Perks: Digital Delivery
Digital Delivery is READY!
After several weeks of beta testing, the ability to use Digital Delivery is now available to all markets for all clients. We are currently developing an enhancement to separate the Service Fee from Shipping and Handling and until that development project is complete, we will not assess that fee to our customers. That enhancement is scheduled for completion on March 4.
Here’s the current schedule of releases:
- January, 2010 – Digital Delivery available and in beta testing in select markets
- February 12, 2010 – Digital Delivery available to all markets and soft launch to select, trusted clients
- March 4, 2010 – separate Digital Delivery service fee launches and soft launch to all clients in all markets
- April 1 to 30, 2010 – Full launch, with on-air and digital promotion
Digital Delivery is DIFFERENT!Important Things to Remember
- The client is now much more responsible for protecting against counterfeiting, and must be coached as such
Why? By allowing a customer to control the production of the certificate (i.e. printing it out) for convenience, we give up the ability to include security features like micro-printing and colorization. Those layers of protection must be replaced by data collected at checkout and more vigilance from the merchant.
How? We will provide a Security Primer that outlines the features and data points that a merchant should look for when they opt to use Digital Delivery.
- You or the client must provide serial numbers BEFORE entering the item
Why? Pre-determined serial numbers or promotion codes are the very first line of defense against counterfeiting. By deciding on these numbers prior to entering the item, you are able to customize the numbers when the certificates are created – and the merchant is able to verify each individual number at the time of redemption. For security reasons, once serial numbers are created, they cannot be changed.
How? You or the client simply need to create a “comma separated” list of serial numbers, copy that list, and then paste it in the form. We will provide a sample text file with 500 serial numbers that you can modify.
- Denomination is always singular [One (1) $XXand not Two (2) $XX]
Why? As mentioned above, by allowing a customer to control the production of the certificate for convenience, we give up the ability to include some security features and rely on data printed on the certificates instead. Certificate offers with multiple denominations override those data features and reduce traceability.
How? Each certificate, no matter the value, is sold as a single certificate. If you had planned to offer 100 units in the form of Two (2) $25 pairs of certificates, you now simply will be offering 200 units of One (1) $25. Quantity Limits are still available.
- Items can go on sale almost immediately, even with errors
Why? In response to your requests to shorten the execution cycle, the Digital Delivery feature now enables you to make an item available for sale just one day after you enter it into the form. While this provides great opportunities for quick sales, it also shortens the cycle that had previously allows us to check for and catch errors.
How? New items become available just after midnight ET on the day they are created, so any item entered before 11:45pm ET / 8:45pm PT will be available for sale no later than 12:30am ET / 9:30pm PT. Once an item is available, it can be posted by your Local Market Program Manager immediately, and once posted, will automatically go on sale at the pre-determined time. When a customer places an order, they will typically receive an email with the PDF certificate in a few minutes.
Awareness Campaign: Earth Month Integration
To reduce and offset development fees and expenses, we need to efficiently scale this program feature and encourage merchants and consumers to adopt and use the technology. In that spirit, we have planned a “green” launch, timed to coincide with the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day and Earth Month.
To raise awareness, we’re suggesting that each market work to close or convert 22offers into Digital Delivery offers and highlight one per day for every weekday in April. These offers can be in addition to any traditional “physical certificate” offers you may be running.
Weekdays in April are as follows:
- April 1, 2
- April 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
- April 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
- April 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
- April 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
Why Earth Month? While Digital Delivery will significantly reduce both our consumption of paper for the certificates and their packaging, it will also eliminate transportation required for and emissions created by shipping physical certificates by US Mail, UPS, and FedEx.
Questions?
Contact Drew Kondylas @ 610-660-5624 or