DM University: Coregistration
Coregistration, once a little-known online marketing tool, continues to garner widespread usage among online marketers. Coregistration is a simple and cost-effective method to generate prospects for opt-in mailing lists, loyalty programs, subscriptions, memberships, and other online and offline customer acquisition and retention programs. Nearly all Internet users have come across coregistration in one form or the other, for example if you’ve signed up for Hotmail and Yahoo services, you’ve mostly likely come across it. Leveraging the online sign-up process, coregistration allows clients to build targeted databases of qualified consumers interested in their products, services, company, brand or special offers. Coregistration can also be known as co-reg or pay-per-subscriber service.
While coregistration can take on many forms, its common goal is basically lead generation or data acquisition. Coregistration is mostly implemented on websites for Web tools, such as free email or file storage, though it can also be employed on virtually any site that requires visitors to register. Essentially, the coregistration process is an “upsell,” where visitors on a registration form for a particular website are offered additional services to sign up for. Those interested can "opt-in” to receive more information via e-mail newsletters or any other form of direct marketing campaign. With the check of a box at the end of the form, you as the online marketer, have permission-based access to potential customers who have requested information about your product or service.
One of the major benefits of coregistration is an immensely high volume of leads from prospective customers, generally on an ROI-friendly cost per action (CPA) or cost per lead (CPL) basis. Opt in rates can range as high as 15 percent to 20 percent and result in thousands of new leads on a daily basis. Furthermore, factoring in rental costs for email lists; coregistration allows you to build your very own mailing list for about the same cost as just one or two list rentals.
Many publishers and incentivized marketers have taken notice of the revenue opportunities granted by coregistration, which has resulted in a speedy increase in the number of sites where it’s offered. Coregistration’s gaining usage isn’t very difficult to comprehend, given that it allows online marketers to accomplish so many things, including: reaching subscribers beyond your website’s user base, a better understanding of customers and markets; building a comprehensive database of interested consumers; maximizing ROI; increasing customer loyalty; driving traffic to a particular website; and building brand awareness. The disadvantage is that some subscribers gained via coregistration may only be casually interested in your subject or product, thus they may unsubscribe quickly, not confirm their subscription, or quit reading altogether, all things that will only dilute the responsiveness of your list.
A renowned expert in online marketing, Mitchel Harad, offers some points to consider when creating a coregistration campaign:
· Placement is everything. Partnering with Web sites that have user base demographics similar to your own to produce the highest-quality results. Long-term co-registration partnerships will result in heavy overlap between your user base and your partners’, so be sure to weigh that risk, especially when partnering with potential competitors. A small number of networks now offer coregistration services, thereby simplifying the site selection process.
· Follow-up is key. Users obtained through coregistration have likely never been to your Web site and may quickly forget that they have signed up for it. Coregistration provides you with a steady stream of leads; it’s up to you to convert them into customers. A thorough email follow-up plan designed to convert co-registration leads into active users yields the best results.
· Price is fluctuating. With prices rapidly changing for most online marketing tools and limited history for coregistration, prices currently vary widely from 25 cents to 25 dollars per coregistration. Factors affecting price include the amount of information collected from each user, the quality of a partner’s user base and negotiating skill. ROI calculations are key when determining price, based on conversion rate and customer acquisition cost. Avoid opportunities priced on an impression or click basis.
· Keep it simple. Typically, coregistration offers users just a one- or two-sentence description of the service for which they are signing up. Engineer copy and information requirements toward gaining qualified leads, not lifelong customers. Consider incorporating a promotion; such as a sweepstakes or free newsletter to increase opt in rates.
· Never require an opt-out. While most co-registration is done on an opt-in basis, occasionally some programs are run on an opt-out basis. With opt in rates as high as they are, sacrificing quality to increase quantity via opt out is a poor trade-off.
Sources:
http://www.webpronews.com/ebusiness/sitepromotion/wpn-
3-20050511WebAdvertsingItsAllAbouttheClickThrus.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Use-Co-Registration-To-Generate-
Quality-Leads&id=87123
