Calgoo Innovates in Monetizing Online Calendaring Solutions

Calgoo is a provider of sophisticated calendaring solutions that allow users to synchronize all the calendars between various devices and also to share calendars with family members or friends - no matter what product this or that friend uses for calendaring needs. Calgoo supports all the popular calendars, including Microsoft Outlook, Apple iCal, Google Calendar, 30boxes, and Plaxo.

Earlier this year Calgoo made a decision to switch from the freemium revenue model based on paid subscriptions to advanced features of the calendaring suite to a totally free approach. At the time I was more than disappointed watching something that sounded very much like a useful service still failing to make users pay in this world where everyone expects everything to be free. But I have recently found out that Calgoo actually had something very different - and certainly innovative - in mind when they made their products absolutely free.

The thing officially introduced today is called “In-Calendar Marketing” and is a new approach to monetizing online calendars by offering relevant information to users instead of simply pushing irrelevant banner ads to their eyes.

Basically In-Calendar marketing is intended for companies and brands to increase engagement and loyalty of their existing customers. This new functionality allows the companies to send updates and important announcements right to the calendars of existing customers who may be interested in receiving those updates and repeated purchases of new products. For that the companies can use their existing loyalty programs and email lists to reach those people for whom their information will actually be relevant.

For example, a retailer can announce a sale or availability of distressed goods while a restaurant can inform loyal customers of some weekly specials. With Calgoo absolutely any company - online of offline - can deliver some time-based information to customers to ensure deeper engagement and continued loyalty.

Calgoo works by converting a marketing message that is traditionally delivered by email, for example, into a calendar feed format and pushing these feeds to subscribers of relevant companies (the program is fully opt-in so there should not be complains about it). As a result this marketing message will look like a simple event right in the calendars of the customers with all the notifications and reminders required available.

There are already examples of successful implementation of Calgoo In-Calendar Marketing approach. For example, TeeTimes.net, the website for reservations of golf course tee times in the US and Canada, already allows its customers to book and view their reservations right from their calendars. Another example is North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce that uses Calgoo In-Calendar Marketing to increase attendance at their meetings.

I think the possibilities here are obvious as in addition to real-life businesses increasing loyalty and staying connected to their customers, various online businesses (like websites related to ticket sales or travel websites that often offer various specials to users) could benefit from such an approach as well. It looks like a great new approach to monetization services that offer real-life value to users. If it works for Calgoo, it will be a great proof that innovating in revenue model is possible and not everything should be ad-supported always.