With AccuCard for Outlook, the latest of its contact management applications, Corex Technologies is betting that paying for a contact management service will pay off with customers.
About a month ago, when reviewing Plaxo Contacts, I questioned Corexs policy of charging for a service to keep contact information up-to-date from within Microsoft Outlook. The AccuCard for Outlook 1.0 software and service combo became available for download earlier this month and costs $49.95 per year.
According to Tom Stearns, Corexs director of marketing, company research indicated that customers trusted that information would remain private and secure if the service had a fee. In retrospect, I have to say that I agree. Im more inclined to trust that paying for the service provides the necessary cash to prevent a company from selling my information. From a value perspective, $50 is not a lot for someone—such as a salesperson with hundreds, if not thousands, of contacts—to spend.
From a feature perspective, AccuCard is a little less intrusive than Plaxo. During tests of the Web-based AccuCard service, I found a greater number of contacts use the Web-based AccuCard. In addition, the interface that manages updating contact information in AccuCard for Outlook closely resembles the interface on the Web-based AccuCard.
I didnt like not being allowed to write the e-mail request for verification of contact information; Corex handles that. I do like Corex sending only one reminder e-mail to contacts asking them to verify contact information once per quarter. That e-mail also provides a link for opting out of the service.