will certainly also be many who take the opportunity to get new addresses when it becomes possible to create new ones with @outlook.com instead of @hotmail.com.
But what does it mean for you as a sender, who works professionally with email?
There will be no decisive differences that change your working method. The limitations that have existed regarding more advanced emails – emails that use more modern features that we've become accustomed to from ordinary websites – remain. No deterioration, but therefore no improvement either.
Two changes that may be good to know about:
• Unsubscription with one click: to simplify things for the user, Outlook has an unsubscribe button – similar to other large, web-based email readers. If the subscriber clicks, he or she will be unsubscribed and all messages from the same sender will automatically be filtered to the bin.
It's still unclear exactly how this will work in practice.
In the worst case, it could mean that emails are sorted out even if someone unsubscribes by mistake or changes their mind and wants to subscribe again.
Recommended action: to be on the safe side, you can place your own unsubscribe link clearly visible, so that the reader doesn't hesitate to use it. That way you avoid the problem.
• Image blocking is changing: images are still automatically blocked unless the user turns off the function, but emails from "Trusted Senders", i.e. senders marked as reliable, will have their images displayed automatically.
Recommended action: ask your recipients to add you to their address book, which increases the chances that your emails are displayed as you intended.
More news from Microsoft: Outlook 2013 and Outlook 365
Now Outlook is also being updated as a standalone programme. There will be major differences in appearance, but the underlying technology doesn't offer any groundbreaking differences. Emails are handled in the same way as in Outlook 2010.
The new, cloud-based service Outlook 365 is revolutionary in many ways – but for you as an email marketer, the service doesn't mean any difference.
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