Too Much of a Good Thing?
Mediapost, July 20, 2005
IS THERE A POINT AT which we cannot use more data? Over the last few weeks I've been spending time with clients and discussing different ways to mine their data to find more efficient and effective ways of targeting their customers. Digital media provides us with deeper dives into information than what was ever possible before, and it allows us to target on a more granular level. But, is there a point where the data becomes an obstacle?
The Chapell View
Corey T makes some good points here. However, I don't see this as an issue of how much DATA marketers can use - it's more of an issue of how much VALUE that marketers can bring to the customer experience by using the data. When Amazon makes a recommendation based upon my purchase history, it isn't creepy - it's valuable. When HP sends me an email telling me that it's probably time to change the toner in my printer, that also isn't intrusive - it's just in time marketing.
To many marketers view data as a commodity to be traded. We need to view it as a property that is licensed from the customer. We need to recognize the implicit exhange here. We need to acknolwedge that customers have a right to decided what pieces of their data ends up on our databases. They have a right to know what we are going to do with that data. And they have a right to enforce our collective responsibility to use that data in a way that positively (rather than negatively) impacts their lives.
Sounds simple, right? Then why isn't everyone doing it?
IS THERE A POINT AT which we cannot use more data? Over the last few weeks I've been spending time with clients and discussing different ways to mine their data to find more efficient and effective ways of targeting their customers. Digital media provides us with deeper dives into information than what was ever possible before, and it allows us to target on a more granular level. But, is there a point where the data becomes an obstacle?
The Chapell View
Corey T makes some good points here. However, I don't see this as an issue of how much DATA marketers can use - it's more of an issue of how much VALUE that marketers can bring to the customer experience by using the data. When Amazon makes a recommendation based upon my purchase history, it isn't creepy - it's valuable. When HP sends me an email telling me that it's probably time to change the toner in my printer, that also isn't intrusive - it's just in time marketing.
To many marketers view data as a commodity to be traded. We need to view it as a property that is licensed from the customer. We need to recognize the implicit exhange here. We need to acknolwedge that customers have a right to decided what pieces of their data ends up on our databases. They have a right to know what we are going to do with that data. And they have a right to enforce our collective responsibility to use that data in a way that positively (rather than negatively) impacts their lives.
Sounds simple, right? Then why isn't everyone doing it?
