Know Me, But Don’t Spread My Name Around

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Recently I read a profound blog post from Seth Godin titled, “People don’t truly care about privacy*,” using the word “care” in the sense of “being concerned or worried about.” His statement in the post that “what people care about is being surprised” struck a specific chord with me. Why? Because the role of effective online marketing operates within the grey area of intimately knowing your customer, yet respectfully honoring their privacy.

Convenience is a powerful driver for motivating a customer’s online purchasing decision. The Stanford Web Credibility Guidelines suggest that, “sites win credibility points by being both easy to use and useful,” (www.webcredibility.org/guidelines/) and ScienceDirect.com reports that, “Consumers mainly evaluate websites on the basis of choice and convenience” (www.sciencedirect.com/science). In other words, you need to know what makes an experience convenient and credible for your customers in order to generate greater sales.