Get paid to read email ads

A new email marketing service, RupeeMail (www.rupeemail.in), offers its members incentives to read email ads. Most people classify email ads as spam and consign them to the trash bin. RupeeMail aims to make these emails financially rewarding for the reader.

Sunil Puri, director, RupeeMail, claims that the service’s ads are not spam because the subjects of these ads are based on preferences specified by the members.

A person enrolling with RupeeMail gives an email ID where he would like to receive emails with the ads and promotion offers of different companies. He can choose his areas of interest from the given list, which includes categories such as apparel, travel, food and books. The email arrives in the form of an electronic envelope with an icon and a link to the content of the mail. Once the member clicks on the link, a certain amount of money is credited into his account; the amount varies according to the advertiser. The amount credited can then be redeemed by the member in the form of a cheque.

Though the incentive is clear for members, do advertisers really stand to gain as much? Puri says they do because the target audience is actually interested in reading the content sent to them, as it matches their preferences.

Puri also claims that the open-up rate for RupeeMail is between 25-33 per cent, much higher than that of an ad sent to a database (for which the open-up rate is 8 per cent). Also, advertisers are charged only when a member opens their email.

So far, RupeeMail has more than 15 advertisers, which include companies such as India Today, Big Bazaar, JuxtConsult and Ferns ‘N’ Petals.