A "Full Circle"
Product Lifecycle Solution

  Transgrade is an "all inclusive" direct response
  offer development and management system
  backed by a stellar customer support team
  who cares enough to "Mind your Business!"

“The transition to TransGrade was fast and painless. Within two days we had everything we needed on our site to handle 12,000 new customers a day. We now have the tools we need to provide exceptional customer service, detect fraud, win chargeback disputes and keep our merchant accounts in good shape. ECEO

Marketing nutraceutical products is not an easy task. New products can be costly to develop and launch. They often undergo rapid adoption as advertising and word-of-mouth capture the consumer’s imagination. They can also fall out of favor just as quickly.

Savvy nutraceutical marketers understand that success lies in addressing two key areas. The first is customer service. Nutraceutical marketers must be fully prepared to ramp up immediately to exploit skyrocketing sales to new customers while providing high-quality service to maintain the loyalty of the current customer base. The second is profitability. Marketers must keep costs down by minimizing exposure to fraud and con-trolling costs associated with chargebacks and merchant account management.

A leading marketer of nutraceutical products tackled these and other business challenges with the help of customer relationship management (CRM) and chargeback management solutions from Transaction Management & Solutions (TM&S). These solutions are enabling the company to add new customers at a phenomenal rate while taking good care of its existing customer base. Moreover, detailed reporting is enabling management to minimize losses due to fraud and chargebacks and to balance the use of its merchant accounts.

GEARING UP FOR SKYROCKETING DEMAND

In late 2008, the company had a satisfied base of 50,000 customers and was attracting 1,000 new customers a day with its trial offer of a new food supplement that promotes weight loss. Consumers can try the product for 15 days simply by paying the shipping charges.

The buzz surrounding this product convinced senior management that sales could easily ramp up to 12,000 new customers a day within 30 days. As exciting as that prospect was, management was concerned that its internally developed CRM system couldn’t handle such a dramatic jump in order volumes.

MEETING CUSTOMER NEEDS

To address this concern, the company implemented TransGrade™, a fully integrated CRM solution that tracks comprehensive customer information for easy handling of order entry, shipping, billing, credits and refunds. TM&S worked closely with the company to tailor TransGrade for the company’s unique requirements, which include multiple payment variables, personalized e-mail notifications, and upsell and cross-sell capabilities.

Today, TransGrade gives call center agents easy access to customer information, enabling them to accept orders, answer inquiries, issue credits and refunds, and adjust monthly billings. The system acknowledges phone transactions as well as online orders with personalized e-mail messages.

DETECTING FRAUD

As an online marketer, this company faces the risk of fraud not only from people using stolen credit and debit cards but also from dishonest affiliates and subaffiliates. The company pays affiliate

marketers a fee for every referred customer who signs up for the trial offer. This customer acquisition fee is approximately five times the amount billed to the customer for the trial, so the company loses a substantial sum of money when dishonest people pose as legitimate customers.

TransGrade reporting capabilities provide the granular level of detail needed to identify affiliate fraud and put a stop to it. Reports show the referring affiliate for every customer along with comprehensive post-sale data, enabling the company to identify affiliate networks that have an unusually high rate of chargebacks, cancellations and refunds.

Interestingly, fraud may be occurring even when the overall affiliate rate falls within acceptable ranges. Because TransGrade reports down to the subaffiliate level, the company can spot this type of fraud and block referrals from these sources.

MINIMIZING THE COST OF CHARGEBACKS

Chargebacks are another area that can seriously impact profitability. Credit and debit card processors charge high fees even when the merchant wins the dispute. Moreover, too many chargebacks can result in terminated merchant accounts, which could seriously hamper the company’s ability to do business.

Using custom reports created by the TransGrade™ CRM and its staff, we first identified areas in which the company’s processes or call center operations may have prevented a cancellation, credit or refund from being handled properly. The staff investigates the cause, which may include inefficient internal processes or insufficient training, and takes steps to remedy the situation.

The majority of chargebacks, however, are not the result of internal processes or human error. Many occur because of “friendly fraud. EThe customer decides not to follow through on the contract and notifies the credit or debit card processor that a charge is fraudulent. Other chargeback’s are the result of stolen cards or other illegal activities.

In either case TransGrade™ CRM automatically generates dispute documents that provide comprehensive information  Efrom order details and transaction receipts to the complete terms and conditions agreed to by the customer. With this documentation, the company is winning nearly 80 percent of all chargeback disputes, compared with the typical industry win rate of 60 to 70 percent.

MANAGING MERCHANT ACCOUNTS

With thousands of new customers every day, and a customer base rapidly approaching the half-million mark, the company must maintain multiple merchant accounts with varying credit limits. Prior to implementing TransGrade, the company had difficulty staying within the parameters of each account. Management was concerned that as sales volumes increased, the risk of exceeding credit limits and potentially losing merchant accounts would also rise.

TransGrade has put those fears to rest with automatic load balancing across merchant accounts. Detailed reporting provides the insight management needs to comply with the terms and dollar limits of the various merchant accounts. Moreover, management can see when rising sales volumes call for adjusting credit limits or opening additional accounts.

TransGrade, CRM has just completed our Automated Data Export and Filtering System Upgrade that allows our clients the flexibility to specify what data gets sent where  Eand in what order! This exciting new feature puts the control in your hands. Set up your shipping files so that they automatically go to the required fulfillment house  EControl your membership management file with parameters that you decide  ECreate and manage your list management and email marketing campaign data…The options are endless!

