Co-registration

Co-Registration, or Co-reg as it is popularly called, is about lead generation. This is in the form of a ‘tick’ in a box which the user sees when he is signing up to a website. Users opt to receive information from 3^rd party. For example, a user who is visiting a website signs up for a newsletter, is shown some other subscriptions/offers which he can opt in to. These are usually show on conclusion of the registration process. Co-reg is a subset of lead generation.

As is obvious, Co-reg is a powerful marketing tool. Typical objectives of a co-reg initiative would be -

Build a mailing list of newsletters/brochures/catalogue requests

Generation of leads for an outgoing call centre operative to make calls on

Free sample distribution

Other activity that involves capture of consumer data

Co-reg has its own pitfalls, however –

1: Some websites have already pre-checked a the box requesting for newsletter from the company running the co-reg campaign. In such a scenario, since the user does not consciously opt in, an inadvertent subscription happens

2: Websites often incentive users to go thru’ a co-reg process. Leads coming  out of such an incentivized campaign are often duds  i.e the user doesn’t really have an interest in product/service/newsletter

3: When the lead was generated is of essence. There are systems which email/sms leads as soon as they are generated. This is highly recommended. Working with brokers who sell lists is fraught with peril as such lists can be hours, days or even months old!

For a Co-reg initiative to work the following need to be kept in mind –

1: A co-reg campaign should be run a related website. Thus a co-reg lead for SIM cards generated from a website that buys old mobile instruments would make sense.

2: Response to co-reg leads – in the form of a call, email etc – should be swift. Ideally a telesales team should be at the ready to call such leads. This is a sine qua non for a successful co-reg campaign.

3: Allowing the user to tick the box is very important. It would preferable to have a ‘distilled’ list of leads rather than a list of largely disinterested users.

And finally, like every other online campaign, it’s important to optimize the campaign all the way. Weeding out non-performing websites, adding newer ‘performing’ websites is crucial to a successful Co-reg campaign.