Under the Clic2Channel scheme, which the distributor says has already been piloted with excellent results, Computer 2000 will provide promotional emails from their vendors which resellers can rebrand and send to their own customer lists at zero cost. This enables both the vendor and the reseller to derive maximum value from channel marketing investments by taking the message directly to existing customers and pre-qualified prospects.
Nigel Judd, general manager marketing at Computer 2000, says that Clic2Channel works for everyone in the value-chain. "The reseller benefits by generating leads directly from their existing or prospect customers. The vendor also benefits by getting their message to a broad end-user base whilst retaining their corporate style and messaging."
Pilot campaigns have produced very impressive results, says Judd. "We are delighted with the way the programmes we have run so far have gone and we've had a great deal of interest from both vendors and resellers who have engaged with us on Clic2Channel."
The entire programme is run through a secure server and all resellers have to do in order to benefit is register and load their database information into the system. This is password protected and no other users will have access to any other reseller's data. Subsequently, they can take part in any campaign that is made available through the Clic2Channel scheme. In addition, to generating leads, the service also provides data cleansing to ensure that resellers gain the maximum benefit from their marketing campaigns.
With the entire channel under intense competitive pressure, vendors are eager to ensure that they receive measurable return on their investment in marketing.
Computer 2000 can provide detailed information on how many customers and prospects clicked on the email, how many responded and how many simply deleted the message, enabling resellers to refine their database and target markets more effectively. Judd says that, so far, the ratio of customers opening these mails has been higher than the industry average for DM response.
The service has been devised and developed by Computer 2000 in partnership with Clic2. Nic Perryman, managing director of Clic2, says that Clic2channel overcomes some of the major issues facing both suppliers and customers when it comes to communicating information about new products and promotions.
"There is a constant stream of new products and promotions from the industry but it is often difficult to get the message out there fast enough. Clic2channel addresses this problem and establishes a controlled way that reputable companies can communicate directly with end users via their established indirect reseller channels"