My ongoing saga of trying to get everyone all on the same page. We issued the new policy and worked through the opt ins/out.

I noticed in some training materials for affiliate marketing that it would be considered a typical situation for "eligibility information to be included in a common database that all affiliates can access".

we are struggling with the common database concept. Could this be the core system, that virtually all affiliates, bank side/ investment side, ins., etc. could access and that would be OK as long as the solicitation is not made to those that opted out, rifht OR

Is this perhaps a database, with info extracted from the core, and posted to a marketing software program database for use for marketing/soliciation purposes? In theory one, the core, would have all kinds of info, that goes beyond the affiliate marketing scope versus the marketing one that may include only pertinent info.

I know we are beating this one aspect to death but Ineed to provide some guidelines to the various affiliates so that they don't go over the limitations anticipated by the affiliate marketing opt out process.

Thanks

In our case, we're a Theory 2 shop--our IT folks have created a proprietary database that is separate from the core program. For those who have opted out, that is indicated and the info is blocked out as appropriate (for instance, deposits staff cannot view any info on a loan-only customer who has opted out of all affiliate sharing).

For others, there is broad information on a one-day delay from the core. Only pertinent info is included--contact info as permitted by their opt-in, number & type of accounts, total value of accounts etc. Different departments have developed other uses for the database (checking for updated addresses in the case of returned mail, for instance), but it's primarily a marketing tool.

We initially tried to use the common access option as you discussed; however, we found that the database contained information that was not solely transaction based and, therefore, couldn't be shared. I also had concerns that customers having opted out could easily be overlooked and inappropriately contacted.

We found it easier to generate specific reports for affiliates as needed which could be customized to eliminate customers having opted out and those on the do not call list.