By Linda Baginski

March 26, 2010 - Aliso Viejo, CA  EMerchants benefit from partnership of Total-Apps Inc. and TransGrade .

Small to Mid-size Ecommerce Merchants have greater access to enterprise level CRM and payment processing solutions that was previously only available to large organizations.

“By joining resources and efforts, we are better suited to offer our customers, no matter their size, competitive pricing advantages on their merchant card processing and an enterprise level PCI compliant CRM system without the high costs you would normally associate with these types of benefits, Esays Rey Pasinli, Executive Director of Total-Apps Inc. “Our customer’s are our business. So we found it fitting to team up with an organization that maintains that same level of dedication to quality and service. E

Total-Apps Inc., the ECommerce Engineers, was formed in 2007 to provide complete ECommerce consulting services and customized solutions for merchant’s processing needs. The Total Apps, Inc. team is a culmination of nearly 20 years of payment processing expertise.

Founded in 2006, TransGrade CRM is comprised of a highly spirited team of direct response development engineers focused on maintaining the delicate balance between successful campaigns and a healthy standing in the online payment card industry. Its team has been party to some of the largest, most successful and well known online direct response campaigns in the affiliate network market.

If you would like more information on Total-Apps and TransGrade CRM, visit www.total-apps.com.

Added Controls to protect against Declines and Chargebacks!! Introducing the newest upgrade to our Negative Database feature! We have added new features that allow customization in your signup scrubbing option! You have control over who purchases from your site  Eeither allow or disallow  Eyou choose. Use the information you submit to TransGrade, CRM, the whole TransGrade, CRM Negative Database (which includes data from all clients), or you can skip the scrub completely! Just select the sites; go through the tabs; and select your option.

Great news! TransGrade, CRM has just launched our new Flexible Shopping Cart! Because we know the importance of being flexible in today’s economy, we designed this with our client’s needs in mind. Highlights include Flexible Billing  EOne-Click Upselling of Multiple Products  EDesignated Product Merchant Accounts  EMultiple Buyer Options at Check-Out. Customize the set-up to suit yours and your customer’s needs  ELoyal Pricing Option  EPrice Breaks  EGift Promotions…Flexible to the nth degree!

Minor updates to our TransGrade, CRM  Emajor benefits to our client’s! We’ve tweaked our dashboard  Enew user interfaces to help protect against fraud  Enew landing page links in your site settings  Ejust a few new features that will help prepare for our next big upgrade coming soon! Look for a new launch the first week of October!

Released : Friday, April 09, 2010 11:33 AM

Newport Beach, CA -- TransGrade CRM prides itself on safeguarding customer data and maintaining elite status in the vertical market for e-commerce merchants. Achieving Level 1 compliance validation with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)ensures its clientele that their processes meet stringent data security standards.

Trustwave, a leading provider of information security and compliance solutions, performed the compliance validation of TransGrade.

"We are extremely excited - we received our final assessment report this week. Our teams of programmers and developers have worked diligently for several months to attain this milestone and it has all finally paid off," says Michael Brooks, Principal and Founder of TransGrade CRM. "Our e-commerce customers entrust us with their sensitive data, which we have to continuously protect. This is no small feat. Our industry doesn't expect companies our size to go down this avenue. It can be extremely costly and most give up before the process is complete - others don't bother and settle for Level 2 or 3."

The PCI DSS was created in 2004 by Visa, MasterCard, Discover Card, JCB, and American Express to standardize the payment card industry regulations and requirements for safeguarding cardholder information and protect against theft and fraud.

Founded in 2006, TransGrade is comprised of a highly spirited team of direct response development engineers focused on maintaining the delicate balance between successful campaigns and a healthy standing in the online payment card industry. Its team has been party to some of the largest, most successful and well known online direct response campaigns in the affiliate network market.

“TransGrade continues to raise the bar on its competitors EBR />
Newport Beach, CA, April 30, 2010  ETransGrade CRM, a Transaction Management & Solution’s Company, received notification Wednesday of their spot on MasterCard’s list of approved DSE Member Service Providers. TransGrade’s progression from Level 2 to a Level 1 validated service provider was a multi-faceted project spanning over the course of 18 months. The process included a series of assessments, internal data scans, and onsite reviews conducted by Trustwave, a leading provider of information security and compliance solutions. First National Bank of Omaha facilitated the registration process with Visa and MasterCard.

“Fraud prevention and data security is a key component of our CRM product. It was never a question of if we would become registered with Visa and MasterCard as a validated service provider, but when we would complete the process Esaid Michael Brooks, founder and principal of Transaction Management & Solutions and TransGrade CRM. “The health of the payment card industry depends on the ability of service providers to protect merchants and consumers against data theft and fraud. This is a huge milestone for our company. We have proven to our handful of competitors out there that it is a doable process and well worth the effort if you want to stay competitive in this business.  EBR />
TransGrade, a Transaction Management & Solution’s Company, first received its notification of Level 1 PCI DSS Validation from Visa in late March and can be found on their list of Compliant Service Providers. MasterCard’s notification soon followed in April, and the company has since been placed on their approved MSP list as well.

PCI DSS was formed by Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Card, and JCB in 2004 to standardize the payment card industry regulations and requirements for safeguarding cardholder information and protect against theft and fraud. Founded in 2006, TransGrade is comprised of a highly spirited team of direct response development engineers focused on maintaining the delicate balance between successful campaigns and a healthy standing in the online payment card industry. Its team has been party to some of the largest, most successful and well known online direct response campaigns in the e-commerce arena.