How would you prefer to be contacted?
When collecting contact information on an online form, doesn't it make sense to ask the person for their preferences? It seems like common sense, but at least 90% of the forms I see don't have that type of option.
Here's an example. In the world of trade magazines, qualifying and re-qualifying subscribers is a major business expense. Some trade publications spend more than a million dollars a year making calls, sending direct mail and emails, doing cover wraps on their magazines, and doing co-registration to reach their circulation goals. Once you have a subscriber's name on your file, you have to re-qualify them every so often, to make sure they're still at the same place and to update their info. But most trade publications don't bother to ask you how you'd like to be contacted for circulation renewals. They just start sending you emails, or making phone calls, or sending you direct mail pieces until you renew.
In the 9 years I've been in trade publishing, I've never seen a requalification form as smart (yet simple!) as this one from Website Magazine. After you change/verify your contact info and purchasing influences, you're taken to this screen where you specify how you'd like to be contacted for circulation renewals. They provide all sorts of options, from email to text messages and calls on your mobile phone, to an alternate email address, business phone, and a postcard. Plus they even give you a text box to include your comments or additional information.
It's simple, effective, personal, and user-focused. It probably saves them a ton of money. Why don't more websites do this?

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