Though 101Communications had always managed some of its files internally, as of Aug. 1 it will launch an in-house list division, 101Direct, to manage all of its files including a new master database containing 1.6 million names.
101Communications, Chatsworth, CA, is a publisher and conference company with properties such as controlled-circulation magazines, paid magazines, 26 e-mail newsletters and several conferences all targeting Internet technology professionals.
The company was formed in 1998 and began acquiring titles the next year. As 101 acquired titles, it kept the files where they had been managed for a while, said Jane Long Nicholson, general manager of 101Direct.
But for the past three years the company has had dual management between its internal staff and list firm Statlistics, Danbury, CT.
“That started with the intent of Statlistics managing our postal business and our internal staff managing our e-mail business,” Nicholson said. “Then lots of people became very interested in doing multichannel orders and get both types of names at the same time.”
As a result, the internal group and Statlistics got the chance to sell both the postal and e-mail names last year.
“In the end we realized that the dual management situation was really confusing and we probably weren’t best serving our customers with that type of arrangement, and we made the decision to bring it all in-house as of Aug. 1,” Nicholson said.
She stressed that the move reflected not Statlistics’ capabilities but a change in the best interests of the list customers.
101Direct also will start a new relational database containing all of its files in late August or early September. Nicholson said the database will let users take selects across the database.
“It is a relational database so we will be able to pull very specific selection criteria,” she said.
The database also will let 101Direct track e-mail use across all the files to limit the amount of e-mail sent to an individual address.
“With more and more people doing e-mail marketing, a large concern is overuse of the names,” she said.
Another benefit is that the database will be updated frequently, with newsletter records updated daily and magazine records updated weekly.
List titles for publications and conferences by 101Communications include Microsoft Certified Professional, Application Development Trends, Federal Computer Week, Enterprise Systems, ENT, Recharger, Syllabus, Office Technology, World Expo, E-Gov, SIG/101 conferences and MCP TechMentor conferences/seminars.
Further information about 101Direct can be found at the new division’s Web site at www.101direct.com.
