Premium Distribution


The Web has become a super method of distributing premiums or certificates. Here is how this works: Consumers arrive at commercial Web sites to do their research. Many of them will print out a page containing the information about your products. Since this is so, why not give them a reason to purchase the product right away by giving them a certificate (see Figure 3-1)? The certificate serves two purposes:

  1. It drives traffic to the retailer.

  2. The process of delivering it to the customer provides you with a customer’s email name and address for further marketing efforts.

    click to expand
    Figure 3-1: Use of Web Certificates

Here’s how to do this. When a consumer is looking at your product on your Web site, there should always be a “Receive a valuable additional premium” button on the site next to the item. When consumers click on that button, they see a panel where they enter their name, address, and email address. If they have already printed a certificate from your site on this or a previous visit, the panel is automatically filled in, and all they need to do is to click on the “Send Certificate” button. When they click on this button, they will be sent an email containing the certificate as an attachment, which they can print on their PC printer. Are you afraid that some customers will abuse the certificates? No problem. You maintain a database, and if you allow only one certificate per product per email address, your Web site can easily control that.

What the certificate contains are two bar codes. There is a bar code for the product to be purchased and a bar code that has been created for the customer. To use the certificate for a mail-in rebate, the customer takes it to a retailer, buys the product, and receives a purchase receipt. He mails the certificate with the purchase receipt to the address shown on the certificate. At the fulfillment center, the certificate is scanned, capturing the product and customer data. There is no need for data entry at the fulfillment center, since your Web application automatically transmits all customer names to the center along with their bar codes at the time they are sent the emailed certificate. The fulfillment center simply checks the purchase receipt against the database created by the Web site and clicks OK. If a rebate is involved, a check is issued and mailed automatically.

A variation of this method, which can save the manufacturer money, is to have the customer provide his credit card data, which can also be converted to a bar code lookup table (not the actual credit card number) by the Web site software. At the fulfillment center, the scanning process can credit the rebate to the customer’s credit card account, thus saving the cost of mailing a check. The customer receives an email from the fulfillment house simultaneously with the mailing of a check or the crediting of the credit card.

There are several important elements in this process:

  • The customer cannot provide a fake email address, since a valid email address is required in order to get the certificate. She can’t provide a fake name or address, or she will not get a cashable check. She can’t provide a fake credit card number, or she won’t get a refund.

  • In applying for the rebate, the customer gives permission for the use of her email address for future promotions. If she does not want to receive information, the rebate could be smaller or not available.

  • The manufacturer gains a database of customers and email addresses, which can be used for promotion.

  • If the customer does buy the product, that fact is stored in the database and makes the database more valuable.

  • The fulfillment house process is fully automated and therefore is cheaper and faster.

  • The manufacturer can get daily reports on the success of the rebate program by product, state, region, and type of consumer.

  • When registering for the certificate, the consumer can be asked for more information, such as income, age, and so on.

The certificates should not offer discounts. Discounts erode value. A better offer would be a premium, such as training or software that would go with the camera, or a rebate.




The Customer Loyalty Solution. What Works (and What Doesn't in Customer Loyalty Programs)
The Customer Loyalty Solution : What Works (and What Doesnt) in Customer Loyalty Programs
ISBN: 0071363661
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 226

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