Dec 23, 2003

Peeping Phones: Doesn't Privacy Matter?

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Op-Ed Letter Printed in NY Times Published: December 19, 2003 To the Editor:

In an attempt to sell more minutes, wireless phone providers ignored the privacy implications of a portable, covert digital camera embedded in a cellphone (“Calling ‘Candid Camera,’ ” editorial, Dec. 12).

The irony: wireless companies, instead of selling more minutes, are facing a move to ban cellphone cameras in more and more places. Ignoring consumer privacy really does have a bottom-line effect.

JEFF FINKELSTEIN
Boulder, Colo., Dec. 12, 2003

Dec 23, 2003

Peeping Phones: Doesn’t Privacy Matter?

eLearning Series

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Op-Ed Letter Printed in NY Times Published: December 19, 2003 To the Editor:

In an attempt to sell more minutes, wireless phone providers ignored the privacy implications of a portable, covert digital camera embedded in a cellphone (“Calling ‘Candid Camera,’ ” editorial, Dec. 12).

The irony: wireless companies, instead of selling more minutes, are facing a move to ban cellphone cameras in more and more places. Ignoring consumer privacy really does have a bottom-line effect.

JEFF FINKELSTEIN
Boulder, Colo., Dec. 12, 2003

Dec 11, 2003

Case Study: Basking in the Orange Glo of Coupons

E-Mail Marketing Case Studies - Published in ClickZ

Coupons are common in the offline world, at least here in the United States. They’re so popular, a journalism professor once told me the majority of daily newspapers sell the most papers on Wednesday, primarily because of the special coupons in that day’s paper. But online, coupons aren’t as widespread. I began to wonder: Can a company entice customers to respond to e-mail coupons?

It can if the company is Orange Glo International. The makers of OxiClean have been experimenting with e-mail marketing campaigns focused around coupons, and the results are beginning to trickle in. Orange Glo is a small, Colorado-based company that manufactures and distributes natural cleaning products. This relatively new business was using TV commercials and infomercials to get the word out about its alternative cleaners.

Orange Glo does some sales business via its Web site, but the bulk is through retail stores such as Wal-Mart. Orange Glo’s challenge was to not only educate users about its products but also drive them to the retail channels to make a purchase. For instance, several informational campaigns have featured cleaning celebrity Billy Mays, who sends out notices about new offerings. Each message is clean, simple, and branded — “I’m excited to tell you about our newest product, OxiClean Active Stain Remover,” says Billy — and each has one call to action.

A “click here to buy now” link takes users to the company Web site. Although these messages educated recipients, the company also wanted to drive users to offline stores. Offering coupons via e-mail messages was one way to do that. Orange Glo worked with Customer Paradigm to create a coupon offer. The offer went out just before Thanksgiving to a house list of tens of thousands.

Let’s take a look at several of the campaign’s elements:

Graphics. Billy Mays’ popularity is used to brand the Orange Glo messages.As a consumer, I applaud this notion. I participate in a number of online survey panels. My favorite is the Lightspeed panel, and it’s all because of Lauren. For all I know, she’s a fictional character, but I’m happy to see her. I feel like my communications are being sent to someone, not off into the netherworld of the Internet. Billy Mays is well represented in the Orange Glo message, right down to his signature and e-mail address. Text. The text draws the reader in and matches the tone of the overall campaign. Phrases such as “if you’re like me” and “cranberries and other holiday foods often are a big source of stains” get the point across.

Offer. The offer, four different $1 coupons, is nothing to sneeze at. It’s mentioned high in the communication and listed in a postscript after Billy’s sign-off. Though marketers tend to agree e-mail postscripts aren’t nearly as important as those in direct mail pieces, Customer Paradigm’s Jeff Finkelstein notes it generates a significant number of click-throughs.

