KEEP YOUR EMAIL INFORMATION UP TO DATE
People move, they change addresses, phone numbers become disconnected and email addresses fade away. In fact, according to a survey done by a company named Plaxo that offers an email contact service, out of date contact information is one of the biggest detriments to conducting business online.
I can relate to this. My email address book contains hundreds of critical contacts I need to keep from getting stale. Yet trying to find out which email addresses are current and which are not has proven to be a complicated task. I was alarmed when I discovered that many of the contacts in my address book were over 5 years old, with some going back as far as 10 years. In the business of maintaining contacts, that's just plain suicidal. When it comes to someone changing some component of their contact information, typically the first thing to change is their email address.
Fortunately, there's a new system called Plaxo Contacts. The system is comprised of both software and a service that together lets you maintain an up-to-the-moment list of contacts along with their vital information. To begin, you install the Plaxo software onto your Windows-based PC. The software accesses your Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express email program and begins the process of asking you which contacts you want to update and maintain. It asks because there may be some reason you don't want to contact a particular person in your address book.
From there, the software contacts Plaxo's server, generates and sends out a special email to each and every contact in your address book. What they receive is a personalized email from you stating who you are, along with the contact information you currently have on them such as their email address, fax, cell, home and office phone numbers, mailing address and other relevant information. All the user has to do is verify the information or make any adjustments by simply typing in the corrections. When done, they just send it back to Plaxo's special email address that includes the necessary codes to identify you. From there, the service contacts the Plaxo software installed on your computer and automatically updates everything for you. All of this is done in the background without you having to do anything. Furthermore, once a person is contacted and replies, the Plaxo system will continue to monitor your contacts automatically. If it detects any changes, the corrections will be sent and modified without your having to do anything. The bottom line is that you can be assured that the contact information in your address book will always be accurate and up to date.
Plaxo's system works with all of the information in your Outlook's address book as well as any other email addresses you have contacted in the past. In fact, you can tell Plaxo how far back you want to go and if the historical information is available in your current version of Outlook, Plaxo will include those as well and bring them up to date into your address book.
Additionally, another nice ability using this system is that you can maintain and access all of your contact information even if you are using someone else's computer. Using any browser, you just log onto the Plaxo web site and enter in your email address and password. Once in, you can access all of your contact info from any computer and send email safely and securely.
Currently both the Plaxo software and service are free. It is the company's intention to offer a more advanced version and service that users can upgrade to for a fee. However, according to the company's founder and president, the policy of offering Plaxo Contacts for free is in place so as to encourage interest and participation to a growing number of subscribers. As of the end of 2003, Plaxo has surpassed one million registered subscribers in only 7 months of operation.
As part of the free service, Plaxo includes a link back to its service within the information query that is sent out to others on your behalf. It merely says "If you would like to learn how to use Plaxo to automatically update your own address book, visit http://www.plaxo.com." If you get one if these data query emails from someone you know who is making sure that the info they have on you is accurate, and you're tired of wondering whether your own contact information is accurate and up to date, may I suggest that you click on it.
www.plaxo.com |
