- The Demographics are Dynamite: Although there’s no "average" Internet user to benchmark against – teenagers, pre–teeners, early retirees, grandparents and lots of fully–employed folks who surf the net at work, and before work, and after work are all among the active users – there are a few important things they have in common: better than average education, better than average disposable income (whatever their age group) and a stronger than average predisposition to buy over the net. (A recent study indicates that over 70% of Internet users have made purchases on–line.) To top it off, Internet–enabled households are growing at a much faster rate than T.V.–enabled households grew when that now omnipresent technology was new...and the growth is global.
- There’s a Near Perfect Fit between Sellers of these Plans (You) and Your Ideal Buyer: Clearly, the Internet is the perfect medium for self–directed investors’ the very people your DSPPs are directed at and, in fact, the only people who’ll buy through them. They can "window shop" without a broker urging them to buy the "special of the day" or sell one of their long-term holdings instead, do their own research (and run "screens" and make some highly sophisticated comparisons if they have a mind to) and, as the evidence amply shows, they’re already perfectly comfortable making an Internet purchase. On–line purchasing of securities is the largest e–commerce application by a huge margin.
- Internet –Enabled Plans Do What They’re Intended to Do – Get Real Money Flowing Into Your Stock – In Marked Contrast to Most Paper-based Plans: You look, comparison shop if you wish and buy – where, with paper-based plans, you look, call or write for the info you need to shop and/or buy, wait for it to come, maybe shop some more (or, more likely lose interest or spend your money elsewhere) or in the interim, as your editor so often does, put your materials behind the toaster, to be discarded weeks later. All of this costs your company lots of money, even while it typically produces pitiably small returns. In marketing lingo, Internet –enabled plans shorten and, more importantly, close what’s known as the "marketing loop" by providing immediate gratification of the urge to buy your stock.
- Internet –Enabled Plans Cost far less to Maintain Than Paper-based Plans – and Often Save You Money Overall: There are no fulfillment costs (no toll-free calls, or paper brochures, enrollment cards, envelopes, postage, etc.). Interested parties obtain the info themselves, at no cost to you. Better yet, 90% of the new holders you obtain (based on current rates at Home Depot) will tell you not to send them paper Annual Reports, proxy cards and interims; producing a huge saving in paper, postage and handling. If you’re really smart you’ll also be able to convert a significant number of your current, paperbound stockholders to "electronic delivery." Home Depot is currently converting about 100 a month. And if you’re a transfer agent or plan–servicer, please note: the stockholders are doing a lot of the work for you that you’d otherwise have to transcribe from their chicken scratch.
- You Can’t Afford to be a Dinosaur, while smarter, nimbler companies are moving rapidly to the Internet as they have been for IR applications in general and as we predict they ultimately will with their DSPPs. These companies, we also predict, will capture the most attractive segment of the market as "early adopters" (who are smart and nimble by nature) invariably do. For all these reasons, we predict that paper-based, dinosaur-like plans are destined to die in the dust.
|
Back