Co-registration has had a pretty rough time of it over the years, but digital marketers are increasingly turning to co-reg to supplement their new and existing lead generation campaigns.
At a very basic level, co-reg is permission-based marketing. A user specifically requests to start a marketing relationship with an advertiser in one of many forms: a newsletter, promotion, competition or quote are the most common examples. As with all lead gen, the advertiser goal is to convert these leads to sales.
In the past, co-registration was given a bad name with the quantity over quality approach that it encouraged. Co-reg was cheap and provided swift results, so advertisers focused on size, amassing a quick and dirty database of marketing leads in a short period of time, whilst paying little attention to quality. Irresponsible publishers didn’t help either, be it naivety or greed, incentivised campaigns were common, and over-worked or cross-sold leads hit conversion rates hard.
What went wrong?
Now some people argue that digital marketers fell out of love with co-reg because it simply didn’t or couldn’t work. The truth, however, is that knowledge is power. With sound understanding it has been shown time and again that co-registration really is a viable way to build a permission-based prospect list, but only if run correctly.
With increasingly targeted traffic, improved data validation techniques and ever-evolving campaign filters, it has never been easier to put your ad in front of the demographic you want whilst screening out the leads that you don’t. Then think about the quality of those leads, and how to best nurture those leads effectively.
The quality of your leads is certainly a major factor influencing the effectiveness of a campaign. But it’s important to remember that how you communicate with those leads once you’ve got that all-important list can also make or break a campaign. Email, text, call centre or postal, your marketing message needs to be timely and relevant to maximise results. Campaign success rests with both the advertiser and publisher.
Co-registration FTW
Even though co-registration has been given a bad press over the years, used correctly it still remains one of the most effective lead generation channels around. A 300% increase is usage by our clients in the last 12 months alone has shown us that. Why? Co-reg is less expensive than other types of lead gen and allows you to target your specific campaign demographics. What’s more, all leads generated are easily validated, non-incentivised and can be delivered in real time. You have a targeted, qualified hot prospect just waiting for you to get in touch.
Here are a few more tips for co-registration marketing success:
Quality is key:
No matter how clean and relevant your marketing plan is, if you can’t contact your leads, your campaign will fail. Invalid emails, dead phone numbers and incorrect addresses are a waste of your time and money. Even worse, invalid emails, spam traps and low email engagement will damage your IP reputation. Damage to your email deliverability can take months to put right. Incorrect or fake phone numbers will demotivate your call centre staff. They will quickly lose confidence in the data source and simply won’t want to call it. For best campaign results ensure the leads you buy have been validated before you receive them, or invest in a lead management system that can apply basic validation for you.
Keep your advertising copy clean:
Remember it must be short, punchy and relevant to your potential audience. With only seconds to capture the attention of a user, you need to stand out. Less is often more.
Don’t let them forget you:
Contact your leads straight away – send out emails, make calls or send a text. Remind your leads who you are and why they wanted to hear from you in the first place.
Nurture that list over time:
Don’t let leads forget you, but don’t bother them with endless communications either. Maintain momentum and don’t give up after the first attempt. Plan for follow up communications to make the most out of your leads.
Know your publisher:
Their traffic will become your leads. Look at their website and find out how they generate a lead. Do they validate leads? Is your offer incentivised? Do they pre-check campaigns to trick users into engaging with your offer? Incentivised and pre-checked offers tend to result in leads that are not necessarily engaged with your product. The user-journey and your publisher’s advertising model can really affect your results.
Feedback:
Don’t keep your lead suppliers in the dark. They need to know what is working and what isn’t. Advertiser performance feedback is crucial to develop optimised, sustainable, long-term campaigns that works for both advertiser and publisher.
Performance Tracking:
Performance tracking is essential to get the best from your campaign. Changes to budget allocations, targeting, ad copy and marketing messages can all help add value to your campaign.