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Building a reliable database is fundamental to successfully executing any form of customer centric or loyalty marketing campaign. List rental is a historically reliable method of acquiring names used by direct marketers. Opt-in approaches are a potentially lower cost means of building a proprietary customer database. Product warranty cards, e-newsletter subscriptions and registration cards are examples of commonly used collection methods and can all yield good results.

Ever wonder what it costs to acquire this valuable information? Turn the question around and ask yourself what names and email addresses are worth? To make it personal, what is YOUR information worth to a typical retailer?

How about $.50. Yep, fifty cents is the bounty on your head – at least that’s what I discovered the other day in a national coffee chain.

Standing in line, the manager called an informal meeting among front line employees. She challenged each person to collect 20 names for a bounty of $10. One stunned cashier swallowed hard over the thought of getting out of the comfort zone. Suddenly her expression changed as she asked a colleague “so, if I get 1,000 names, do you think they’ll pay me $500?”

The cost of building databases is an accumulation of several cost layers, with list rental and processing of registration or warranty cards being only the beginning. Assembling the computer hardware and licensing database software are capital costs that have to be incurred before the collection process is ever engaged.

Involving employees to fuel such an effort is sensible and providing incentives is highly recommended to drive results. Just don’t have your “management” meetings in front of your customers. It’s never good to let them know there is a price on their heads.