|
Page 2 of 2
The Ethical Concerns
So, are we about to enter an era where information, news, entertainment and retail experiences and services are all highly customized and consumers will vie to establish the right profiles that will ensure that they get the best of everything? While this is not possible today, it may be down the road as product competition get fiercer, technology gets more sophisticated and as consumers adjust to this niche-marketing landscape.
But before you decide that your company's database marketing techniques need an overhaul to compete in this environment, you do need to keep an eye on some events that could slow this process down.
First there are the ethical concerns. What will keeping profiles of good and bad customers mean if word leaks out that you are doing that? And what will happen as profiles become even richer, using the information gathered from consumer-generated media, such as blogs? What will happen to social interactions when two friends are receiving different news reports at the same time on their TV sets and different prices for a new refrigerator at the same time from the same Web site? Will those techniques push consumer groups to greater resistance to targeted marketing? As Turow notes, " 'My money is as good as anyone else's' has been a common American expression, but that may no longer be true."
And what about legislators, will they step in to prevent marketers from violating American's privacy rights? The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet was expected to take up the issue of whether a technology used for behavioral targeting violates federal wiretapping laws.
Even Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, told the BBC that he would change his Internet provider if it introduced a net tracking system. This issue came up because leading Internet providers in the U.K. were planning to use a Web tracking system developed by Phorm. He said about his data and Web history, "It's mine - you can't have it. If you want to use it for something, then you have to negotiate with me. I have to agree, I have to understand what I'm getting in return."
advertisement
And perhaps that's the whole key to database marketing and behavioral targeting - openness and transparency in your customer relationships. If what you are doing is truly good for your customers then the majority of them shouldn't object if they are kept informed and can opt-in to the use of this technology (instead of taking the opt-out route if they don't want it). Of course, when you read the numbers on how much consumer data is being transmitted to Internet companies it is worrisome about how all of this information is being used and protected. On March 10, 2008, The New York Times reported that ComScore analyzed 15 major media companies last December. It captured how many searches, display ads, videos and page views took place on those sites and estimated the number of ads shown on those networks. They called the times when consumer data was sent to the companies' servers "data transmission events." Just looking at Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, AOL and MySpace, they came up with a number of 336 billion data transmission events in one month (not counting their ad networks). Yahoo alone had about 110 billion data collections on its sites-which averages 811 collections per user.
Since I have a Yahoo e-mail account, I can't help but wonder what is being collected about me. Come to think of it, do you know what is being collected about you? Think about that as you work with your Chief Marketing Officer on your company's database management strategies.
Also of interest:
Article:
"Alarming Jump In Data Loss Reports," by Mel Duvall, published by CIOZone, 7/17/08. The number of organizations reporting a loss of confidential information has soared by 55% in the past two years, according to a national security survey conducted by research firm The Strategic Counsel.
Article:
"Lawmakers Probe Web Tracking" by Ellen Nakashima, published by the washingtonpost.com, 7/17/08. Lawmakers look into whether deep packet inspection technology violates users' rights to keep their Internet behavior private.
Article:
"To Aim Ads, Web Is Keeping Closer Eye on You," by Louise Story, published by The New York Times, 3/10/08.
A new analysis of consumer data shows how much Web companies are learning from their data collection efforts.
Book:
Up Close and Personal?:
Customer Relationship Marketing @ Work, by Paul Gamble, Merlin Stone and Neil Woodcock, published by Kogan Page, July 2006. A guide to customer relationship marketing that explores the ethical issues.
CIOZone Question:
Does your company Web site have an opt-in or opt-out policy when collecting customer information?
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.
|
