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billbenson
09-02-2008, 04:20 PM
The cnn article in the link below is about how the Obama campaign is using technology to collect emails and addresses to profile his voters and concentrate his marketing efforts in the technological era.

I'm not posting it as a political post, but to get people thinking about how they can better use their web sites to improve sales whether you are just a local business or a web only business. If you put your mind to it, you can collect incredible amounts of information as to who your customers are, where they are, how to upsell them etc.

IMO this is an area where most website owners do a poor job. Remember, you can track what city your visitors are coming from offer all kinds of free stuff etc to better profile your customers as well as see what users are looking for on your site.

An example of a site strategy for selling used car leads is to put up a site that gets people to enter an email for more information on a car for sale and sell those leads on a completely different site to used car dealers in the visitors in his area. You can tell where he lives by his IP address which you can collect when someone visits your site.

Here's what Obama is up to: Commentary: Obama's high-tech edge in presidential politics - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/09/01/sanchez.obama/index.html)

vangogh
09-02-2008, 07:44 PM
It's interesting all the ways his campaign is using the internet. I remember about a year or so ago debating how much search and the internet in general was going to play in this election and I was thinking it would really be the next election and not this one where it would play a big role. I was definitely wrong about that in many ways.

I agree with your main point about tracking things and better defining your market in order to understand them. As a marketer I love that I can do this online. As an end user it's sometimes troubling all the information that's being collected.

I disagree with the idea of collecting info in order to sell to a 3rd party. That crosses an ethical line for me, but just as importantly I think unless someone knows they agreed to let you send them email they're going to view you as spam. If I sign up at your site for info about a car and another site sends me an email the email isn't getting opened. Now I can see where in the situation you described it would get opened. You know I'm looking for a mid 90's Toyota and then I get an email with info about mid 90s Toyotas.

Still I prefer not to sell any info I might collect. I think of it as an issue of trust. If someone entrusts me with their email address I want to honor that trust.

billbenson
09-02-2008, 08:07 PM
A friend called me up after he was involved in a car lead sales deal. Not the same as the one I described. My friend had several websites written for car lead generation and a partner who sold them to dealers. My friend lost 10k in the deal, but thats because of domain hijacking, lousy websites, and bad adwords campaigns - but thats a whole different story.

My friend didn't have the sell site, but he sold the leads to car dealers. I understand your point, but in my friends case as well as the one I described above, the site visitor is asking to be contacted regarding a 67 Mustang convertible, for example, you sell the lead to someone who has a 67 Mustang convertible for sale. The visitor got what he wanted. If the lead wasn't well qualified ie the guy is looking for a 67 Mustang and you sell the lead to a Toyota dealer, the lead is worthless and the Toyota dealer won't buy any more leads from you. So I wouldn't have a problem with that scenario.

On the other hand, if you are just collecting random optin emails and selling them I agree, but they are worthless anyway.

vangogh
09-02-2008, 08:19 PM
I hope I didn't make it come across like I was saying the whole concept is unethical. It's more that it crosses my own personal boundaries.

I can see exactly how it works and I think the ethics really depend on how upfront the site is in regards to what it does with the info. I understand if I ask about a 67 Mustang and my info eventually gets to someone who sends me info about a 67 Mustang I should be happy. But still you have to consider that while I may be willing to give site A my email address I may not have been willing to give site B that same address.

I'm not questioning that it works and I'm not even saying the whole thing is unethical. But I think depending on how it's set up there might be times it can cross into some gray areas.

billbenson
09-02-2008, 08:19 PM
Oh, and as a footnote, why do you think Google is releasing an open source browser? It couldn't be to collect even more information now could it?

Actually I think G has more up their sleeve than that though. If they package their open source browser, with Linux or some free OS and Open Office with a free install when you buy your Dell or HP PC, it would be a big hit for MS. I see Microsoft as being pretty vulnerable in this one. They wouldn't be selling against Microsoft, they would just be taking away the market for a lot of Microsoft mainstay products. Without something like that, I don't see Google having any larger installed base of browser's than firefox.

I have a feeling that there is more than meets the eye here.

billbenson
09-02-2008, 08:35 PM
Looks like we were typing at the same time VG :) I've posted a minute or two apart before but never had exactly the same time stamp on a post.

I agree with you on the ethics. It just depends on how the information is presented to the prospect on the lead collection site.

vangogh
09-02-2008, 11:06 PM
I think the browser has a couple of reasons for existence. One is to be able to collect more info on us. Another is to land a blow at Microsoft. IE users may not be quick to switch to FF, but I bet they sooner switch to a Google browser.

But yeah, it's likely more about the info they can collect. I think most of the cool services they'll offer freely through Chrome will require a login.