Extracting the Value of Your Customer Base

How many business models include the idea of getting additional revenue from customers, whether it's by cross-selling additional services, upselling, or just finding a way to use the customer database for additional revenue opportunities? It's a sound idea - if you have a relationship with a group of people and know something about them, you can use that. But tread lightly.

This morning I tried to sign up for an email list for a local arts organization. They are small and tend to fly under the radar and I often don't hear about their shows and event until they are over. So obviously signing up for their email list is smart; I'll know what they are doing before a show and can plan to go.

They're small, so they wisely decided to use a third-party service to manage the list; in this case, Topica. I've used Topica before. But I haven't had to sign up for anything in a long time.

I entered my email address in the form on the arts organization's web site and clicked submit. That took me to a Topica registration page where I had to supply more information. So far, so good.

The next screen was a selection of additional mailing lists I could opt into. I understand what Topica is doing; they provide free or cheap email services, and then supplement whatever income that generates with advertising opportunities in the form of sponsored lists. While you're signing up for the specific list that brought you there, you can also decide to get a newsletter for home office workers, small business, cat owners, amateur chefs, whatever.

I didn't want any of them so I clicked onto the next page, where I was asked if I wanted to find out about getting a degree at home. I clicked skip.

I found myself on another page, this one pitching home based businesses. I clicked skip.

The next page offered me something else. At that point it became a blur; I clicked skip. Another ad. I clicked skip. Another ad. I clicked skip.

At ad #15 I gave up and closed the browser window. Most people will accept a couple of ads like this as the price of getting something free. But there's a point where you become frustrated because the ads are keeping you from doing what you wanted to do: sign up for a specific list from a local organization. And you start to suspect that no matter what you do, you're going to start getting lots of spam.

I'm not sure whether I actually signed up for the list I wanted. I hope so. But I'm not curious enough to go back and look at the nightmarish Topica signup site again.

Net gain for Topica: Zero. And they're doing a disservice to the groups that use them for mailing lists. The director of the organization is an old colleague of mine; next time I see him, I'm making a point of suggesting that he put the list somewhere else. Somewhere that creates a good user experience and finds ways to monetize it, rather than the reverse.