A while back, I wondered why nobody CRMs me anymore. Nary a “thank you,” a “we want you back,” or a “we have a special offer for you, our best customer.” And I can be a great customer!
Then Rachel in our office told me she hears all the time from a company called RedBox.
I’d never heard of it so Rachel had to tell me that RedBox rents out movies from fancy vending machines for $1.20 a night. They’re in 29,000 locations with a presence in every state.
It’s all computerized. You search for a movie you want and swipe your credit card. If this is your first time you use the onscreen keyboard to enter your email address. Then out pops your DVD in a plastic case. You bring it back the next day.
The CRM part starts before you get home with a receipt/confirmation sent to your Inbox.
When you return the movie, you get 1) a thank you with a receipt and confirmation; 2) a weekly email, mostly about new releases; 3) a contest to win free movies for a year. RedBox even has a blog with giveaways, lists of top movies and reviews.
Twitter? About 47,000 followers. Facebook? About 4 million likes.
Rachel says “The website and mobile app are great! I can see if the movies I want are at my nearest Redbox so I can save time. I can even reserve the movie online and go pick it up.”
The Los Angeles Times wrote: “…Redbox’s parent company, Coinstar Inc., reported that revenue for the $1.20-per-night DVD rental business surged 40% during the final three months of 2011 to $445.6 million and 35% for the year to $1.56 billion.” That’s a lot of $1.20 credit card swipes.
RedBox’s ongoing contact program, its CRM, offers peace of mind (the confirmations and receipts), useful information and a chance to win something … all the time and oh so effortlessly. Along with the quick service and low price, it’s a great combination. Why do so few companies do things like this?
About Lois GellerLois Geller is President and Owner of Lois Geller Marketing Group and headed agencies in New York and Toronto. Lois taught Direct Marketing at NYU. She’s the author of five marketing books, including Response: The Complete Guide to Profitable Direct Marketing. Follow @loisgeller on Twitter.
We’re so glad you liked the RedBox Post. Many people said they’d never heard of your company, we think they should.
Lois, Rachel — Please accept my belated thanks for such wonderful and thoughtful words about Redbox! We’re thrilled to hear you’re delighted with our service. Rest assured, we’ll keep working hard to continue earning your business.
In fact, if you email me at mrubin@redbox.com, it would be my pleasure to provide you with a promo code for a free one-day DVD rental. It’s just a small way we can say thanks.
Lori — We’re now live in Canada at redbox.ca. From your blog, I noticed that you’re in Toronto and that’s one of the cities where we’re first available. If you use the code REDBOX4ME, the first night of your rental will be on us.
If I can be of any assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact me at mrubin@redbox.com.
At your service,
Michael E. Rubin
Redbox Sr. Manager, Social Media
mrubin@redbox.com
I like the CRM system too, Rachel…because it assures me that they’ve received the movie also…and is a nice confirmation.
RedBox is awesome! I just love them. It’s easy to use and inexpensive. I love that they email me the new releases every week, too. I also very much appreciate the ‘thank you’ I get in my email the moment I rent a movie, and when I return one. They really have a great system in place for CRM.
I think, Lori, it will come in way under any other movie prices…and that’s the excitement of it.
You can rent these movies easily and inexpensively so purchase a few of them at a time..and if you don’t like one or two…no big deal.
Will you let me know how it flies in Canada?
Redbox is coming to Canada very soon. I am excited to experience them as a customer and as a marketer I am interested to see how it impacts our rental market and on-demand viewing. I am not sure if they will come in with the same price point but should interesting!