During the craziest moments of the dot-com boom, a few companies were giving away computers in return for consumer information. These marketers expected that other advertisers would pay to have their messages delivered right to the desktops of highly targetable prospects.
Like most marketing "strategies" of that time, that particular scheme had more sizzle than sense behind it. Those dot-coms doing this hadn’t thought through how many ads they would need to sell to cover the cost of the "free" computers.
But a recent study from Yahoo/ACNielsen had me fantasizing about a giveaway that marketers should be able to justify on a dollars and cents basis. As quoted in InformationWeek, the study found that consumers with fast, powerful broadband Internet access plan to spend $287 online this holiday season, compared with $211 for those using much slower dial-up services.
It may be that someone who can afford the more expensive broadband service is more likely to have discretionary income. But much online shopping is done from the workplace, using the employer’s high-powered connection. Would customers shop from home if the connections were comparable? I’m betting yes, especially because it means that they could browse without interference from co-workers.
So here’s my fantasy: What if marketers were to segment their customers and offer the best ones a free broadband connection for a month or two as a "thanks for being our customer" reward? Determining which customers would receive this would take some artistry – does one choose the best customers, or the ones with the strongest potential lift in share of wallet?
Regardless, this premium, when coupled with a strong push toward the marketer’s Web site, would be a far better premium than a discount coupon or token item of appreciation.
An individual consumer can purchase a three-month trial of broadband access for around $20 a month. I think that most access companies would come down substantially if a marketer were to buy a chunk of several thousand packages at once. Especially because this would give the access company first crack at an untapped market.
If this is still too dear a premium for one company to underwrite, perhaps two or three non-competing firms could identify joint customers and split the costs. (Cooperative databases were created for this, folks.) Of course, marketers would have to negotiate service agreements with the cable access providers, and make sure that each connection could be established in a timely fashion. But hey, that’s what lawyers are for.
So what do you think? Is this idea viable, hair-brained or even – gasp – something that’s been already tried? Let me know.
To respond to the opinions in this column, please contact rlevey@primediabusiness.com
