Leveraging Blockchain Technology To Reward Users For Reading Marketing Emails

To encourage widespread adoption of blockchain technology, it is essential to have use cases that are easily understandable by mainstream users. Use cases that are simple, intuitive, and demonstrate clear value are pivotal to enticing new users to explore the blockchain space with confidence. Simply put, users need to see the benefits of blockchain technology in their everyday lives, which is why at EtherMail, we are disrupting the dynamics of email communication for the common good.

While email has become firmly embedded as one of the most dominant forms of communication for individuals and enterprises alike, the foundational architecture has remained completely static over time, and is frankly unfit for today’s privacy-centric environment. The average worker in the U.S receives up to 100 emails per day, with roughly 20% of these landing in their inbox in the form of unwanted spam. 

Spam emails are typically sent in bulk to a large number of recipients without their consent, resulting in a flood of unsolicited emails that clog up users’ inboxes and waste their time. Spam emails can also contain malicious links or attachments that can harm users’ devices or compromise their security. Historically, the status quo email framework has allowed for a wide open advertising free for all, with the privacy of user data being undercut constantly. I fundamentally believe users should be rewarded for the considerable time they spend everyday sifting through these marketing inbounds in their inbox. 

Think about the 1000s of unread emails that are sitting unread in inboxes, with absolutely zero incentive for users to read them. It’s both ineffective from an advertiser’s perspective, and a complete nuisance for email users. A new type of advertising paradigm is needed to encourage more relevant ad placements based on a users’ scope of interests, creating a mutually-beneficial ecosystem that prioritises the privacy preferences of end users while helping brands execute more effective and targeted ad campaigns.

Bottom line, there should be fair compensation for the invasion of the personal inbox, and blockchain can enable a personalised protective layer for inboxes to incentivise readers to engage with marketing inbounds. This is the foundational thesis for EtherMail’s Read-2-Earn model. Specifically, blockchain technology can be harnessed to incentivize email users to read marketing emails by introducing a system where users are rewarded with tokens for engaging with promotional content. By rewarding users for their attention and engagement, marketers can create a more meaningful relationship with their audience, while users could unlock a new source of passive income. 

This new system serves as a type of virtual toll configured by users for their inbox, granting them the ability to set a range of custom preferences and define what kind of content they are willing to receive in exchange for token rewards. It would also allow users to set their custom preferences around designated content sources and outline the terms of payment for emails read.

At the moment, users can earn rewards in EMC tokens. Eventually, EMC rewards will be converted to EMT, EtherMail’s native utility token, which will be launched as part of our future roadmap. The EMC : EMT conversion rate will be defined at the time of token launch.

At EtherMail, we are driven to create an entire new framework for email economics, rewarding users’ time spent reading inbound marketing emails. We want to provide advertisers and users with a high quality email marketing and communication experience in a mutually beneficial setting, by leveraging the latest innovations in blockchain technology. With 320 billion emails being sent worldwide everyday, this new use case could be transformative  for how blockchain technology is perceived by mainstream users.