Let me begin this post with a question. Every time you fill out a form on the internet, what do you think happens to the information? Does it get lost in the servers or does it go to the big bad wolf who then tracks your personal data online?
Most probably it’s the latter one. Welcome to the real world. Step out of The Matrix. Bit of a corny start, but hell! Internet privacy is an passionate debate.
Marketers and data warehouses have been collecting online information since the dawn of internet. This includes every kind of offline data like the consumer’s income, credit score, the car they drive, how many kids they have etc. How do you think these consumer surveys come up every other day? Noone goes around knocking on doors. They collect most of the info online.
Personally I think it’s a breach of trust. On the other hand, to be fair, something has to be done about this huge mountain of data. And the recent trend has been to dig that data and connect it to consumers’ browser activities. And now that a website knows where the user stands demographically, the website can serve him the right type of content and ads. Like giving the right kind of discount offers to the right guy, all based on offline data.
Targeted advertising at its best. Gone are the days of flashy banner and popup ads. Visitors want something more personal, something more interactive than a flashing .gif banner. Such targeted ad services can be a blessing for the falling click-through-rates for traditional banner / display advertising. And not just the click, it has better chances of converting the click into a customer. Because he got what he needed, right at his fingertips. He’s a happy guy now.
How is this done?
It’s all in the cookies.
A browser cookie is a small piece of coded information sent by a web server to a web browser to be stored for future use. And it’s invisible. It always tags along with you, indicating what type of consumer you are. “Now, you’re travelling the Internet with a cookie that indicates you’re this type of consumer: age group X, income level, urban versus rural, presence of children in the household,” said Trey Barrett, a product leader at Acxiom, one of the companies offering this linking to marketeers.
Breach of privacy?
Some purists say that such tracking is unholy. And rightly so; if I don’t want others to know about me I should have an option. Well you do. Every major browser now supports features like Private Browsing which protects your browsing information, form data and cookies from being retained by the server, leaving no tracks behind. Your very own stealth mode.
What do you think about tracking user behaviour? A nuisance or a boon half utilised?