Miscellaneous. The mailing includes a phone number for those who aren’t comfortable asking for the coupons online or for those who don’t have printers attached to their PCs. Plus, it includes various list management tools, such as an unsubscribe link and a method for subscribing if the e-mail message was forwarded from a friend. Clicking on the coupon link within the message transports recipients to the coupon signup form. The form has pre-populated fields, a great tactic in general.

The less work the user has to do, the better. The form includes three optional quick-pick questions, such as “Do you have pets in household?” The questions allow Orange Glo to gather customer information to be used for future products or in future campaigns. The recipient chooses the coupons he would like; the boxes are prechecked for each product: Kaboom Shower Tub & Tile Cleaner, OxiClean Active Stain Remover, OxiClean Multi-Purpose Stain Remover, and Orange Glo Wood Cleaner & Polish. The coupons then print to the user’s printer. (Remember, if the user doesn’t have a printer, she can call to have the coupons shipped to her.) Each coupon includes a bar code that allows the company to track from whom and when the coupon was redeemed. And Orange Glo followed up the offer with thank-you messages for those who signed up for the coupons.

Results: The message was opened by 11.2 percent of recipients and garnered a 1.7 percent overall CTR. The open rate and CTR are a bit low compared to past Orange Glo campaigns, which are usually in the 13-20 percent range. However, this campaign went out just before a major holiday, when it’s likely recipients weren’t checking e-mail as frequently as usual. 16 percent of those who opened the message clicked through to the form, which is higher than past Orange Glo campaigns. Past campaigns average between a 10 and 12.5 percent CTR on opens. Of those who visited the Web site and landed on the form, 68.5 percent completed it. Most recipients opted to print all four coupons, for a total of approximately 7,600 coupons.

We won’t know the coupon redemption rate until about eight weeks after the campaign, but here are a couple follow-up thoughts. Orange Glo did a comparison check against coupons in newspapers in an earlier campaign, and that past campaign led to double the redemption rate of the newspaper coupons. Also, Orange Glo knows placing coupons in newspapers works, but placing them in newspapers is generally much more expensive than placing them in e-mail. Coupon inserts into newspapers typically cost about $45 to $55 CPM, plus printing. Though I don’t have the exact cost of this e-mail marketing campaign, it’s a sure bet the numbers are nowhere near as high.

Jeff Finkelstein is founder of Customer Paradigm, an email marketing and privacy consulting company in Boulder, Colorado.

Dec 11, 2003

E-mail Marketing Case Study: Orange Glo of Coupons

Basking in the Orange Glo of Coupons

E-Mail Marketing Case Studies
Published in ClickZ

BY Heidi Anderson | December 11, 2003

Coupons are common in the offline world, at least here in the United States. They’re so popular, a journalism professor once told me the majority of daily newspapers sell the most papers on Wednesday, primarily because of the special coupons in that day’s paper.

But online, coupons aren’t as widespread. I began to wonder: Can a company entice customers to respond to e-mail coupons?

It can if the company is Orange Glo International. The makers of OxiClean have been experimenting with e-mail marketing campaigns focused around coupons, and the results are beginning to trickle in.

Orange Glo is a small, Colorado-based company that manufactures and distributes natural cleaning products. This relatively new business was using TV commercials and infomercials to get the word out about its alternative cleaners. Orange Glo does some sales business via its Web site, but the bulk is through retail stores such as Wal-Mart.

Orange Glo’s challenge was to not only educate users about its products but also drive them to the retail channels to make a purchase. For instance, several informational campaigns have featured cleaning celebrity Billy Mays, who sends out notices about new offerings. Each message is clean, simple, and branded — “I’m excited to tell you about our newest product, OxiClean Active Stain Remover,” says Billy — and each has one call to action. A “click here to buy now” link takes users to the company Web site.

Although these messages educated recipients, the company also wanted to drive users to offline stores. Offering coupons via e-mail messages was one way to do that.

Orange Glo worked with Customer Paradigm to create a coupon offer. The offer went out just before Thanksgiving to a house list of tens of thousands.

