I've got a bunch of questions and thoughts regarding promotion of my
website using flyers, but I will start off with a couple of related
questions.

I plan to print on each flyer a unique number - which can be entered at
my website, and serve many useful purposes - such as tracking
responses, and also as an entry into a sweepstakes.

(Q1) PRINTING COMPANIES. I've started to send out enquiry emails to
printers, but has anyone had experience of doing the same or a similar
thing with flyers and if so, how did you do it? One local printer I
phoned recently said they could accept an Excel file of all my numbers
(thousands of them), and print each one to a different flyer.

(Q2) NUMBERING SYSTEM. Although internal to my DB, numbering will be
sequential, I DON'T plan on the printed numbers being sequential 0001,
0002 ... 5000 etc. The number that GETS PRINTED on a flyer will be a
sequential number encoded using some algorithm plus a checksum digit
(like credit cards.) This is so that if a visitor enters it incorrectly
they get informed of a bad digit somewhere. My question is - how do I
decide on an appropriate numbering system? I don't want too few digits,
or too many. For example, UPC codes are usually 12 digits, US phone
numbers and eBay item codes are 10 digits, and a number of credit cards
are 16 digits. And I may also want the numbering system to be
expandable in the future - say I choose 8 digits now, but go to 12
digits in the future, but still want the new system to be backwards
compatible with the previous system.

Any advice and/or pointers would be appreciated regarding these two
questions. Thanks in advance for any replies.

Miner2049er.

<google_groups@excite.com> wrote in message
news:11a8kgagi96bjd4@news.supernews.com...
>
> I've got a bunch of questions and thoughts regarding promotion of my
> website using flyers, but I will start off with a couple of related
> questions.
>
> I plan to print on each flyer a unique number - which can be entered at
> my website, and serve many useful purposes - such as tracking
> responses, and also as an entry into a sweepstakes.

I don't understand the need to go to all this trouble. Especially with all
the check digits and stuff. Getting people to your site is one thing.
Getting them there to type in a long number -- replete with error codes for
typing it in wrong -- good luck!

If you were performing some sort of a test I guess that would make sense,
but you'd have to outline the test so that we could understand this in
context.

Rather than spend money on numbering, spend money on making up two or three
different flyers and see which ones work.

Remember, most people need to see a flyer several times before they respond.
So if you're mailing these things, you're going to have to mail them four or
five times before you start to get a decent response.

I suggest you post your flyer somewhere online and ask people in this group
to review the flyer, you'll probably get some really good suggestions about
how to improve the flyer and, overall, be more effective with this campaign.

Good Luck!

Mike Turco
miketurco.com

google_groups@excite.com wrote:

>I've got a bunch of questions and thoughts regarding promotion of my
>website using flyers, but I will start off with a couple of related
>questions.
>
>I plan to print on each flyer a unique number - which can be entered at
>my website, and serve many useful purposes - such as tracking
>responses, and also as an entry into a sweepstakes.
>
>(Q1) PRINTING COMPANIES. I've started to send out enquiry emails to
>printers, but has anyone had experience of doing the same or a similar
>thing with flyers and if so, how did you do it? One local printer I
>phoned recently said they could accept an Excel file of all my numbers
>(thousands of them), and print each one to a different flyer.

Just insert a column in the database/spreadsheet, and make up one number
for each row. Then tell your printer to use that column to mailmerge
the number onto your postcard. Usually it is cheapest when you do that
on the same side that has the address.

>(Q2) NUMBERING SYSTEM. Although internal to my DB, numbering will be
>sequential, I DON'T plan on the printed numbers being sequential 0001,
>0002 ... 5000 etc. The number that GETS PRINTED on a flyer will be a
>sequential number encoded using some algorithm plus a checksum digit
>(like credit cards.) This is so that if a visitor enters it incorrectly
>they get informed of a bad digit somewhere. My question is - how do I
>decide on an appropriate numbering system? I don't want too few digits,
>or too many. For example, UPC codes are usually 12 digits, US phone
>numbers and eBay item codes are 10 digits, and a number of credit cards
>are 16 digits. And I may also want the numbering system to be
>expandable in the future - say I choose 8 digits now, but go to 12
>digits in the future, but still want the new system to be backwards
>compatible with the previous system.

If you use digits and numbers, then it will be shorter. Be careful of
confusion between zeros and the letter "o" and the numbers 1 and the
letter "i" or "l". Usually you can just leave these out of the
numbering system to cut down on the errors. Unless it is a very good
mailing and sweepstakes, people will not be happy about having to enter
long and confusing numbers. Best thing to do is hire a programmer to
make a random number generator for you using a six digit alpah-numeric
number 2-9,A-H,J,K,M,N,P-Z. a 7-digit number will yield about 1 million
combos. They can write it in VB for applications so you can use it in
Excel. Put your cursor in the correct column, at the first row of data,
push a button, and it is all filled in. Most programmers will charge
between $250 and $750 to write it. Less for overseas, but that you have
to explain yourself 10 times.

Cliff.
--
_____cliff_rayman_________________________________ ____
Business Consulting and Turnaround Management
[web] http://www.rayman.com/
[web] http://all-clear-turnaround-management.com/
[eml] cliff _at__ rayman.com
[phn] 888-736-3802 x701
[fax] 818-743-7404
__________________________________________________ ____

Thanks for the reply.

