Well I'm packing up to leave Berlin. What a great night to cap a great World Cup. I've met so many nice people that I look forward to keeping in touch with via email until I return. I can hardly remember the time when mail via post was the only option.

On the subject of email, I ordered some tickets online for a Broadway Show 'Altar Boyz' that my friend Ken Davenport is producing. The show sounded like it was going to be superb, so I ordered some tickets for my friends Stephanie and Raymond in New York. Ordering online, I provided my email for the order confirmation, as I do for most orders.

Imagine my delight when I received an email from Kenny about the play. It turns out that this email wasn't sent just to me, but to all who bought tickets online. The email thanked me for supporting the show and gave me some ways to help support it by telling others or coming back.

As more and more transactions take place online, we will collect a lot of emails. These people have moved to the far right of the Marketing Lifecycle to 'Purchase'. Those of you who took my marketing classes know that after 'Purchase' is 'Repurchase' and 'Referral'. A gentle nudge may be all it takes to move the customer along the path!

Altar Boyz did just that. With their collection of email addresses from purchasers, they followed up with a timely email offering me specific ways to 'Repurchase' and 'Refer'. Great job Kenny – I'm buying the next Nat Sherman Churchill for us both!