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pointofmail 5.5 - Certified Email Service

About.com Rating 4.5 Star Rating
User Rating 3.5 Star Rating (7 Reviews) Write a review

By , About.com Guide

pointofmail - Certified Email Service

pointofmail - Certified Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher
The Bottom Line
pointofmail is a very comprehensive proof of receipt and reading service for email. Though easy to use, pointofmail can ensure read receipts, tracks attachments and lets you modify or delete sent messages. Unfortunately, working with pointofmail-certified mail can be cumbersome, and most pointofmail modes do not inform the recipient they are watched.
Pros
  • pointofmail offers a mode where reading confirmation is guaranteed
  • It's easy to send pointofmail-certified emails from any email program or service
  • pointofmail can track attachments, too, and lets you edit or delete mail after it has been sent
Cons
  • pointofmail has modes that are not transparent to the recipient, infringing on their privacy
  • Mail sent through pointofmail can be difficult to reply to or forward
  • pointofmail does not allow you to specify options if you send from your normal email program
Description
  • pointofmail notifies you when email you sent were opened and read.
  • You can submit messages via email or send through pointofmail's web interface.
  • The pointofmail web interface also lets you edit or delete mail already delivered, read even.
  • Attachments can be tracked by pointofmail, too, and you learn how long your message was open.
  • pointofmail either uses a hidden image to track mail or includes the message itself in the image.
  • Digitally signed certificates allow you to proof message submission and delivery in pointofmail.
  • pointofmail lets you send self-destructing emails that automatically expire after a certain time.
  • You can learn about the recipient's geographic location with pointofmail.
Guide Review - pointofmail 5.5 - Certified Email Service
With email, it is easy to claim you never received or viewed an unwelcome message. At the same time, proving the contrary is inherently difficult. Social trust is usually better than total control and suspicion, but services like pointofmail can still be very useful.

pointofmail is a particularly feature-rich email return receipt service. Not only does it tell you when your messages have been opened, it can also do the same for attachments and allows you to edit or delete emails even after they have been sent.

To some extent, pointofmail even tells you how long an email was looked at and where on earth the recipient was while doing this. To offer this multitude of options, pointofmail employs a number of sending modes.

Regrettably, most pointofmail modes are not transparent to the recipient. Since modern email clients do not download remote images — used by pointofmail to track emails — by default, the recipient can only speculate and not load the hidden pictures, which also means pointofmail does not know the message has been opened.

To prevent this, pointofmail offers modes that include the original message in these images. This ensures proof of opening, but it can make replying in a sensible manner difficult.

It is also a pity that the mode used for a message cannot be set if the mail is sent from your normal email client (instead of pointofmail's web interface), which is otherwise a really comfortable way to send certified messages.

User Reviews

 5 out of 5
Excellent Point!, Member DiVinci

I use pointofmail.com for my business. I am proofreading specialist and my main channel for interaction with my customers is email. I am sending invoices and proofread pages via pointofmail.com and know exactly when they were received and read. Now customers can not say to me ""we did not get any email from you"". Also if I need to change the content of the email or replace attachment with new one - I can do it! and this is unique to pointofmail.com.

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