If you break it down to a basic level, we’re in the business of selling things on the internet. It’s not a very poetic mantra and it isn’t really a well-worded mission statement, but it is what it is. Obviously we try very hard to make our customers happy. If our customers are happy they will visit us again, visit us more regularly and maybe even buy more from us. But it’s not all about the money. We strive to have ongoing partner relationships with our customers, and we try to give back as much as we can.

When we officially launch 2Large2Email next month we expect to be able to give our foundation subscribers a pretty respectful “thank you” package. It’s worth it for a long-term relationship. People who are good enough to buy from our Electronic Software Delivery stores (such as ZoneAlarmStore) have the option to go on our about-once-a-month special subscriber offers list which gives away free stuff and discounts each month. Even if these subscribers never give us another dollar, we’re happy to continue sending them the offers as a thank you. But hey, if they decide to buy something else from us then we won’t say no!

Developing an ongoing customer relationship is definitely worthwhile - for the customer and the vendor. It doesn’t have to be expensive but it does have to give the customer a reason to be part of the relationship. Simply receiving bulk emails with crappy offers will soon be considered spam, and the relationship will come to a speedy end.