Columbia House members will be offered a range of new services thanks to a strategic agreement between Columbia House and Trilegiant Corp.
Starting next month, Trilegiant’s membership programs will be sold to Columbia House members during inbound customer service calls and toll-free shopping calls.
Columbia House will do the selling through its own call centers, but Trilegiant will train the firm’s customer reps, said Bill Ostroff, chief marketing officer of Columbia House.
Ostroff declined to give a revenue projection, but said, “We have strong expectations.”
The programs include Shoppers Advantage, a discount shopping service through which members can buy electronics, appliances and home furnishings, and Great Fun, which provides discounts on entertainment, shopping and dining.
Columbia House receives from 25 million to 30 million inbound calls a year, but it is not yet clear how many of these will receive the new offers, Ostroff said. The firm has 11 million members.
“We’ve done a good job marketing entertainment,” he continued. “This is a whole new class of products.”
The firm also expects to market the programs through direct mail and other media.
“The phone will be the backbone, but we will quickly migrate into other channels,” said Ostroff.
Columbia House members receive from 15 to 20 mailings apiece per year, he added.
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