are you ready for the DNC list?

In our Tips, we recommend using a web form and email marketing to make the request for consent to contact your prospects and customers. We also recommend an automated system for updating your database to assure proper identification of contact preference. BounceLinker is your tool for handling these permission marketing updates in GoldMine, and is recommended by FrontRange Solutions for this task.

Web Form: BounceLinker includes a simple web form that may be personalized for your company and used on your website to collect contact permissions. The form is simple and easy to implement. If you find that your company would like to request additional information, the form may be customized completely by your company to handle additional complexity in how you want to speak to your customers and what types of permissions you want to request.

Email Template: The web form included with BounceLinker may also be used as a template for an html email that may be sent out of GoldMine to your database.  Alternately, you may send a simple text email that points the recipient to the web form posted on your site.

Filing the Responses: The simple web form included with BounceLinker will send four emails to your GoldMine that will indicate the web visitor's preference for each of four types of media: phone, fax, email and mail. You are not likely to want to clutter your inbox with these responses as they are brought into GoldMine, so BounceLinker comes with a sample Email Rules file that may be imported into GoldMine. These email rules will file the responses into the correct folder for processing by BounceLinker. (BounceLinker also comes with a customization installer that will add these folders to your GoldMine email center for you.)

Processing the Responses: The response to your email and web form may be processed by BounceLinker to update GoldMine in many ways. Most importantly, you will want to visually indicate contact consent and also use database features to prevent or allow future marketing campaigns to reach these people.

BounceLinker is a flexible tool that will allow you to specify how your company would like to make database updates. We can make recommendations, but we clearly understand that every company will have it's own preferences and we are determined to let you "do it your way."

Our Suggestions: Here are some suggestions that you may review as you decide your company policy for documenting permission marketing.

• Update any contact1 or contact 2 field in GoldMine.  This might mean updating a set of userdefined fields to reflect a "Yes" or "No" for each type of media . You might choose to precede an opt-out phone number with a character such as an X so that predictive dialers skip the number and the user can visually see the opt-out preference . You may, in either case, use record typing in GoldMine 6 to mark opt-outs by color, such as turning opt-out phone numbers RED .
• Update email and contact merge codes: To prevent future mailings for email opt-outs, you may remove email merge codes for matching email addresses. You may also remove contact merge codes for primary and for additional contacts. To add someone to a new mailing list, you may add merge codes to their record.
• Schedule an activity: If a web visitor opts-in for phone contact, schedule an activity in GoldMine for a sales person to make the call.
• Update history: Every email in GoldMine has an associated history record. But these history records generally have no activity or result codes associated with them. For future reporting, you can use BounceLinker to add an activity code such as "PMW" for permission marketing from web form and "PME" for permission marketing from email.  You can also add a result code, such as "Yes", "No" or "DNC". Reporting on your responses or making groups in GoldMine is facilitated by these history updates.
• Attach a track: Whenever you want to perform a function that is more complicated than the standard BounceLinker Processing Options, you may attach a track in GoldMine that is configured exactly as you specify to perform advanced functions for the contact record.

Integrating with the DNC List - Export to a file: This feature is so crucial, we feel it needs it's own section. With BounceLinker you may export phone and fax numbers as a DNC list style format . BounceLinker becomes your tool for creating and maintaining your inner-company DNC list. You may ask BounceLinker to get the phone number from the web response email , or you can ask BounceLinker to get the phone numbers from the matching GoldMine record . With permission marketing, if someone opts-out on one phone number, your company policy might be to opt-out for all phone numbers. After all, the web visitor does not know what phone numbers you have for them and if they don't want contact on one they may not want contact on any. BounceLinker can add selected phone numbers or ALL phone numbers from their record to your inner-company DNC list. In addition, you may export email addresses, such as bad/bounce addresses or email opt-outs. 

History and Documentation: By collecting emails in GoldMine, you are recording an ongoing history that will provide proof in the event you are scrutinized for violating someone's request to opt-out . By updating the records with BounceLinker, you are also proving your company's desire to respect your customer's wishes. Mistakes may still be made, opt-outs may still be contacted, but the intent to comply is clear and documented. And sometimes that is enough to escape legal fines.