If there were a superhero dedicated to making consumers amenable to spam, then this Roanoke, Va.-based company, TrueLoot.com, would be in the running for those tights.
Launched Sept. 1, TrueLoot.com has consumers fill out a user profile, which gathers the usual personal details, and allows members to opt into advertisers they want to receive messaging from. Members can choose to receive these ad messages in a combination of ways – e-mail, a small banner area at the top of their Web browser or via text message. And with each message they open, they receive points, which can be redeemed for gift certificates, merchandise, coupons, subscriptions and promotional offers.
‘We only share demographic summaries with our advertisers and that enables advertisers to specifically target certain markets they wouldn’t be able to [affordably],’ says TrueLoot president and CEO Cameron Johnson. ‘We can do it by age or geographically or by their personal hobbies.’
So far, the fledgling company has a small group of 25 advertisers onboard (roughly 5% are Canadian-based) – that range from small Web-based companies to AT&T Wireless and cheaptickets.com.
In the first couple of weeks after its launch, TrueLoot.com had signed up several thousand users, typically aged 40 and under and computer savvy.
Costs to advertisers vary, Johnson says, but he touts even on a smaller budget of $1,000 to $5,000 TrueLoot.com gets a lot more ‘eyeballs and response.’ Johnson chalks that up to users getting rewarded for response and activity.
