What happens when your not 20 anymore!? A thirtyset.com blog?

As owner of a Michigan Web Design Company we work with many clients to make sure that they are giving valuable information in return for the data they are asking for. We also try to make sure that we keep forms to 4 fields or less whenever possible.

I also just ran across the Young Go Getter blog and really like your content. Good Work!

I just read an article in the latest issue of Inc. (available free online here) about Bill Zanker and his Learning Annex.

One thing he mentioned was a bar code system he’s testing to seamlessly collect data about his customers (conference attendees).

“Each attendee will be tracked over the weekend, his badge scanned every time he enters and exits a particular seminar or purchases a DVD package. Zanker will know who’s watching what, and when, precisely.

He likens the idea to cookies, which track your Internet usage: “I’m building a cookie system for your weekend. I know who customers are, when they bought tickets–say, 3 a.m. during an infomercial–who they like–Tony (Robbins), Raymond Aaron, etc.” Possessing this intelligence, he says, “we can then talk to you better in the future.”

I think that’s a really interesting way to collect data. I don’t have a problem providing my name or phone number, except at Blockbuster where I always think I still haven’t returned a movie :)

As long as the info is used to better and personalize my experience, that’s cool with me.

I complete agree. There are some people that are paranoid about giving out their information. I believe this comes from not being educated on how the information is used by the company to improve customer service. The example you gave is excellent – many companies will collect information to make checking out faster, or in the case of cell phone and credit card companies, for the sake of protecting their own business and making sure people pay on time.

There are also people that are spiteful and will purposely give wrong information to “stick it to businesses.” As a business, it’s important to neutralize these people and their anomosity towards data collection – to me, that’s where transparency comes in.

@ Satish ~

I think you are hitting on a sentiment shared by most consumers. People want to know why they are being asked for information that doesn’t seem relevant. If companies are honest about why they need it and educate the consumer on how it provides better services, consumers probably won’t mind sharing. Honest companies should have no problems doing this as they have no reason to hide, while companies involved in selling consumer data would have problems with this.

Thanks to each of you for your comments!

Beyond that, privacy is over-rated. You can find out anything you want to know about me by 1) Googling my full name, or 2) just asking me.

The retailer should not be able to demand such information if the customer doesn’t want to provide it. But as you say the customer must be prepared for a lengthy process if they need to return something or need support.

The only time said information is crucial is when people are signing up for cell phone service, or buying a car where credit comes into account. The sad part is I have had people refuse that information for those purposes and get mad when I won’t sign them up.

There is a line to be drawn from companies for sure, but customers have to take some responsibility when personal information is necessary.