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California start-up Advenix has introduced new technology that allows e-mail senders to include drop-down windows in subject lines that activate when recipients’ cursors pause on them.

Dubbed VisualSubject, the technology triggers a 350-pixel-wide by 100-pixel-deep window that can contain text and graphics giving marketers more space to communicate their opening pitch.

However, unlike cursor-activated banners, VisualSubject does not activate when cursors simply roll over them. They must pause on them in order for the window to drop down.

The technology’s debut comes as multiple studies have shown that the majority of consumers use the subject and from lines to determine whether or not to open an e-mail, trash it, or report it as spam.

“VisualSubject allows marketers to brand their subject lines and provide their customers with a visual frame of reference so they can quickly decide to open or delete the messages,” Justin Khoo, president and founder of Advenix, Milpitas, CA.

The company’s main challenge, however, is to get Internet service providers to adopt VisualSubject. So far, Khoo has convinced one mid-sized ISP, Everyone.net, to try the technology and has been testing it there for about six months.

Khoo said he is talking to all the big ISPs, and that they seem receptive but want more information about how recipients react to the technology.

“They want to see how the technology is perceived first,” said Khoo. “It’s something they’re very concerned about.”

He added that feedback so far from e-mail recipients has been positive. “It helps them sort through their e-mail more quickly,” he said.

According to Khoo, tests of VisualSubject on Everone.net have resulted in a 27% lift in click-throughs and a 41% increase in conversion rates.

Khoo hasn’t yet fixed a price for the technology, but said he believes it will be in the $2.50-per-thousand range.

He added that the technology will only be available to permission-based e-mailers and that authentication mechanisms will be in place to make sure spammers can’t hijack it.