Let’s take a look at several of the campaign’s elements:

Graphics. Billy Mays’ popularity is used to brand the Orange Glo messages. As a consumer, I applaud this notion. I participate in a number of online survey panels. My favorite is the Lightspeed panel, and it’s all because of Lauren. For all I know, she’s a fictional character, but I’m happy to see her. I feel like my communications are being sent to someone, not off into the netherworld of the Internet. Billy Mays is well represented in the Orange Glo message, right down to his signature and e-mail address.


Text. The text draws the reader in and matches the tone of the overall campaign. Phrases such as “if you’re like me” and “cranberries and other holiday foods often are a big source of stains” get the point across.


Offer. The offer, four different $1 coupons, is nothing to sneeze at. It’s mentioned high in the communication and listed in a postscript after Billy’s sign-off. Though marketers tend to agree e-mail postscripts aren’t nearly as important as those in direct mail pieces, Customer Paradigm’s Jeff Finkelstein notes it generates a significant number of click-throughs.


Miscellaneous. The mailing includes a phone number for those who aren’t comfortable asking for the coupons online or for those who don’t have printers attached to their PCs. Plus, it includes various list management tools, such as an unsubscribe link and a method for subscribing if the e-mail message was forwarded from a friend.
Clicking on the coupon link within the message transports recipients to the coupon signup form. The form has pre-populated fields, a great tactic in general. The less work the user has to do, the better.

The form includes three optional quick-pick questions, such as “Do you have pets in household?” The questions allow Orange Glo to gather customer information to be used for future products or in future campaigns.

The recipient chooses the coupons he would like; the boxes are prechecked for each product: Kaboom Shower Tub & Tile Cleaner, OxiClean Active Stain Remover, OxiClean Multi-Purpose Stain Remover, and Orange Glo Wood Cleaner & Polish.

The coupons then print to the user’s printer. (Remember, if the user doesn’t have a printer, she can call to have the coupons shipped to her.) Each coupon includes a bar code that allows the company to track from whom and when the coupon was redeemed. And Orange Glo followed up the offer with thank-you messages for those who signed up for the coupons.

Results:
The message was opened by 11.2 percent of recipients and garnered a 1.7 percent overall CTR. The open rate and CTR are a bit low compared to past Orange Glo campaigns, which are usually in the 13-20 percent range. However, this campaign went out just before a major holiday, when it’s likely recipients weren’t checking e-mail as frequently as usual.


16 percent of those who opened the message clicked through to the form, which is higher than past Orange Glo campaigns. Past campaigns average between a 10 and 12.5 percent CTR on opens.


Of those who visited the Web site and landed on the form, 68.5 percent completed it. Most recipients opted to print all four coupons, for a total of approximately 7,600 coupons.
We won’t know the coupon redemption rate until about eight weeks after the campaign, but here are a couple follow-up thoughts. Orange Glo did a comparison check against coupons in newspapers in an earlier campaign, and that past campaign led to double the redemption rate of the newspaper coupons.

Also, Orange Glo knows placing coupons in newspapers works, but placing them in newspapers is generally much more expensive than placing them in e-mail. Coupon inserts into newspapers typically cost about $45 to $55 CPM, plus printing. Though I don’t have the exact cost of this e-mail marketing campaign, it’s a sure bet the numbers are nowhere near as high.

Jeff Finkelstein is founder of Customer Paradigm, an email marketing and privacy consulting company in Boulder, Colorado.

 

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Sep 4, 2003

Part II: What If the Lights Go Out on Your Campaign?

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September 4, 2003

When we left off, BP Solar was attempting to use a fantastic opportunity to show off its alternative to traditional energy sources. A power failure had affected a large area of the East Coast. BP Solar wanted to contact its audience with an opportune message. The company created a timely message that would be waiting in potential customers’ e-mail inboxes as soon as the lights came back on. But the campaign experienced its own power failure.

