Feedback 11/05

Cost of Co-Registration?
I recently read your article "Partner Power" ("Net Sales,"August) about using co-registration campaigns. It was misleading onpricing and incomplete as far as ways to find co-registrationproviders. The article only mentions the usefulness ofco-registration in obtaining newsletter subscribers. However, it isalso very effective in enticing consumers to sign up formemberships, loyalty programs, catalog subscriptions, productlaunches, special offers and more.

The only co-registration leads advertisers can purchase for suchlow prices as those in your article are usually from opt-out orincentivized offers. Running an incentivized campaign works if thepurpose of the campaign is simply to build a bulk list. However, ifadvertisers are looking to acquire new customers, it is difficultto tell whether those consumers are truly interested in theadvertisers' offer, or whether they knew they were signing upfor it at all. To run a legitimate opt-in co-registration campaign,advertisers can expect to pay at least 25 cents for basic consumercontact information, and the price goes up from there. It isdifficult to test a sound media mix of co-registration sites withthe small budgets suggested in the article. To run a qualitycampaign, we usually tell our clients to spend at least$10,000.