Analytics and Privacy

Analytics are increasingly useful for digital marketing, because they allow you to improve targeting and personalisation, but they carry dangers. If you go “too far”, you can expect controversy like this:

Phone ‘Rootkit’ Maker Carrier IQ May Have Violated Wiretap Law In Millions Of Cases

A piece of keystroke-sniffing software called Carrier IQ has been embedded so deeply in millions of Nokia, Android, and RIM devices [and iPhone] that it’s tough to spot and nearly impossible to remove, as 25-year old Connecticut systems administrator Trevor Eckhart revealed in a video Tuesday.

That’s not just creepy, says Paul Ohm, a former Justice Department prosecutor and law professor at the University of Colorado Law School. He thinks it’s also likely grounds for a class action lawsuit based on a federal wiretapping law.
- Andy Greenberg, Forbes

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Never Blame the Customer

If you screw up, apologise or say nothing. If you send a reply that suggests the problem is the customer’s fault, you can expect them to react badly, and that really matters now that anyone can publish reviews to Amazon etc:

The movie is good but I’m not rating it for that. I rating it 1 star because of the fact that Ultraviolet is a STREAMING service. That means that you can’t download your movie through iTunes and take it with you on a plane. I wrote to them and complained they sent me a letter with an iTunes download code but had the audacity to condescendingly blame me for the whole thing as if I’m some sort of technological nit-wit. Here is their letter.

[Dear Kenny:

Thank you for being one of our best customers and among the first to try UltraViolet(tm) (UV) Digital Copy.

While we have received a lot of positive reaction to UltraViolet, we realize that with any new technology there is a learning curve for both creators and consumers, and this is especially true around new user experiences.

It’s important to us that you are fully satisfied with your purchase. We are issuing you an an iTunes code for your movie so that you can obtain an iOS-compatible download of this title immediately.

[…]

What positive reactions? Everyone hates this service. I don’t like there terms of service and I don’t like that the movie studios control it and can revoke the title at any time without warning. Ultraviolet is out of sync with the rest of technology.

Customer Reviews of Deathly Hallows/Ultraviolet (mostly bad)

Google: Ad-Heavy pages may hurt SEO

“Ever encountered an ad-heavy page, where you struggle to find the actual content on that page? Google’s looking at penalizing those in its search results.”
- Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land

Have I ever encountered such a page? Yes, actually. Here it is…

The medium is the message.

Rule-of-thumb: Reduce Social Statistics by 2/3

Social Network user numbers may include very light useage, such as once per month, which is of little relevance to marketers (previous post). How should we adjust for this? Here is some useful data:

For mature channels, such as email or established social networks, I suggest reducing claimed usage numbers by 2/3.

Method and assumptions:

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