The servers at the list management company went down. E-mail recipients were faced with broken images, missing links, and other errors throughout the message. Clearly, this wasn’t the way BP Solar planned to run the campaign. Today, how BP Solar revived the campaign to achieve overall successful results. Part 1: Analyzing the Initial Mailing First, let’s look at what the initial mailing accomplished. It wasn’t nearly as successful as BP Solar expected prior to deployment. The campaign goal was to encourage recipients to visit the company Web site and fill out a form authorizing a BP Solar representative to contact them.

BP Solar hoped for higher than average conversion rates as compared to past campaigns. But conversions were down — significantly. Not good. Plus, BP Solar wasn’t able to track how many customers saw the message before Experian’s servers crashed. There was some good news. Initial click-through reports were roughly double the average CTR of BP Solar’s 38 previous campaigns. In other words, the first day (before Experian’s servers went down) saw about twice as many recipients click to the Web site as usual.

BP Solar was also able to track call center activity and discovered some interesting results. Call volume was about three times higher than on an average day. Sounds good, until you realize during a typical campaign, call center volume is often up about four or five times the average. The volume was significant, but clearly not as successful as it could have been.

Part 2: Redeployment If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again… BP Solar sent a second message to the same 100,000 recipients on the Wednesday following the blackout (five days later). It was quite similar to the original message, with bullet points listing solar energy tax rebates and credits, a call to action, contact information, and more. At the beginning of the message, new text was inserted: An earlier message we sent to you had images and links that didn’t work. When you signed up at X website, you indicated that you were interested in receiving e-mail about earth-friendly products.”

Results? Recipients visited the Web site. But compared to past campaigns, conversions were down about 50 percent. There are a number of possible causes at work. The message was still timely but had a number of factors working against it. Many recipients had seen part of the message before, which may have led to a perception of spam. When the power finally did return, people may have had so many other messages waiting BP Solar’s was lost in the crush. In addition, worms and viruses overwhelmed businesses that week. Many corporate mail servers were crippled or offline altogether.

It wasn’t all bad news. BP Solar notes its “oops” campaign results were acceptable as the campaign didn’t cost the company anything additional. BP Solar still has money in its e-mail marketing budget. It directed those funds to another campaign. Part 3: Starting Over Still believing it could take advantage of the blackout, the company rented another list from a slightly more expensive vendor. The list was approximately the same size and had the same demographics as the one used in the previous campaign. BP Solar sent the same mailing to this new list the following week, on a Friday morning. (In case you were wondering, BP Solar consumers respond better over the weekend than during other times.)

This time, results were closer to expectations. The CTR was double the average, and the conversion rate was up about 30 percent over past campaigns. There are plenty of lessons here. The main one is mistakes happen. You can try to respond to timely market conditions, but sometimes things are outside your control. Don’t sweat them. Use what you’ve learned in your next campaign, and turn a mistake into an opportunity.

Heidi is a freelance writer who covers the Internet for both consumers and businesses. She’s a former editor of the E-mail Publishing Resource Center and coauthor of “Sometimes the Messenger Should Be Shot: Building a Spam-Free E-mail Marketing Program.” Her work also appears in Smart Computing, PC Novice, What’s Working Online, and Editor & Publisher.

Aug 21, 2003

Part I: What If the Lights Go Out on Your Campaign?

eLearning Series

By: Jeff Finkelstein

August 21, 2003

If this column were your only source of e-mail marketing news, you might think all campaigns are executed flawlessly and everyone has results she wants to brag about. But we all know it isn’t that easy. Glitches are a part of daily life. This week’s case study is about a company that incorporated a major disruption — last week’s power failure that affected a large area along the East Coast — into its e-mail marketing plans, only to see its own power failure affect the campaign.

How that campaign will ultimately turn out is yet to be seen. We at ClickZ have the rare opportunity to watch it progress. Today, I’ll share with you the genesis and initial implementation of the campaign and hopefully get you thinking about some solutions. The next column will share what next steps the company took and the results. BP Solar International LLC manufactures, designs, markets, and installs a range of photovoltaic solar electric products and systems. Consumers and businesses alike use the company’s solar power solutions as an alternative or supplement to systems such as gas and electricity.

