Guest Blog: Grow Your Customer Database with "Email Enhancement"

Guest Blog: Grow Your Customer Database with "Email Enhancement" - Harvey Silverman

Harvey Silverman • December 13, 2015

Meet The Writer

imageedit 2 3812276717 With nearly 20 years of experience in the golf marketing industry, Harvey Silverman is an experienced pro when it comes to helping golf facilities grow their business. As the owner of Silverback Golf Marketing, Harvey specializes in leveraging email databases to generate more revenue. We’ve invited Silverman on as a guest blogger to discuss a major problem with many customer databases and how to effectively combat it.

The Problem

During my career working with hundreds of golf course clients, I’ve gained an inside peek at their point-of-sale customer databases. What I often see alarms me, be it hundreds of duplications, misspelled names, phone numbers with a string of identical numbers, no email address or false email addresses, or in the case of GolfNow, a useless default email. An email address is the single most important contact item necessary to retain customers, and grow your business. I bet if I took a look at yours, I’d see one, some, or all of the following:

You can send Art a letter, or call him on the phone. Go for it (if you have time).

First name	Last name	Address	City	State	Zip Code	Phone	Email address
Arthur	Naftalin	3829 Drew Av. So.	Minneapolis	MN	55410	612-922-0038

Two strikes: A false phone number and a fake email. Ouch.

First name	Last name	Address	City	State	Zip Code	Phone	Email address
Joe	Blough	747 Celestial Ln.	San Mateo	CA	94404	9999999999	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Who wants to call Mary and ask her when she plans to play again?

First name	Last name	Address	City	State	Zip Code	Phone	Email address
Mary	Hadalam					650-574-5251

The mystery customer. Probably not his real name either.

First name	Last name	Address	City	State	Zip Code	Phone	Email address
Al	Alone

Here’s the worst: GolfNow will not share the email of a customer who reserved YOUR tee time on GolfNow.com:

First name	Last name	Address	City	State	Zip Code	Phone	Email address
Eddie	Munster	1313 Mockingbird Ln.	Mockingbird Heights	CA	91111	999-222-8521	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

How to Fix This

Your business can be better, and it starts right here with people who have played and paid at your course. I work with one of the top five U.S. direct marketing companies, the V12 Group. With access to their massive email database (nearly 100 million), I match your customer contact information, names and addresses or names and phone numbers, with verified email addresses. I call it “Email Enhancement.”

Match rates vary, but it’s as high as 32% on a list of GolfNow customers. We’d like it to be higher, but we’ll take whatever we can.

The process is simple for you. Export your customer list from your point of sale system in Excel, and send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. I’ll sort it it several ways, provide some insight to what’s good and what’s not, and let you know how many email matches are found in V12’s massive database. There is no fee for this database review. Matched emails cost just $.49 each, but you don’t have to make that decision until you know how many matches are available. The first 10 people to respond to this offer will receive 10% off, so don't hesitate!

Unless courses near you have closed, or your market has suddenly produced thousands of new golfers, contacting those who already know who you are critical to your success. Enhancing your email database is a start.

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