Pointdrive eyes smarter, more polished marketing emails..

Marketers are always looking for a way to stand out, especially when it comes to email, and Chicago-based Pointdrive thinks it has the answer.

The company has come up with a service that turns a typical email with attachments into a prettier, more visual way of reaching customers.
One message sent to a reporter started with a picture of the sender and a company logo alongside a brief message that, when clicked, launched a Web browser to show the rest of the email and the attached documents.
Each was presented with a brief explanation of its contents and a small thumbnail. The clean design and graphical touches made it somewhat reminiscent of Google+.
The killer feature for those sending the messages -- although perhaps not for those receiving them -- is that Pointdrive reports back on who opened the message and which attachments they have viewed, said CTO Jim Smitley at the Demo conference Wednesday.