When the massive power outage occurred last week, BP Solar saw the perfect chance to contact its audience with an opportune message. Within an hour and a half of the outage, BP Solar and its partner, Customer Paradigm, an e-mail marketing and privacy consulting firm, had created a timely message. The subject line was, “Protect Against Future Blackouts With BP Solar Home Solution.”

The first bit of copy told the recipient why he was receiving the message: “When you signed up at [Web site], you indicated that you were interested in receiving e-mail about earth-friendly products. To unsubscribe, see instructions below.” Clicking the link would take the recipient right to the unsubscribe commands. The main body of the text comprised a few small, colorful graphics and a targeted message: Dear Heidi, New York encourages homeowners to go Solar with new tax credits and rebates that offer up to 60% savings. Is solar right for you? Get a personalized estimate of your costs and savings with our free online Solar Savings Estimator. Click here; Save up to 50% of the purchase price with New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) rebates. Plus, save an additional 25% of the cost of your system as a New York State Income Tax Credit.

This was followed by a couple more bullet points, a call to action in the form of a link to click for more information, the signature of a key company official, a phone number, and other contact information. BP Solar had conducted 38 campaigns before last week, so it knew the message it wanted to get across and was able to quickly create the copy. (Yes, that is amazing for such a large company!) It also knew whom it wanted to target and how. BP Solar and Customer Paradigm used Experian’s opt-in e-mail lists to identify 100,000 potential customers. Criteria included geographic location, home ownership, income, and a few other factors.

Because of the difference in tax incentives, the recipients were split into two groups: 25,000 on Long Island and 75,000 in New York City and surrounding suburbs. The test message went out, everything looked good, and the companies pulled the trigger. The goal was once power returned to the area, recipients would fire up their computers and this message would be waiting in their inboxes. It would take advantage of the customer’s mindset, and the recent events would help encourage the recipient to seek out more information from BP Solar.

It didn’t quite work that way. When tracking data started trickling in, it was apparent something was off track. There was no response from the folks in the NYC group. Given that they received the same basic message as those in the LI group, there shouldn’t have been a drastic difference. At first the LI group appeared to be on its way to better conversions than in prior campaigns. But by Monday afternoon they were lower than normal. The reason? Experian went down. The servers were down, images were broken, redirects were down, phone lines were down — the list goes on. Consumers who could see the message didn’t necessarily know where it was coming from. And apparently no one in the NYC group received the e-mail message. That’s where we are today. This situation raises a lot of questions, including how to follow up with the consumers who received the “broken” message and why the distribution to the NYC group appears to have failed.

In my next column, I’ll share some answers, BP Solar’s solution, and overall results. Heidi is a freelance writer who covers the Internet for both consumers and businesses. She’s a former editor of the E-mail Publishing Resource Center and coauthor of “Sometimes the Messenger Should Be Shot: Building a Spam-Free E-mail Marketing Program.” Her work also appears in Smart Computing, PC Novice, What’s Working Online, and Editor & Publisher.

May 28, 2003

Jeff Finkelstein to be Keynote Speaker for Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association

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BOULDER, CO, May 22, 2003

Jeff Finkelstein, founder and president of Customer Paradigm, a Boulder-based privacy consulting and Web marketing company, will be the keynote speaker for the RMDMA’s June 5th Meeting at the Arvada Center on 6901 Wadsworth Blvd. The title of the presentation is “The Art of Conversion: How To Turn Prospects Into Paying Customers Via E-mail and Online Direct Response Forms.” From customer acquisition to lead capture to retention-based email marketing, Finkelstein will attendees how to mix consumer psychology with direct response tactics, how to build trust through sequenced interactions, and how to guide prospects down a sales funnel that converts them into paying customers in six easy steps.

