One Year Out, Schlage Adds Rebate to Drive Sales

Schlage Link is marking its one-year anniversary with a rebate for its Schlage Link home-management system, a product that uses wireless technology to allow consumers to monitor door locks and provide access remotely from any computer or mobile phone device with Internet access.

People who purchase the starter kits through April 30 will get a $50 rebate. Lowe’s and RadioShack, the only two brick and mortar stores that carry the product, will offer instant rebates.

“The retailers probably prefer instant rebates, because the manufacturers are supporting it on the back end,” Schlage Brand Manager Ann Matheis said. “It’s easy for the retailers to execute.”

Online retailers carrying the product will offer mail-in rebates, which consumers have complained about because of confusing forms and long waits for the rebate.

Matheis said the company took those concerns into consideration.

“We tried to make it really easy, so as soon as you click on the link you go to the form and even fill in out online, then print it out and mail it in,” she said. “We’ve gotten it down to a pretty easy system to execute.”

To promote the offer, Schlage is sending out about a combined 50,000 e-mails to customers who opted in on its Web site to receive marketing communications and direct mail to customers of Schlage’s sister company Trane heating and air-conditioning. In stores retailers are posting promotional materials. An online campaign launches in April, Matheis said.

Last June, the company launched the Schlage Link home-management system with a major promotion that centered on offering ways for consumers to view product demonstrations.

People using Web browsers on their mobiles came across Schlage ads at major Web sites like Yahoo and MSN. Once clicked, the application opened to fill the screen to provide a demonstration. The application worked as if the user already owned the service showing them how to unlock doors or adjust thermostat and lighting settings. TracyLocke handled that campaign.

Web hits “went through the roof,” Matheis said.

“This is a product that you need to research and we are driving people to the Web to understand more about how it works before they make a purchase,” she said.