Mike Turco wrote:
> I don't understand the need to go to all this trouble.

I guess we all have different energy levels.

Pierre Omidyar could have kept AuctionWeb a small and simple site, but
he decided to expand, add new technologies and employees, and with eBay
- as they say - the rest is history.

Credit cards use a checksum digit to prevent erroneous number entry
(when entered by hand) and numerous big-brand companies (e.g. Pepsi)
have used a checksum as verification in their
enter-a-number-at-our-website sweepstakes.

A number of digital printing houses have got back to me saying that
their equipment can do what I'm asking (at no extra cost), though
various old-school printers have told me that they won't be able to
with their equipment.

And with a unique tracking number on each flyer, rather than just using
one or two, I have much finer granulation of tracking - I can measure
the time from delivery of flyer to a subsequent website visit, which
areas of town had a greater/faster response rate, and more.

Can anybody else assist with any advice, especially the number system
question? I'm probably going to go with 10 digits - a billion (0 to
999,999,999) plus a checksum digit, which gives me plenty of room for
future campaigns :-)

Cheers,
Miner2049er.

Cliff - some great information there. I also had forgotten about how
similar some numbers and letters appear (such as I and one, O and
zero.) Thanks - Miner2049er.

<google_groups@excite.com> wrote in message
news:11a8kgagi96bjd4@news.supernews.com...
> (Q2) NUMBERING SYSTEM. Although internal to my DB, numbering will be
> sequential, I DON'T plan on the printed numbers being sequential 0001,
> 0002 ... 5000 etc. The number that GETS PRINTED on a flyer will be a
> sequential number encoded using some algorithm plus a checksum digit
> (like credit cards.) This is so that if a visitor enters it incorrectly
> they get informed of a bad digit somewhere. My question is - how do I
> decide on an appropriate numbering system? I don't want too few digits,
> or too many. For example, UPC codes are usually 12 digits, US phone
> numbers and eBay item codes are 10 digits, and a number of credit cards
> are 16 digits. And I may also want the numbering system to be
> expandable in the future - say I choose 8 digits now, but go to 12
> digits in the future, but still want the new system to be backwards
> compatible with the previous system.


Hi,

IMHO, the shorter your string is the better for your customers. I
believe somebody else mentioned that customer frustrations will drive
them from your site if they have typos. And I agree.

So keep it as short as possible. By using alpha numeric strings, you
can increase the number of combinations without adding digits.

With a base 31 string, you can acheive the following combinations :
1 character yeilds 31 combinations
1 character yeilds 961 combinations
1 character yeilds 29,791 combinations
1 character yeilds 923,521 combinations
1 character yeilds 28,629,151 combinations
1 character yeilds 887,503,681 combinations

I have included code below which can be copied into an Excel module.
These functions will generate the alpha numeric string. Please notice
vowels are removed to eliminate in appropriate words which would
otherwise eventually be generated.

Good luck,
John MacIntyre
http://www.johnmacintyre.ca
Specializing in; Database, Web-Applications, and Windows Software

Excel VB code
-------------------
Option Explicit

Private Const ALPHACHARS As String = "0123456789BCDFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ"

Public Function CvtDec2Base31(ByVal lVal As Long) As String
'// WARNING *** this function is recursive ***
Dim sTmp As String
Dim lDivisor As Long
Dim lModulus As Long

If lVal <= 0 Then Exit Function

lDivisor = Fix(lVal / 31)
lModulus = lVal Mod 31
CvtDec2Base31 = CvtDec2Base31(lDivisor) & Mid(ALPHACHARS, lModulus
+ 1, 1)
End Function

Public Function CvtBase312Dec(ByVal sVal As String) As Long
Const ERR_INVALID_PROCEDURE_CALL = 5
Dim nLoopCnt As Integer
Dim nTmp As Integer
Dim lRetVal As Long

sVal = Trim(sVal)
If Len(sVal) <= 0 Then Exit Function

For nLoopCnt = 1 To Len(sVal)
nTmp = InStr(1, ALPHACHARS, Mid(sVal, nLoopCnt, 1),
vbTextCompare)
If nTmp < 0 Then Err.Raise ERR_INVALID_PROCEDURE_CALL,
"CvtBase312Dec"
lRetVal = (lRetVal * 31) + (nTmp - 1)
Next

CvtBase312Dec = lRetVal
End Function

"John" <pls@respond.in.the.group.com> wrote in message
news:11ac1j4gs557c57@news.supernews.com...

> With a base 31 string, you can acheive the following combinations :
> 1 character yeilds 31 combinations
> 1 character yeilds 961 combinations
> 1 character yeilds 29,791 combinations
> 1 character yeilds 923,521 combinations
> 1 character yeilds 28,629,151 combinations
> 1 character yeilds 887,503,681 combinations

Sorry .. cut & paste error

1 character yeilds 31 combinations
2 characters yeilds 961 combinations
3 characters yeilds 29,791 combinations
4 characters yeilds 923,521 combinations
5 characters yeilds 28,629,151 combinations
6 characters yeilds 887,503,681 combinations