Attendees will learn the fundamental elements of a permission-based email message, discover how to reduce communication barriers with optimized response forms, and track and measure marketing expenditures with source codes. Finkelstein will highlight how The Broadmoor generated 350 requests for proposals from meeting and event planners with a three-part campaign, how the Denver Metro Visitor’s Convention Bureau is using the process to bring more tradeshows and conventions to Colorado, and how even a clergy person has used a regular email newsletter to boost attendance at the congregation five-fold.

Finkelstein emphasizes the importance of privacy and permission, and shows how companies can build trust and create sales opportunities by focusing on the needs of their customers. “Most businesses begin by finding a customer need and getting paid to solve it,” says Finkelstein. “Successful online marketing campaigns focus on what makes the lives of their customers better, faster, cheaper, easier. It’s not about how many cases of product a company wants to push out of their warehouse. Customers have control.”

According to a 2001 Department of Commerce study, over 48% of the U.S. population has an email account. “A growing number of people prefer email to voicemail or a face-to-face meeting,” says Finkelstein, “because it is faster to scan through an email than schedule and attend a meeting.” “In most organizations, 20% of the customer base makes up 80% of their revenue, and it’s important to have an account representative stay in close contact via phone or frequent face-to-face meetings,” says Finkelstein. “But for the 80% of past customers that don’t spend enough money with a company to warrant a personal visit, a cost effective permission-based email campaign can help keep in touch.”

Finkelstein will speak at the Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd, on Thursday, June 5 from 12:00 to 1:15. For more information, please visit www.rmdma.org. Background on Jeff Finkelstein:Jeff Finkelstein is founder of Customer Paradigm, an email marketing and privacy-consulting firm in Boulder, Colorado. Clients include: Merck, BP, Lillian Vernon, Starwood Hotels, The Broadmoor, Horizon Organic Dairy, Orange Glo International, Condit Exhibits, McGraw Hill, Ariss Kahan Database Marketing Group, Aegis Analytical, The Denver Metro Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, Executive Forum, Micromedex, Microstaff, and AdventureRabbi. Considered an expert on Internet privacy and web marketing, Finkelstein evangelizes the customer experience, and helps businesses design sequenced interactions that lead to loyal, delighted customers.

Finkelstein is a frequent guest on the w3w3 Internet talk radio show, and has appeared as an expert witness before Colorado’s state legislature. Finkelstein has written a syndicated column on Internet privacy, trained ACLU attorneys and MBA students, and has spoken before numerous organizations including the Boulder Marcom Group, Colorado Electronic Commerce Roundtable, Colorado Software & Internet Association, Rocky Mountain Internet Users’ Group, and the Internet Chamber of Commerce. Prior to Customer Paradigm, Finkelstein’s work at PrivaSeek (later re-named Persona) helped GM, Disney and the USPS address privacy concerns on the Internet.

Finkelstein helped Persona design a suite CRM products, and represented the company as a founding member of the Personalization Consortium and the Online Privacy Alliance. Finkelstein’s eclectic past gives him a broad perspective on consumer behavior. Finkelstein has worked as a professional ski patroller, trained search and rescue dogs, built a custom home in the mountains of Colorado, run an indoor rock climbing gym, and led teens on extended backpacking and mountaineering trips throughout Colorado.

Finkelstein studied Political Science and Psychology at the University of Michigan, holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship & Technology Management from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and has served as an intern at The White House (pre-Monica). Finkelstein’s grandfather used to tell him stories about being held up at gunpoint at his general store in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and how the masked robbers got away on horseback. Finkelstein’s generation has seen how comfort with computers and the Internet has allowed the world to become a very small place.

Digitization, globalization and deregulation have shaped a new competitive business landscape – one that puts customers in greater control. Finkelstein’s mission is to help businesses adopt customer-centric practices that will allow businesses to be more profitable and customers to become loyal, lifetime buyers.

