Live Nation's Bob Frady on Online Preference Centers

But just because it's a one-step opt-out doesn't mean that you can't show other options to the person when they land on that opt-out page. So, you click to opt out, and it's already prechecked to opt out. But you can bring them to a minipage that says, "If you'd like to update your preferences, go to My Live Nation." You can put it in a very consumer-friendly type of engagement.

People want to target; they want to get what they want. And a lot of times when they unsubscribe, it's not because they don't like Live Nation. They just get too much from them.

TM: What might your opt-out/preference update process look like?
BF: We'll go to sort of a split-screen type of [presentation], where you'll have your opt-out on one side of the screen and already checked, and then if you want to change it, you can just go to the other column. Or something like that. It's still in design ...

TM: What strategies are you considering to combat the growing clutter in e-mail inboxes, as more marketers look to this channel as a low-cost alternative to direct mail?
BF: We've been very lucky in that our commitment to segmentation hasn't really wavered. In fact, it's got even stronger. We are not seeing the degradation that some other marketers are seeing.
Actually, we've redesigned our cards and now our newsletters to keep the look fresh and keep people engaged. Sometimes, they just get tired of looking at the same thing. So, you switch it up, and all your direction rates go up.

We've seen a huge increase in sales year to year because of [targeted marketing]. Because we've been committed to segmentation and we show how well segmentation works, it makes it easier for us internally to make sure people abide by segmentation.

TM: Any e-marketing trends that you're investigating?
BF: The one thing I've noticed is that marketers have become enamored of social networks, sometimes at the expense of e-mail. I'm not sure that is the smartest thing to do, because you're replacing an efficiency play, e-mail, with a very expensive play, which is basically CPM. That's an interesting trend to keep an eye on.