What price do people put on their personal details?
A fair portion of our work revolves around data. The more data our clients have, the more we can do for them, the more sophisticated our analysis can be and the more valuable our results are.
It’s interesting to see how different demographics have varying ideologies and place different prices on their details.
Age 10 to 20 - Free!
These kids have grown up in the online land of Social Networking. Here it is normal to make personal details readily available. The more people that know about you and the more way’s they can contact you, the higher up the social ladder you sit! If it weren’t for their parents and teacher stifling them with warnings, most wouldn’t register how valuable this data is.
20 to 60 - What’s in it for me?
This group are more than comfortable in the online realm but are a little more cautious and clued in. They know the value of their details and the repercussions of giving them away. They are aware of spam and even identity theft but are also aware of precautionary measures to deter this. They will sacrifice some details but only to trusted sources and only if there is a reward. They filter what they do provide too, peripheral organisations may only obtain a secondary email address whereas trusted corporations are privy to full street addresses.
60 Plus - Priceless
Seniors are much more cautious and hold personal details close to their chests. They aren’t contactable via an abundance of channels either, often without email or mobile phones. Our clients struggle to gain data in this group, even when loured with prizes and special offers - they comfortably resist temptation. They wont surrender personal details unless absolutely necessary, or suits a practical purpose, such as an address for delivery. They don’t place a monetary value on privacy, it is simply not for sale.
Of course this is generalising and there will always be outliers, but having a rough understanding of each demographics’ paradigm is imperative in gaining their trust and therefore their valuable data.
- MM
You are... where you live
The Tesco Clubcard loyalty scheme in the UK has proved (and made huge profits) on the notion that you are what you eat. They segment customers based on what they have previously bought, and tailor messages accordingly. Tesco have evolved this over time to become highly profitable, demonstrating the value from genuine 'relevance marketing'.
But what about where you live? In my experience at Torque, where you live is incredibly important and I believe there are 3 key reasons why direct marketers will increasingly use geography, and subsequently consumers will benefit from increased relevancy.
1. Geography in direct marketing is no longer about state, postcode or suburb. The level of focus has narrowed onto CCDs (central census district, which contain approximately 200 households) and the even smaller geographic unit of meshblocks which provide a great deal of granularity. This level of information is much more reliable in predicting who you are on demographic stakes: age, lifestage, ethnic origin, family structure and income. Another key variable is 'distance' from a store/outlet which is also founded on geography. These variables are generally very powerful across a large range of sectors for some key marketing analytic tasks such as churn modelling.
2. These core demographic variables are so often missing on customer databases, and so profiling customers on geodemographics can provide huge insights about your customers, and opportunities to increase penetration. Mapping software has moved light years since the old Map-info days, providing dynamic, up-to date visualisation of customer penetration amongst other things.
3. It is becoming easier from a logistics and economics viewpoint to target customers and prospects using geodemographics. Equally, it is becoming easier to measure the success of direct marketing targeted in this way.
While no one would say geodemographics is 100% accurate, it is certainly a good predictor of who you are likely to be. While it is easy to see the differences between you and your neighbour, if you look at your street as a whole there will usually be some common denominators across most residents. Companies are recognising this too, as there is an increasing requirement to improve marketing effectiveness using data and specifically geodemographics. The ability and desire for more targeted communications is growing hand in hand. Subsequently the sophistication, price and granularity of geodemographics will only improve.
- NL
Bringing the ‘sexy’ back...
For years “data” had been associated with the uncool and untrendy side of marketing - uncreative and geeky data guys holed up in front of their computers chugging away, getting off on the patterns and algorithms that come from the data. Well the times they have certainly changed...
The recent shift in the economy and the push for accountability and measurement has bought back a certain 'je ne sais qoi' to data and its role in marketing strategy. The reality is that data has more recently become a unique blend of art and science that is appealing to even the most “creative” marketers. Long gone are the days of lifeless spreadsheets which require a data dictionary to interpret what is represented and lose interest in their audience. The move to express the data in a form that is aesthetically appealing has bought the sexy back to data, shifting the perception of data geeks to data gurus (and there are some good looking and trendy ‘data gurus’ out there!)
Across the election weekend, I stumbled across this great piece of data visualisation, it had me fascinated... http://www.news.com.au/features/federal-election/julia-gillard-tony-abbott-vie-for-favour-with-independents-as-second-election-possible/story-e6frfllr-1225908657853
The success of this is its ability to visually bring a dry topic to life in a few seconds and more importantly its ability to create Clarity which facilitates understanding and insight without the boring presentation, charts or spreadsheets. The great thing about bringing sexy back to data is that the representation of data can only move forward from here...who knows what they’ll think of next...watch this space!
- LD
ADD / VIEW COMMENTSiPad - Why it changes the balance of power
With the imminent release of the iPad I have been thinking about how this changes the world as we know it – is it just a big iPhone or a different take on a notebook? The conclusion I have reached is that it has the potential to completely change the balance of power between content providers and network providers.
Why would I enter into a long term contract with a provider of a commoditised service – network access (Telco) as opposed to a content provider who gives me something I want that I can’t get anywhere else – my life would be complete with subscriptions to Octane (cars), Maxim (Lifestyle?!), Viz (humour), MacUser (Special Interest), Evo (more newer cars) and of course Men’s Fitness (guilt satisfaction) – the 3 year NPV of getting me to subscribe to digital versions would surely cover the cost of financing an iPad for the period?
Never mind the additional advertising revenue, insight and smarts Dennis publishing could gain from knowing me and understanding my eclectic interests! Hands up publishers who have worked this out - my credit card is waiting to take a major bashing and I can’t wait to finally read a copy of a magazine in the bath – surely a waterproof iPad version is only one upgrade away? And imagine all the carbon emissions I am saving by not flying all those magazine from the UK.
Is Supermarket shopping really a rewarding experience?
I wrote last week about my experience with the Moonlight Cinema’s membership scheme and the great value that I get from the deal in exchange for them being able to track my spending habits and take my money in pre-payment – what we call in the trade the “value exchange”. As you’d expect, for a 25% discount I’m more than happy to present a plastic card at the box office!
This opinion piece from The Age on Feb 01 illustrates just how careful organisations have to be when they’re putting loyalty and membership schemes together. Consumers aren’t stupid and they will smell a rat if they believe that they’re getting the thin end of the wedge in the relationship. Anecdotal tales from friendsand colleagues about the value to be gained from FlyBuys has led me to avoid signing up as it appears to be all but a waste of time. If the figures quoted in the article are to be believed then the new Woolies offering isn’t exactly pulling up trees in that department either. If these figures are accurate then you’re loyalty points from the Big Two supermarkets are earning you a whopping 1% off the total cost of your shopping. I don’t think anyone is going to retire on that! Such meager pickings surely mean that these schemes are treading a very fine line between rewarding the consumer for their continued loyalty and exploiting their lack of choice.
NM.