Background on Customer Paradigm: Customer Paradigm was founded to help businesses become more profitable by developing customer-centric business practices. The company helps businesses create and implement sequenced interactions that lead to long-lasting and profitable customer relationships. Clients include: Merck, BP, Lillian Vernon, Starwood Hotels, The Broadmoor, Horizon Organic Dairy, Orange Glo International, Condit Exhibits, McGraw Hill, Ariss Kahan Database Marketing Group, Aegis Analytical, The Denver Metro Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, Executive Forum, Micromedex, Microstaff, and AdventureRabbi.

The company stays very involved in the business and technology community, with active memberships that include the Colorado Software & Internet Association, Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association, Colorado Internet Keiretsu, Colorado Electronic Commerce Roundtable, Boulder Marketing Communications Group and the Rocky Mountain Internet Users Group. For more information, please visit http://www.customerparadigm.com. Background on the Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association (RMDMA):The RMDMA was founded in 1980 to provide an unbiased approach to finding the right marketing ideas and solutions.

Today, the RMDMA boasts a membership of over 550 direct marketing professionals, including traditional and interactive advertising specialists. The RMDMA hosts luncheons and other educational events September through June, including Direct Marketing Day, where hundreds of attendees visit trade show booths and take educational seminars. RMDMA sponsors the only certification program for direct marketing in the Western United States through Regis University. The three-semester program first began in September of 1998. Contact Information:Sandi RhynardExecutive Director, Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association www.RMDMA.org

Feb 14, 2003

Starting A New Company Without Venture Capital

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While I was a student at the CU MBA program, the Internet promised to fundamentally change the way businesses operated. From the fall of 1998 to when I graduated in June of 2000, we frequently had guest speakers that had started hot new companies and had personally cashed out for tens millions of dollars. So after trying to start a similar company with some business school colleagues, I joined a $47 million venture-backed startup.

Although sanity had returned to most of the business world, back at the startup the rules of the post-dot-com economy didn’t yet apply. But after a year and a half with the company (and with no products, customers or a viable business model), I left to start my own high-tech firm. I decided right away that I didn’t want to pursue venture capital. Nor did I want to pursue the latest and greatest bleeding-edge technology.

I instead focused on a current business need – communicating via personalized email with customers in a privacy-friendly way – that had thus far remained a complex and costly endeavor. I did my market research, and found that in just a few short years, more than 45% of all Americans had signed up for an email account, and 84% checked their email on a frequent basis. I also found out – by actually talking to potential customers – that most businesses and organizations weren’t using email as a way to interact and talk to their prospects and customers. Marketing managers were afraid of violating their customer’s privacy, and often didn’t know where to start with email.

After all, business schools tend to teach marketers how to work with an ad agency that will help them craft a message, and develop radio, print and television commercials – not how to do direct marketing on the web. Armed with market research and a desire to fill a real business need, I formed a company. I built a Web site, and licensed or built the required email marketing tools. And thanks to a down economy, contract programmers and commission-based sales people are much easier to find than they were just a couple of years ago, when companies begged people with minimal experience to work for highly inflated salaries. And also due to a down economy, businesses are aggressively looking for new ways to cut costs and increase the bottom line.

Our pitch frequently revolves around shifting a few budget dollars away from a traditional postal mail campaign, and using the money to instead communicate more frequently with their customer database. Through a lot of hard work, a great deal of networking and extremely targeted advertising campaigns, nine months later the company has a healthy client base, including several Fortune 500 companies. We won’t be posting multi-million dollar quarterly earnings any time soon; but then again, neither will many of the Internet startups I worked in and around in the past.

We take what we do seriously, but we’re not infected with a belief that we’re radically changing the world. We are a Boulder-based company, though, so we do like to think though that shifting to email helps save trees. ;-) The irony is that in a way, I do have the Venture Capitalists to thank: I carefully saved my money while I worked at the startup, and have leveraged those precious funds to create Customer Paradigm.

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