How to Overcome Privacy Concerns About Online Data Collection

Good list selection, a great offer and persuasive copy still work as well today as they did some 30-plus years ago when I began my direct marketing career. That much hasn't changed.

What has changed is our ability to target our audience.

As recently as the mid-1990s, direct mail was the only way to reach customers one-to-one, but new online technologies quickly changed that.

Today, online tracking technologies collect mountains of demographic and behavioral data that are changing how marketers deliver their messages to consumers.

By taking these vast databases of online information and cross-referencing the information with data collected off-line-from warranty cards, bridal and birth registries, magazine subscriptions, public records, purchase histories, etc.-marketers can now use statistical analysis to make assumptions about the likelihood of a prospect or customer responding to a particular offer.

For the marketer, this means using advertising dollars more effectively. For the consumer, it can result in a customized web-browsing experience with free content and ads relevant to the individual's personal interests.

Yet much of this information-gathered as the consumer navigates the Web-is collected without the person's knowledge. And that's the rub.

Once online data collection was limited to "cookie" files that recorded which websites people visited. But new tools now scan what people are doing on a Web page and, in real time, can access the user's location, income, shopping interest and even medical conditions.

• The 50 most popular websites in the U.S., according to the Wall Street Journal, each install an average of 64 tracking files on the visitor's computer-usually without warning.

• Some tools "re-spawn" themselves after users try to delete them.

• Other tracking tools can record a person's keystrokes online and then transmit the text to a data-gathering company.

Advertisers say they're not violating anyone's privacy because the data collected doesn't identify people by name. Plus, by using the data collected, they can give Internet users a better experience by providing the ads and information that are most relevant to the consumer's interests.

And there's nothing new about advertisers using information collected on consumers. Direct mailers have been doing it for years.

But there's enough concern about protecting online privacy that Congress is now considering new laws to limit online data tracking. And the Federal Trade Commission is developing new privacy guidelines for the industry.

And marketers can be certain that if we don't take the initiative to address consumers' concerns, government regulators and legislators will.

To overcome consumers' concerns, online data collectors, and the marketers who use their services, need to do 3 things:

1. Educate consumers on the options they already have with their browser's security settings.

2. Tell consumers up front-not deeply buried in a Privacy Statement that no one reads-that the company wants to present them with the most relevant content and that requires it to place a "cookie" on the computer. Clearly explain how the cookie works, what information it collects and how that information will be shared.

3. Make it easy for consumers to opt out if they don't want to participate in your company's online data collection.

Equally important, help the consumer understand the trade-offs of data collection. In exchange for information about how the person navigates the Web-information that's not linked to his or her name-the consumer gets free and valuable content plus advertising messages relevant to his or her interests.

Successful online advertising-like direct mail-is built on trust.

And when online advertisers and consumers recognize that they have shared interests-presenting and receiving relevant information-we'll find that overcoming privacy concerns about data collection can be as easy as telling the truth.

Hugh Chewning is a direct mail specialist proving copywriting, strategy and consulting for consumer, nonprofit and business-to-business groups. You can visit his blog, Direct Mail Insight and sign up for free, practical and easy-to-use tips to boost your response. And, for information on his free, no-risk package critique visit his web site, www.cdmdirect.com

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