Welcome, Susan

“Welcome, Susan”

How do you manage to say, “Welcome, Susan”? This is one of the secrets of modern database marketing using the Web. You begin with a list of prospects who are to receive your direct-mail or email promotion. You assign a unique four-character code to each person on your list. A typical code could look like this: R34Y. With a four-character coding system, you can assign unique codes to 1.5 million people. A five-character code gives you 52 million unique codes. You make your Web site address as simple as possible: www.Nikkon.com/R34Y. When Susan enters this address in her Internet browser or clicks on it, your site functionality immediately checks the last four characters against a lookup table that is stored in memory and is able to respond, “Welcome, Susan.” Your software, with Susan’s permission, will leave a cookie on her computer so that when she comes back the next time, you can say, “Welcome back, Susan.”

If your promotion is via TV, radio, or print, the address will be different. You might tell the customer to contact www.Nikkon.com/BAR2. The “B” might tell you that this is a mass communication promotion, and the AR2 tells the Web site which of 42,000 particular ads on a TV or radio station or in a periodical prompted Susan’s response. In this case, of course, you cannot say “Welcome, Susan,” but you can know exactly what prompted Susan to pay the Web site a visit.